Tinie Tempah's debut album Disc-Overy made him a star around the world. He's back with his second and plans to do it all over again, as Andy Welch finds out.

 

He may be short in stature - there's a reason he's called Tinie Tempah - but there's nothing small about his success.

Since releasing his debut single Pass Out in early 2010, Tinie has become one of Britain's biggest stars and just about the only UK rapper capable of selling in the United States, the home of the genre.

His US debut single Written In The Stars set a Billboard chart record for a British rapper, entering the chart at No 12 when it was released in 2011.

Needless to say, his record label was keen for him to follow up his triple-platinum debut album Disc-Overy as soon as possible.

Tinie, however, had other ideas, taking about a year longer than expected, but the results, which can be heard on Demonstration from November 4, are worth it.

"Well," he says with a pause, "a few things happened to contribute to the delay. Things took off in the States, so I was there for a bit, and then my label, Parlophone, got sold to Warner Brothers, so there was this big legal thing going on.

"I saw that as a positive, and used the time to make sure the music I was making was absolutely as I wanted it to be." More tellingly, he adds: "And I was enjoying myself."

He's very happy with Demonstration. The guest stars, who include Emeli Sande on A Heart Can Save The World, Laura Mvula on Heroes and John Martin on forthcoming single Children Of The Sun, fell into place, with "about 90%" of the artists he approached saying yes.

"The first song I started for the album was Mosh Pit, which I recorded out in Los Angeles, but it wasn't until I got back to England that I realised it could do with an appearance from Mr Dizzee Rascal. He's been such an inspiration to me, I've been listening to him since I was 12, so to get him on a track is incredible."

Meanwhile, the success of Disc-Overy meant he could approach virtually any producer he wanted to work with, too.

"Luckily, because of the first album, I'm in a situation where I can ask these people," he says. "Plus, just from being around, I've got to know some of them pretty well and there's a level of respect here. I can honestly say I'm a huge fan of all of the people on the record."

Among the production talent called in for Demonstration is Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers. It's an unlikely collaboration on the surface, although Tinie, who turns 25 the same week the album is released, doesn't see it like that.

"I suppose it's not the first person you'd think I'd work with, but I knew Tom would bring an edge to my music that hasn't been there before," he explains.

"Musically The Chemical Brothers have never conformed, and have always brought out fresh sounds and experimented with new styles of music. I feel that's the artist I am and what I want to do."

The album moves through various urban sounds, from conventional hip hop, to grime, to more recent trap and beyond. It's Tinie being a product of his environment, he says, and reacting to the way modern music fans listen.

"The idea from the beginning was for the album to move through all these styles, like someone has their iPod on shuffle, but all the songs are by me. I think that's what modern culture is. No-one is exclusive, no-one likes to just hear one thing.

"We're all spoilt for choice and, in this day and age, half the people buying music will be going home and compiling their own mixtapes anyway, with all their favourites on."

He says he also wants to challenge the stereotype of the British rapper and the narrow frame of reference they're perceived to have.

"This is the one thing that really separates British rappers from American rappers. US hip hop is very much their thing and their culture, so they stay within that lane. But I'm from London, which is a melting pot of different music, all the genres you can think of. Whether it's indie, dance, trap, dubstep, grime, hip hop, it's all in there, from my youth."

Tinie's just finished an "impromptu, raving-with-the-freshers tour" of UK universities, which he says was insane, even if he didn't have as much time as he would've liked to meet students. When it's put to him that his story doesn't sound feasible, given his reputation as a romancer, he just laughs.

"You must have the wrong guy," he says innocently. "Actually, I'm trying to behave, and we were in and out of those towns so quickly, two universities a day, I didn't have time for any of that."

As soon as the album is released, all he'll be able to think about is December's tour, which takes him to arenas all over the country. Tinie and his team are currently putting together the stage and lighting design, firming up schedules with special guests, and revising the set list, which he promises will include his hits as well as tracks not on either of his albums.

It's the start of something big for Tinie, who, having travelled the world three times over since the release of Disc-Overy, can't wait to do it all again.

He says he's always been ambitious and demanded the best from himself, but to actually see that happen has been "beyond his wildest dreams".

"After I made Disc-Overy, I remember feeling how I feel now, which is kind of in limbo, waiting for the record to come out, for people to hear it and digest the songs, then touring makes the album come alive in a different way, having those words sung back to you."

Wherever he goes, though, he says he'll never forget Britain and, if anything, he gets more patriotic the further from home he goes.

"Being British is a very big part of my personality, and it's something that draws people to my music, so I am conscious of it. It's a fact that separates me from so many other people, especially as a rapper. It's just one of the things that makes me unique."


Extra time - Tinie Tempah

:: Tinie Tempah was born Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu in south east London on November 7, 1988.

:: He grew up on the Aylesbury Estate in Walworth, one of London's most notorious estates and the scene of Tony Blair's first speech as Prime Minister.

:: He released his first free mixtape, Chapter 1: Verse 22, in 2005.

:: When he signed to Parlophone in 2009, he announced the news via a competition on his website. The winner was taken for afternoon tea with Tinie at Claridge's to celebrate.

:: Debut album Disc-Overy was released in 2010, and has since sold around a million copies worldwide.


::Tinie Tempah's new single Children Of The Sun is released on October 28 and his second album Demonstration is released on November 4. He begins an arena tour on December 2. Full dates below

Tour dates:

December

2 - Aberdeen ECC

4 - Dublin O2

5 - Manchester Phones 4u Arena

6 - Leeds First Direct Arena

8 - Nottingham Capital FM Arena

9 - Glasgow Hydro Arena

11 - Newcastle Metro Radio Arena

12 - Liverpool Echo Arena

13 - Cardiff Motorpoint Arena

15 - Bournemouth BIC Solent Hall

16 - Birmingham LG Arena

18 - London O2 Arena