What Nobody Knows…

TempMan is a well known name in the UK rap scene. At the age of 19, he is one of the youngest yet talented rappers out there today.

Born on the 7th November 1987, TempMan is the youngest boy from a large family of two brothers he does not know and 3 sisters. Born in the UK to a Jamaican mother and Nigerian father, he spent most of his up bringing in various children’s homes across the country. For someone who has had it tough from a very young age and was moved around a lot, this young man today is a bright, fun-loving artist, who has a natural exuberance for life.

“I grew up in Brixton, and still live there now. This is where I spent most of my days, and where I learnt the art of being an MC”.

TempMan started off as a jungle MC. Listening to Jungle and performing to it is what he most enjoyed doing, but it wasn’t always plain-sailing. He was moved around a lot, and at one point was shipped from Brixton to Kent & Margate. It was here that he decided it was all or nothing.

“I used to be a rubbish MC-I was so bad, but I carried on writing, carried on spitting and just got better and better-I refused to give up”.

From the age of 12 music today, Garage.

onwards, he went with the times. At a time when music was changing fast and although his love of Jungle music would always be there, he moved onto what then became one the biggest dance genres. Changing with the times, Garage was huge in the UK and was becoming the next big thing in Europe and the USA. While MC’ing to Jungle, he never really got the chance to work with some of the genres industry people, but in the garage industry, the young would be star had the opportunity to work with some of the industry’s most famous acts.

“I didn’t really get to collaborate with anyone established while MC’ing to jungle, but with garage I had my pick of the bunch; Wiley, D double E, Dogg Pound & Dirty Dozen now known as SW2”.

TempMan then moved onto working with and going to events done by Heartless Crew, Pay As You Go and Dizzee Rascal, who became his favourite artist, before he became commercial. Going to raves, running up on stage and performing with these types of stars is where he was having a good time, and how he became better with his own talent. He says himself that he loves performing, loves to entertain the crowd and loves being on stage, doing his own thing. It was all a party at that time, going on “sick” in the raves.

“I know that I’m better than Dizzee Rascal, I knew it then too but never had the chance to show my talent-now it’s my time”.

TempMan is an extremely confident artist, who learnt at a young age to believe in himself. Listening to all types of music helped shape his own music today. His mother, aunties & nan heavily influenced reggae music in his life, the music of half his native, but he never took much notice of it growing up. It’s only now that he is older, that he appreciates it & listens to it more. He says himself that this may have had a lot to do with the American music industry having such a strong influence in the UK. Although he listened to Jungle artists such as Skibadee & Shabba a lot, and moved onto the Garage music scene, he is also a big fan of Rap and Hip-Hop. Very much into underground music, he listened to artists such as Ruff Ryders a lot, at a time when DMX was “tough” as he put it.

“Rap is just rap-it’s about the streets. Hip-Hop is what sells-commercial artists”.