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Tempa T: "They never seen anything like that on the island." Grime’s hype man has the scene at his feet.

Text:

Joseph ‘JP’ Patterson

Photography:

Tim and Barry

Tempa T is known for his fire tongue and his high-top fade. The 23-year-old grime MC was first let loose on the public in 2006 alongside his crew Slew Dem at Chantelle Fiddy club night at 333 in Shoreditch. ’‘I got into spitting when I used to listen to old skool garage and a bit of jungle, rap and R&B. I just liked the whole performance that came with it, like Michael Jackson was a huge inspiration on entertainment and that’s where the passion to be on the mic began for me,” he says in the days before his debut single, Next Hype comes out. He made himself known as the ‘angry Grime MC’, the hype man, with his high-energy stage presence. But as he explains, ‘‘I’m a humorous person, quite hilarious at times, I like catching a lot of joke, just my sense of humour init, nothing too serious and nothing too violent.’‘

Tempa has worked with artists including Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Skitz Beatz and Plastician, and even went to France to work with production outfit Ego 6 on a remix of Battle Riddim. With the growth of bassline and funky, as well as last year’s electro-inflected grime, Tempa T is entering a UK music scene more diverse than his forebears: ‘‘I never really caught up with the bassline scene until a friend of mine from the Midlands told me about it and you know what I like it, I like the way the Birmingham man, Manchester man everyone is doing their thing. The electro thing is kicking off as well – ‘safe’ to those people who said that grime is just violent, when we have grime acts getting hits in the charts with that sound. It’s all UK music at the end of the day“ explains Tempz.

As perhaps befits a man who got his break in Shoreditch, Tempz is also the toast of the fashion crowd, working with labels like Jean Charles De’ Castelbajac and Cassette Playa, Fred Perry, Maharishi, Box Fresh and Nike in his modelling portfolio. His memorable hair-cut has made him one of the scene’s best-known faces – whether that’s the grime scene or the fashion scene. “I just wanted to do something different and I went back with the 80’s style. When I was out in Ayia Napa I had everyone saying ‘ahh Fresh Prince, House Party’ you know them ones. You can’t really get offended because they probably never see anything like that on the island, but people always comment on it and they seem to like it,” he says.

With a growing MySpace fan, to working on many video projects with legendary lens specialists Tim & Barry). With the support of DJs like Logan Sama (Kiss) and Tim Westwood (who also appeared in the video for his new single Next Hype") it seems that things are looking bright on the darkside for Tempz. “I’ve got a lot of things in the pipeline, commercials, modelling, my mixtape DunKnow Da DunKnow and album to follow 2000 & Paaks both coming soon, you can expect to see more of me very soon – Tempa T, Sleeeew Deeeeem!”

Tempa T’s Next Hype is out June 1st on No Hats No Hoods
Tempa T’s myspace

• 26.05.09
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