TINIE TEMPAH

Continuing The Discovery

Tinie Tempah is coming back to town for Future Music Festival and after a massive couple of years, 2012 is shaping up to be just as busy. The London MC talks to HUGH ROBERTSON about second album expectations, how to make it in America and global domination.

In conversation Tinie Tempah, known to some as Patrick Okogwu, is full of laughs, energy and enthusiasm. And why not? In only a few years he has shot to international stardom, touring with the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Rihanna and Usher and collaborating with the likes of Kelly Rowland, Snoop Dogg, Swedish House Mafia and Wiz Khalifa. And he’s adored by the British press, with two BRIT Awards and a Mercury Prize nomination to his name.
Despite all this, Okogwu is nervous about his upcoming second album, and is currently hard at work trying to create something that can capitalise on the tremendous success of 2010’s Disc-Overy. He won’t be playing any of the new material when he’s out here but that’s not because he doesn’t like us. “For me, the second record is a very, very important one,” he explains. “And I kinda wanted to showcase it all at once, when it’s done, rather than play new tracks in Australia while I’m working on the album.
“I just want people to hear it all at once. And if that means that I have to fly back out to Australia to do a small showcase of the new album then I will do that. But I want that anticipation, where people are waiting to listen to it from start to finish, rather than hearing a couple of songs in a couple of different places.”
It’s really interesting to hear Okogwu speak about his various projects, as he always has one eye on the bigger picture. Along with coming back to Australia (“My favourite place in the world, by far”) and “hitting [the US] hard”, he has grand plans for his record and clothing label, Disturbing London. Ultimately the goal is to become an all-encompassing, culturally dominant powerhouse like Roc-A-Fella, Bad Boy or Billionaire Boys Club, record labels that also have clothing lines and make movies, places where the music defines a particular cultural moment. They have just launched their first major clothing collection, and Okogwu is particularly bullish about their roster of artists.
“We’ve got a few really amazing artists on the roster”, he begins, full of excitement. “There’s a girl called Sasha Keable, who’s amazing. There’s a three-piece singer/songwriter/producer team called All About She, who are pretty cool. Then there’s G FrSH, and Dot JR, who’s just signed a really huge deal with Polydor [Records] over here.
“We set out to do something and slowly but surely we are making it happen, and realising it, and it’s manifesting. Slowly but surely. All the record labels that inspired us to do what we’re doing now took years to get off the ground, and we always bear that in mind, but so far I’m happy. So yeah, let’s see what happens, but we’re currently in a really good position to be ‘that’ label in the next couple of years.”