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The ever-changing music genre, hip-hop, is constantly moving in new exciting
directions, locally as well as globally. In 2008, the Swedish hip-hop scene is
experiencing a new sound, which has been embraced by an amazingly varied crowd
ranging from 5-year-old snot-nosed kids to 65-year-old grandmothers. The person
behind this new sound is Adam Tensta. He is the latest in a long line of
talented hip-hop entrepreneurs who have put their imprint on Swedish hip-hop
music.
Adam Tensta gained national exposure in May 2007 with his debut
single They Wanna Know, which enjoyed heavy rotation on all major radio
stations as well as music television stations, including ZTV, The Voice TV and
MTV. A few months later the big breakthrough came, as Adam Tensta dropped the
single My Cool from the album It’s a Tensta Thing. It became an
instant hit and parked itself on the Swedish Dance chart for eight consecutive
weeks, reaching a fourth place on the Swedish single chart. My Cool has been
downloaded nearly 150,000 times from MySpace and had more than 1.2 million
views in its first five months on YouTube. Perhaps the biggest sign of
appreciation came when the album It’s a Tensta thing
was awarded the 2008 Swedish Grammis, Sweden’s equivalent to a Grammy, for best
Dance/Hip Hop/Soul album.
Born Adam Momodou Eriksson Taal, on August 1, 1983, Adam grew up the son of a
single mother and an absent, heroin-addicted father in a project in the
outskirts of Stockholm called Tensta. In a neighborhood where violence and
crime is the norm, Adam Tensta refused to take the path of many of his peers.
Instead of stealing, smoking dope and skipping school, he found a mental
sanctuary in hip hop music and artists like the Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Nas
and Bob Marley became the source of inspiration for his first rhymes. To honor
his roots, Adam took Tensta as his artist name, and for the first time Swedish
newspaper headlines didn’t only refer to crime stories. Adam Tensta has never
smoked, drank alcohol or done drugs. He strives to be a good role model and is
a representative of “A Non Smoking Generation” and an ambassador for the
Swedish chapter of “Save the Children,” a child advocacy group that looks after
the value and safety of all children in the world.
Adam Tensta, a representative of the independent label RMH (Respect My Hustle)
Entertainment, has swept the Swedish audience off its feet with his electro
and house influenced hip-hop style. With eight Swedish music nominations and
counting, Adam Tensta’s music is slowly, but surely, spreading across the
world, popping up on popular websites like www.allhip-hop.com, www.onsmash.net,
www.perezhilton.com and HHNlive.com. Since the beginning of 2008, Adam Tensta
has kept a busy schedule with club performances and as the opening act for
Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Rihanna, Akon, Blackstreet, Beatnuts, Musiq Soulchild, Mando Diao, Flo Rida and Jazzy Jeff. Now, he is ready to launch an updated version of his award winning debut album It's a Tensta Thing –
worldwide. Not only has the recognition of Adam Tensta’s music opened
international doors for his record label, RMH Entertainment, but also for the
Swedish hip-hop industry as a whole.
Every once in a while an artist comes along that completely changes the game. ..In 2008, that artist is Adam Tensta.
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