Having already had two #1 hit singles in the UK, picked up more MOBO nominations than Dizzee Rascal, and performed onstage with Snoop Dogg at Glastonbury, there's no doubt about it, Tinie Tempah is going to be huge. Known in the past only as an underground grime artist, the beauty of Disc-Overy is the wonderful combination of genres - dance, R&B, rock and grime all fused together with Tinie's dexterous rap and nimble wordplay.
The man born Patrick Chukwuem Okogwu Jr. has come a long way since releasing his first single 'Wifey' back in 2006. In a lot of ways his debut, Disc-Overy, is as much a dance record as it is a rap record. Dance vibes are flagrant, never more so than on the Swedish House Mafia produced 'Miami 2 Ibiza', the Faithless flavoured track a club anthem in waiting. The production throughout is just superb, those tracks under the supervision of Labrinth particularly sharp and edgy.
Apart from the usual gripe about the chauvinistic, misogynistic attitude towards woman, objectifying them as sexual playthings, Tinie's lyrics flow beautifully, his London attitude oozing through every syllable and every rhyme. The whole thing has a wonderful sense of humour from pop culture references to Kelly Clarkson and Mrs Doubtfire, to the self-conscious 'Frisky' line "If I tell her I'm a boxer, will she let me down her knickers?"
Some of the recognisable names onboard include former Destiny's Child Kelly Rowland on the sentimental 'Invincible', an Auto-Tuned Ellie Goulding adding her folktronic slant to 'Wonderman', and Californian Christian rocker Eric Turner whose vocals work oddly well on 'Written in the Stars'. Surprisingly enough, one of the best comes from less well known Scottish R&B singer Emeli Sandé, known for singing on Chipmunk's single 'Diamond Rings'. Her turn on the dark, funky and deliberate 'Let Go' suggests her name may be heard a lot more in the year ahead.
With a laudable lack of filler, 80% of these tracks could easily make hit singles. This may be his first outing, but Tinie's already far surpassed most of his longer-running peers.
