Check Out The Delta Born Nigerian British Rapper With Swag

Patrick Junior Chukwuemeka Okogwu was born November 7th, 1988 in Plumstead, South London was born in London. His parents are from Nigeria. Until he was 12, Tempah lived on the Aylesbury Estate in southeast London with his parents and three younger siblings: Kelly, Kelvin, and Marian.

The family later moved to Plumstead, with Tempah attending St. Paul's Catholic School in nearby Abbey Wood. After earning 10 GCSEs, he took A Levels in media studies, psychology, and religious studies at St. Francis Xavier Sixth Form College.

At 12 years old, Tempah conceived his stage name after viewing the music video for So Solid Crew's "21 Seconds". He used a thesaurus in class, juxtaposing "tempah" (temper), which he saw under "angry", with "tinie" (tiny), to ameliorate the aggressive sound of "tempah".

Regarding his London upbringing, Tempah states, "London is one of the only places in the world where you can live in a council block and see a beautiful semi-detached house across the street. Growing up around that was inspirational, it kept me motivated." He has said that he has considered furthering his education, stating, "I definitely want to be in a financial position where I can head off to Cambridge or Oxford or somewhere. I would study something like music management or something extremely random like physics, which no-one would expect, as I like challenges.

Tempah's music career began in 2005 when he joined the Aftershock Hooligans (Aftershock Records), recording hundreds of songs with the fellow Hooligans. His first mixtape, "Chapter 1: Verse 22", was released via Aftershock Records in 2005, as a free mixtape. In 2006, Tempah gained a great deal of airplay on British music TV channel Channel AKA for his song "Tears", and later on gained more recognition for "Wifey". Later in the year, he collaborated on a track ("Perfect GCD Hood Economics Room 147") with grime artist Ultra and producers and songwriters Agent X. Tempah stayed on the label until 2007. When asked why he left, he stated that he felt Aftershock didn't respect him as an artist and that it was time to move on.

Tempah, together with his manager and cousin Dumi Oburota founded the independent label Disturbing London primarily as an outlet for Tempah's music, but with the idea of also signing other young artists. According to Dumi: "We wanted to have a platform to put out our music and there wasn't any Def Jam or Roc-A-Fella label equivalent in England. [Also] I wanted to create a major independent label with quality artists. I felt like the major labels had lost the passion for music." The activities of the label were initially largely funded by student loans and the proceeds from buying and selling cars. Disturbing London also produce a clothing range that Tinie wears and promotes.

When scout and music consultant Jade Richardson saw Tempah performing at the 2009 Wireless Festival she called Parlophone Records president Miles Leonard saying: "You've got to check out this guy Tinie Tempah. He came on at lunchtime and there’s about 1,000 kids screaming for him. He's only put out one independent release and he's got this huge audience."

Leonard and A&R Nathan Thompson visited Tempah and his manager Dumi at their studio a few weeks later and were hugely impressed to hear about the work they had already done in developing Tempah's career and by the ambitious plans they had for his future. Leonard told HitQuarters: "I thought it was incredible that an artist and manager were doing so much so soon with so little... That impressed as much as the music."

Tempah announced his signing to Parlophone in October 2009 by running a competition on his blog, with the winner invited to high tea at Claridges to celebrate the deal.

Tempah released his debut single “ Pass out" through Parlophone on 28 February 2010. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 1, having sold just over 92,000 copies in its first week, and sold sufficiently well to stay at the top spot for a second week.

Tempah's second single "Frisky" was released on 6 June 2010, entering the UK Singles Chart at number 2. "Frisky" would later be used for a 2013 Bacardi commercial advertising their new pineapple flavor.

Tempah released his third single "Written in the Stars" on 19 September 2010. This again charted at number 1 in the UK Singles Chart, selling over 115,000 copies in its first week (his biggest-selling single to date), and charting in a number of other countries.

Tempah teamed up with Swedish House Mafia for his fourth single "Miami 2 Ibiza", which was released on 1 October 2010. This reached a peak of number 4 in the UK Singles Chart and gave him his first number 1 in the Netherlands Mega Single Top 100 chart. Tempah's long-awaited debut album

Disc-Overy was then released on 4 October 2010, featuring all his previous charted singles. On 11 October 2010, he kicked off his first UK tour which was supported by Chiddy Bang. In the same month, he was awarded his first 2 MOBO Awards. Tempah also featured on the Tinchy Stryder single "Game Over", which was released on 15 November 2010 and reached number 22 on the UK Singles Chart.

On 25 December, Tempah released his fifth single"Invincible" featuring Kelly Rowland, which peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. "Wonderman", featuring Ellie Goulding, was released and was the sixth official single. Tempah joined Usher on the European leg of his OMG Tour in January 2011.

Tempah was nominated for 4 Brit Awards making him the most nominated artist at the awards, and on 15 February 2011 he won his first ever Brit Award, for Best British Breakthrough Act, as well as a Brit for Best British Single.

On 21 June 2015, Tempah released the first single from his upcoming third studio album, Not Letting Go", which features fellow British artist Jess Glynes

Tempah is also a prominent figure in modern British fashion. In 2012 he was named best dressed man in GQ's Men of the Year Awards. In 2015, he was chosen as the new men ambassador for London Menswear Collections, replacing Nick Grimshaw, and was named one of GQ's 50 best dressed British men.