By Gianni Borrelli
Tinie Tempah has performed with some of the biggest and most relevant names in music today, shared a tour bus with Rihanna, calls Kylie Minogue his ‘big sister’ and is wrapping up final preparations for his very own fashion label; all at the tender age of 22.
In just under a year, The British rapper, born Patrick Okogwu, has amassed millions of CD sales and downloads across Europe and the UK, hitting the coveted UK #1 position not once, but three times. His debut album Disc-Overy, a fresh mix of hip-hop, grime and drum and bass, swiftly reached platinum sales in his native UK within weeks of its release. And yes, while that album was only just released in October, he has no plans to slow down yet; his sophomore album is scheduled for release in 2011, alongside an Australian tour with N.E.R.D and his Summerdayze posse in early January.
Tempah was in London after headlining the annual Jingle Bell Ball and gave up some of his time to speak with Glam Adelaide writer Gianni Borrelli.
GB: How have you found Australia so far?
TT: So far it’s been really, really good. Really, really good. I had a lot of fun. Obviously I wasn’t there for very long however I enjoyed the time I was there and I’m really looking forward to returning.
GB: You’re in Adelaide in January next year, which is where I’m from, have you heard much about our city?
TT: You know what, I actually haven’t. In the short time that I was there last I really wanted to get all up on my Australian knowledge but unfortunately I didn’t have enough time so I guess I’m going to have to learn about it when I get there.
GB: Okay you’re forgiven, you’re a busy guy. Well, Adelaide is famous for its wine so if you’re a wine drinker…
TT: I am a wine drinker! Big red wine drinker.
GB: We had The Ashes here too. You’re an Englishman, do you follow cricket at all?
TT: You know what, I actually don’t follow cricket but I know when I was over there in November I know England wasn’t doing too well and I was getting a lot of stick from you lot! But I don’t really follow it particularly.
GB: You’re quite young, you’re 22, you’ve had a #1 album in the UK, two #1 singles, to those who don’t know much about you, your success probably seems quite sudden, but how long have you actually been performing and making music for?
TT: I’ve been doing it for about 5 years now. I started out when I was 16.
GB: On your album Disc-Overy you worked with a lot of artists, Swedish House Mafia on Miami 2 Ibiza, Snoop Dogg on the U.S remix of Pass Out, Labrinth, Kelly Rowland and Ellie Goulding to name a few. When you’re making an album, how important is the collaboration process to you?
TT: Collaborations are obviously not the be all and end all, but I just feel that as a musician it’s your job to collaborate. It’s your job to make your music as exciting as it can be for the fans and even for yourself, and I felt like there were certain songs on the album that different people would suit and would sound incredible on and I just went about trying to make it happen.
GB: The track Wonderman with Ellie Goulding sticks out for me, because your styles are both so different yet when you both got on the track together you really seemed to click.
TT: Yeah that was exactly it, to be honest. It was an incredible collaboration; we’re actually shooting the video for that on Tuesday.
GB: Aside from the names you worked with on the album, who are some of your dream collaborations?
TT: At the moment I really want to work with Kanye West. I just think that Kanye West is one of the most honest musicians of our decade, and I think he’s an incredible guy. He’s a creative genius. If I worked with him, not only we would make great music but I believe I’d learn a lot as well.
GB: It’s funny you mentioned him, I was in Melbourne last week, and Kanye West was down with Jay-Z and I stayed a night in the same hotel as them.
TT: Really? That’s incredible! Did you get a chance to meet him?
GB: Well they basically had a whole floor to themselves and their own private elevator, so sadly no run in with Kanye this time but who knows?
TT: That’s crazy, they had their own elevator? I’ve never heard of that.
GB: Now you appear to have struck up a friendship with one of our most famous Australians, Ms Kylie Minogue.
TT: (laughs) Yeah. I love a bit of Kylie.
GB: Don’t we all?
TT: (laughs) She’s lovely, she’s lovely. She’s incredible, we met a couple of months back and we just kept in contact. She’s like a mentor, a big sister, she’s all of those things. And yeah, I really enjoy being able to speak to someone of that stature. Someone who has managed to cement themselves in popular culture for the last decade, and even beyond that. To be able to talk to somebody like that is incredible.
GB: Is a future collaboration on the cards, perhaps?
TT: You never know! Given the right song, the right time, the right place. Anything could happen.
GB: Personally I think you two would sound good together. You could grime her up a bit.
TT: Yeah and you know what, from what I’ve seen it seems like she’s into all that. She seems like she’s quite cultured when it comes to music and she’s listening to a lot of different things, so who knows?
GB: You once Tweeted ‘Nothing is sexier than a woman who plays an instrument’. Was there anyone in particular in mind when you wrote that?
TT: Alicia Keys is pretty sexy for that. Ellie Goulding is pretty sexy for that. I always really liked The Corrs from back in the day, I don’t know what it was but when I was younger I always used to watch The Corrs do their thing. I really find that attractive. There’s a few people, girl drummers and girl guitarists that I just love. I just love every girl who plays an instrument, I don’t know, it’s just incredible. Is there anybody that I’m missing out?
GB: Well when I read that, Alicia Keys came straight to mind. She’s so prominent in popular music with playing the piano.
TT: Yeah well Ellie Goulding looks pretty hot on the drums too when she gets on them.
GB: (laughs) You and Ellie seem like really good friends. Are you guys quite close?
TT: In some respect we are quite close on a musical level. But we get on and we kind of understand each other. It’s great to be at that point where I’m about to shoot another video, with her, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.
GB: You have a clothing line, Disturbing London, in the works. How is that all going?
TT: It’s going incredibly well, we just got a few samples back about a month ago, and we’re refining it, re-jigging, reworking, making sure it’s perfect. And by March of next year it should be ready to surface. We’re trying to make sure it looks right, it feels right, and that it’s got everything we would want at the beginning stages of a clothing line. It’s a lot of hard work but it’s coming along really, really well. I can’t wait for people to see it.
GB: When reading about you, I noticed you’ve received a lot of attention for your style, and your trademark Raybans for instance. Has fashion always been something that’s interested you?
TT: You know, I’m still relatively young. I mean I’ve always wanted to look good, but I guess the older I’ve become, the more I’ve matured and the more I’ve travelled around, fashion has become more and more important, you know what I mean? When you go to Stockholm or Copenhagen, you see people’s dress sense. Even when I was in Sydney and I went to the trendy part, I went to Oxford Street, and I was like ‘Wow this is incredible, this is really trendy and cool’. That kind of did it for me. Little things like that. Seeing what people like, what people are into. When I got to Australia, I was getting really big on Chronicles of Never.
GB: Yeah, that brand is quite popular now actually.
TT: Yeah, do you get what I mean? I think all of that is really intriguing. You find things that you like, you bring it back to England, you mash it all up and you’ve got your look, and that’s exactly what I’d like to do. I’m really, really big on Harris Tweed right now. If you get a minute maybe go on Google and look up Harris Tweed and you’ll find some really, really cool pieces. I’m wearing a lot of Harris Tweed at the moment, nice jackets. And I’m obviously very big on denim, especially denim from Acne.
GB: You said in an interview ‘I aim to alter the definition of popular music and the way we listen to it. I’m here to break some boundaries’. How do you think you’ve managed with that so far?
TT: I just feel that so far, the mission isn’t overall complete yet, but I think that being able to make people react and connect to something that’s new and fresh that hasn’t really been heard before, and to be able to trust the music enough to want to know more about the person, and want to know more about the musician. I think that’s a pretty big accomplishment. And actually yesterday, wait was it yesterday? Yes it was! I headlined the Jingle Bell Ball along with Akon and Flo Rida, do you get what I mean? I did the Summertime Ball, which was done by the same radio station, a couple of months back, and I was second on the bill. And I’m headlining now in the space of a few months, not even years, and I think that’s through being able to offer and deliver something that is so fresh, and something that so many people have reacted so well to. So I feel like we’re not completely there yet of course. It’s still a very, very long road and there’s a lot of work, but we’re definitely making steady progress.
GB: What’s next on the horizon for Tinie Tempah?
TT: Coming over to Australia, that’s really the next thing. Being over there for 2 weeks at the beginning of the New Year, hopefully having time to have a clear head and concentrating on everything in front of me that year. Hopefully selling out my own arena tour by the end of next year, that would be incredible, and releasing another album around the same time too. Just working towards that, really.
GB: I couldn’t help but end the interview with some kind of pun, so please excuse the lameness, but would you mind putting me up on the guest list with the Swedish House Mafia?
TT: (laughs) Well next time they’re in Australia, and I’m in Australia, as long as you hold me to that and you get in touch with EMI, I’ll make sure I do!
Disc-Overy is out now. Tinie Tempah headlines the Summerdayze Festival, Saturday January 1 2011 at Rymill Park. Tickets available through Future Entertainment. He also supports N.E.R.D alongside Chromeo & Boys Noize on Thursday January 6 2011 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Tickets available through Ticketek.
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