I experienced the same feeling when I confirmed Tinie Tempah to perform at Rhythm and Vines.
I recall Mark Kelliher from EMI give me a heads up on this young Prince of Gryme earlier in the year. Said he was the next big thing. At this time I thought this was just another one hit wonder in the vein of Lethal Bizzle or Tinchie Stryder. I thought he was just taking what Dizzee Rascal has created and trying to take the sound of the streets to another level. How right I was.
Listening to his debut single 'Pass Out' I thought his lyrics were a little naff e.g. 'I live a very very very wild lifestyle...' C'mon buddy, you have to be badder and wittier than that!
'Heidi and Audrina eat your heart out'. Sure mate, whatever.
Tinie Tempah - Pass Out
Then he popped up again, as the young upstart bouncing on stage at Glastonbury with Snoop Dog. Is he that important that the Dogg father just stands barking 'yeows' and gives him mad props, while his Royal Grym-ness Dizzee watched ashen-faced from the wings? The crowd knows all the words, people going nuts in the Sommerset sun for this well dressed, cut-to-pieces young street urchin.
Tinie Temper with Snoop Dogg at Glastonbury 2010
So when I got offered him as a replacement act for our R&V lineup the day before we were about to release, I was slightly taken back. Could this be fate?
Not only was he one quarter of the price of the seminal hip hop act I was chasing, his mix of grime meets dubstep meets electro meets r&b had begun to captivate me. There was something about the dull buzz of the ShyFX-driven bass line, the rat-a-tat of the snare and the simplicity of the lyrics. I listened to the drum and bass break down picturing 20,000 sweaty festival goers lose their gherkin on the Waiohika hillside. And when my marketing team couldn't stop telling me to get 'my mother fcken Pass Out' I knew we were onto something.
So I said lets do it, lock him in, get him on the poster for the launch tomorrow night. One last minute addition.
First person to congratulate me was my accountant. He was over the moon that we had signed what appeared to be a Dizzee Rascal for a fraction of the price.
Post release I heard nothing. No feedback. There he was nestled in the lineup below Chromeo and Boys Noize. Did anyone care?
My fears were soon overcome when I arrived at George FM for an interview with Nick D. He knows a thing or two about music and excitedly dove into his record box to play 'Pass Out' during our interview. His enthusiasm for the young rapper gave me shivers up the spine. He had seen Tinie play at Lovebox in London and had torn the place apart. Real London sound bruva.
When I met his agent on the 22nd floor of the Centerpoint Tower in London last week my gut feeling was once again confirmed. 'There is not many artists that get me excited' he across the table said, 'but Tinie is one of them'. Not only is he one of the stars of the EMI stable, they have already pencilled in arenas in the UK for 18 months time. The boy is about to blow!
Which brings me to the present. Still no interest of Tinie on the facebook site, our blogs or our info@ emails. Does anyone care?
However it all seems to make sense to me. I'm going so far as to say he will be the most talked about act at the festival this summer. Given the two best acts at Rhythm and Vines in recent years were urban warriors Santigold and Major Lazer, I think this man will take out the Tom Gibson Medal for best and fairest act. His song with the Swedish House Mafia 'Miami 2 Ibiza' is creeping up the charts and will no doubt hit our shores just in time for December.
Swedish House Mafia vs. Tinie Tempah - Miami to Ibiza
His hiphop/dubstep/dnb/gryme and now house cross over will then take Rhythm and Vines and New Zealand by storm. Plus give our 20,000 strong facebook army a new hero to request on the blogs for the duration of 2011 no doubt.
So watch this space...and get your mutha faarken Pass Out
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