Tinie Tempah talks shop
Tinie, you’ve come a long way since the Wifey riddum (below). Even back then we were like “this kid’s going to be a star”, so naturally we feel partly responsible for your success to date…
Haha, responsible for my career?! I like that.
Alright joking aside, how did you get from being the kid in that video to the young gentlemen about to takeover Brit rap?
That track came out in 2006 and was definitely a big moment in my life as far as making the transition from being unknown to sort of an underground name, and I was sixteen at the time. I started doing shows off the back of it so I hooked up with my cousin and set up Disturbing London. It was our own label and the whole ethos was to act like a major label as far as tracks we put out and videos we did. I set up the Milk & 2 Sugars blog in 2009. A lot of my friends had record deals at the time so I used that opportunity to go to their video shoots and get behind the scenes stuff and exclusive interviews that other journalists couldn’t. It got like a million hits in a couple of months and then all the labels wanted to know.
Is it true you’ve got a clothing line in the pipeline?
Yes indeed. It’s called Disturbing London, that’s basically the name for everything we do, and it’s going to be a good mix between street wear and high fashion. I feel like it will be one of the few brands where you can get the best of both, you won’t have to buy a shirt from here and the bottoms from down the road.
We’ll keep our eyes peeled for it. So can we take it the aim is to be a UK Jay-Z as far as the media moguling goes?
You know what, I’m just trying to be like Tinie Tempah and hope that one day someone will be having an interview in the U.S. or Australia and the interviewer will go, “Are you trying to be like the Australian Tinie Tempah?” Jay-Z is still very relevant and I definitely look up to him, but I feel like it’s a new era and I just want to carve out my own legacy and do something fresh.
So what are you doing different?
Well I’ve got my own brand of tea on the way – I bet you didn’t expect me to say that! I love a nice bit of tea me and soon you’ll be able to pick up my own brand of the stuff. We’re still working on the name but at the minute it’s just Tinie Tempah’s Special Brew.
Alright you win.
Performing new single Written In The Stars @ MTV Live Sessions…
Written In The Stars out now, go support. The debut album Disc-Overy out 4th October.
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