Tinie Tempah is returning to music.
The “Pass Out” hitmaker hasn’t released an album since 2017’s “Youth” as he has been largely busy with TV work on shows such as “Bangers: Mad For Cars.” He’s now ready to go back to his roots, and he enlisted Dutch DJ Don Diablo to work on his forthcoming dance record.
“Tinie wants a huge comeback and is looking to recreate some of the club anthems he made earlier in his career,” a source told The Sun‘s “Bizarre” column on May 5. “He has enjoyed spending time on other projects but feels ready for a comeback and is lining up some festivals.”
Tempah previously spoke of how he thinks hip hop has “empowered” the next generation of Black kids and given them the chance to impact society.
“When I think of how many people hip-hop has empowered. Even though Michael Jordan was renowned for sports, hip-hop made him cooler. Even though Barack Obama was renowned for his politics, hip-hop culture made him cooler. So when you think of what hip-hop has been able to do for people like Jimmy Iovine — who isn’t even black — he’s almost a billionaire from it,” Tempah said.
“People can look at it and feel like it’s from music, but it’s genius. All of these different things have come from this culture, and I’m excited to see what [hip-hop artists’] kids will be now that they can go to these private schools. They can essentially take lemons and make lemonade. Hip-hop has been able to even the scales,” he said on the “Hip Hop Saved My Life” podcast.
However, star suggested society puts pressure on rappers to be voices for the Black community, as he has seen people judge his entire race by the way one person conducts themselves.
“I feel that pressure comes from wider society, but I also feel the pressure did come from some of the old gods of hip-hop. There was a message of that with hip hop,” Tempah stated.
“It was about educating people on their rights and knowing how to survive in a world that was not designed for them to thrive in,” he continued. “I can understand if some of the old gods were like, ‘You’re not sticking to what hip-hop is about.'”
“But in saying that, if you’re white you don’t have any pressure in representing your whole race. That’s why I have conducted myself in such a way as any action that’s alien can have an effect on your whole race,” Tempah added.
