Born in London in 1988, Patrick Okogwu, otherwise known as Tinie Tempah, is a rapper and TV presenter. Growing up on the Aylesbury estate in Peckham, London, before moving to Plumstead, Tempah broke into the mainstream in 2010. With songs such as Frisky, Written in the Stars and Not Letting Go, he won two Brit awards, while Pass Out became his first of seven No 1 singles, the most by any UK rap artist. His brother, Kelvin, is a DJ, manager and producer. Tempah presents an interiors show on Channel 4 and is an ambassador for Chase Gin & Vodka.
Tinie
This was a holiday of a lifetime. We were visiting cousins in West Palm Beach, Florida. As a family from a humble background, our parents worked really hard to get us out there. That summer felt like a pretty big deal.
Even though there’s a six-year age gap, Kelvin and I have always been really close. Along with our two sisters, we were raised with a lot of love. Saying that, we were probably annoying each other in this photo. I couldn’t swim at the time and, being from inner-city London, I hadn’t experienced many coastlines before. While I was excited about going in the water, as soon as I realised it wasn’t bath temperature, I got the shock of my life. Hence the expression.
As the oldest brother, I was raised quite differently from Kelvin – there was an expectation that I would set a good example to the rest of my siblings. Meanwhile, Kelvin had a softer time. He was, and still is, charismatic and energetic. We have a lot of similar traits, too – he is very loving and quite hard on himself, which I definitely am.
I don’t want to take all the credit, but when it came to cultural taste, a lot of mine and Kelvin’s shared passions growing up came from whatever I was into. I was listening to UK garage and American hip‑hop, and, while we’ve never made a track together, sometimes me and Kelvin would go back to back or spit some bars. Wrestling was another of my obsessions, and I would try out a few moves on my little brother.
Back when this photo was taken, I was just a young dreamer who was starting to manifest what he wanted his future to look like. My goal was clear: “Right now we are living on a council estate in Peckham, but eventually we’re going to get out. I’ll have my own house, and I’m going to travel the world!” While rapping started as a hobby, slowly it turned into a real career.
I worked hard because I’d seen how hard my parents worked. Mum emigrated from Nigeria to the UK in her late teens. She and Dad started over again in Britain, working multiple jobs, from human resources to social work, as well as getting educated again. My story is a testament to their survival. It set me up to dream big: I took a strand of their ambition, and ran with it.
Because of how much they struggled, I don’t think my parents understood why I was trying to do something creative and risky. They wanted me to pursue a safe, academic, linear career; to become a doctor or a lawyer. Despite their resistance, I knew if I believed in anything hard enough, I could prove them wrong.
In 2009 I got signed. I had started to get recognised a few years before, mainly on the bus when I was commuting to college and back. It was the early stages of fame, just local. Then Pass Out came out, and everything changed. It was the biggest-selling song by a male artist in 2010. At that point my parents finally realised I might be on the right path. “OK, what you’re doing seems like it’s real,” they said. “It might make some money. We’re happy.”
There weren’t that many UK rappers in the charts at the time. Being first is not necessarily easy. You’re not always welcomed with open arms. You get criticised, you sometimes get ridiculed and you make loads of mistakes. But I’m a firm believer that pressure makes diamonds. To see the way that my career benefited and inspired all the people around me, including my brother, that’s the true joy.
Throughout it all, staying in touch with Kelvin has never been an issue. That’s mainly due to how we were raised: to stay connected to our community, to our family. Over the decades, there have been breakups, family disagreements and losses, and my brother has always been there for me. Recently we’ve tried to do monthly meetings, just me and my siblings. We sit down, eat lunch and talk about how we’re all feeling. That’s been one of the biggest changes – opening up more. We’ve grown a lot spiritually, too. And physically – Kelvin is taller than me now.
Doing jiu-jitsu has also made us closer. It’s very disciplined and technical, but training together allows us to be boisterous like we were as boys. It doesn’t matter what our lives are like, or what we’re doing that day, three times a week we get on the mats and go for it. That’s a beautiful thing.
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Kelvin
This was a really good trip. Getting out of the UK was a breath of fresh air. Good weather. Nice beaches. It was my first ever time going to America, the second time ever flying. I had no complaints!
T was a very good big brother. In both Peckham and in Plumstead we shared bunk beds. We were both messy and we both liked wrestling. There was lots of misbehaving, lots of playfighting. Being a little bit naughty at times.
As the youngest, I was quite spoiled. I got a lot of love and a lot of free rein. Anything I wanted as a young lad, I would get. That was my childhood. Completely different from T, who had a lot more pressure on him.
T’s success hit home when he got the No 1 with Pass Out. It made me realise that you can do anything you want to do if you put your mind to it. The song beat Rude Boy by Rihanna to the top spot. I found that very inspiring, and it made me realise that music was something I wanted to get into, too.
If T was doing something music-related, I would tag along to launch parties or video shoots. There were other perks: sometimes he’d pick me up from college in his Aston Martin. And one week I had been particularly naughty at school and had been sent to the isolation unit. T was coming in to do a visit. Because my big brother was so well loved, I got treated like a little prince and the deputy head took me out of isolation.
The most amazing experience was at Glastonbury when I was a teenager. T finished his set, came off stage and Jay-Z came over to say hi. He gave us both a handshake. It was so surreal. It made me feel proud to be his brother.
The magnitude of T’s success did at times get crazy, and I would often feel protective of him, even though he was the older brother. Throughout it all he stayed the same: bold, resilient, loving and a hard worker. Someone who makes a decision and then executes. He doesn’t take no for an answer.
