Tinie Tempah is a British grime rapper and MC from Plumstead, London. He is also known as TINIE, and his full name is Patrick Junior C. Okogwu. He is CEO of Disturbing London Records.

Career

Tinie Tempah first gains recognition in the underground scene with the track “Wifey”, which appears on his first official mixtape, Hood Econ%mics Room 147: The 80 Minute Course. The track becomes a major club and urban-chart hit, spending 10 consecutive weeks at the top of the Channel U urban chart. The mixtape also features appearances from established grime artists including Bashy and Chipmunk.

He follows it with a second official mixtape, Sexy Beast: Volume 1, in 2009. In October 2009, he signs a record deal with EMI/Parlophone.

Major-label release

His major-label debut single, “Pass Out”, gives him national attention and reaches number one on the UK Singles Chart in March 2010. His debut album, disc-overy, follows on EMI/Parlophone and produces six consecutive UK top 20 singles, including the number ones “Pass Out” and “Written in the Stars”, as well as the Swedish House Mafia collaboration “Miami 2 Ibiza”. The album also includes collaborations with Wiz Khalifa, Bei Maejor and Ester Dean. “Written in the Stars” reaches number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Recognition

Tinie Tempah is a BRIT Award-winning artist. His stage name comes from an idea he develops as a teenager, when he looks up a word related to anger and shortens it to “Tinie” to soften the impression of “Tempah”.