Wolves rapper Tenny Ten fills Nardene Scott in on touring with Mr Hudson and Tinie Tempah, the importance of helping out in your community and how he has been working with some hot US producers including Mr Woo who penned the current single Swaggnificent.

Hey! How are things going, we know you’re fresh from touring with Mr Hudson what was that experience like?

Wats good RWD?? Bless for having me. Yeah the Hudson tour..MADNESS!!..It was a big experience being on the road with Tinie Tempah and Mr Hudson, it was a good look and gave me a taste of what’s to come. Mr Hudson is a down to earth character and even asked me to perform a track with him in Manchester. I had fans with Tenny Ten banners, I had women’s underwear thrown at me and to see fans sing your songs with you line for line was overwhelming.

Your new single Swaggnificent was produced by Mr Woo who has produced for Camron, Ja Rule and Suge Knight amongst many others, how did that hook up come about?

Mr Woo actually heard some of my material and liked what he heard but he didn’t have a contact for me. A year later my team approached him and it was like…in Woo’s words “FATE”. We both have a solid respect for each other and the musical connection we share is magic. I feel as honoured as he does to have me rapping on his beats as I do to having such magical production sent my way…..BIG UP THE WOOSTA!!!

Also, since hearing the single Swaggnificent we heard Felli Fel is also interested in contributing towards your upcoming album. Are there any other collaborations we can expect to hear on the album?

Yeah man, over in the States I am working with producer Tommy Gunz (who also produced This Is Why I’m Hot by Mimz) and the tracks we have done are SICK!!! I have production from Crazy Cousinz who have brought a sick vibe to the table, some sick beats from Mr Woo and some of my own production…I have a few surprise guest appearances which I don’t think I am allowed to say too much about but u can expect Hard Club BANGERZ to real deep stories…

You come from a pretty musical family your parents performing with UB40, Thin Lizzy and Culture Club and you yourself starting to rap at just fourteen; was music always something that you knew you had to be involved in?

I always had music in me but sport was the path I thought I was going to go down. Although the club scene kind of got me used to a mic and then I started to write and it kind of progressed from there.

You are quite a versatile artist spitting over electro tinged beats and working with Indian star TAZ. What artists inspire and influence your music?

I was brought up amongst such a wide variety of music from rock to reggae and jazz to pop. My rapping was influenced from listening to the greats like Busta Rhymes, Redman and Jay Z but I like to include all genres whether its intentional or not. My favourite artists also range from Sizzla to Damian Marley, Beyonce to Jill Scott and all the UK urban artists inspire me because we are all contributing to putting the UK on the map.

We know you speak out against knife crime and violence especially within your hometown of Wolverhampton, and have recently finished a school tour. How important do you think it is for artists to support their own communities?

Imperative, because these kids look up to us and want to be like us and it grieves me to see 14/15 year old kids from the ends getting sent to detention centres. If you are in the spotlight and kids are buying your music, it’s your duty to make sure they are not misunderstanding the messages you’re delivering…I try to let them know “it’s just music and instead of trying to live the pictures we paint, become the artist who paints the picture”. If an artist can set up talent competitions where kids have to rehearse and give them the opportunity to perform and showcase their talent with an incentive for the winners, they are giving back to the community.

Even though you’re from Wolverhampton we hear you support Liverpool!!! So have you been following the World Cup so far; who are you supporting and who do you think is likely to win?

When I was on the sport ting Liverpool was my team and I admit I no longer follow football, however…. I do follow the World Cup and I think Germany has a big chance and I would love England to win but I can’t help thinking we are going to be let down AGAIN!!!!!…So I want Brazil to win…(laughs)

Bearing in mind your new single Swaggnificent which UK artists do you think have their swagger on point and who do you think needs to step their swag game up?

I think Tinchy’s Swag game’s hard!!! Tinie has his own swagger going on too!!! Gareth Gates could do with swaggin’ up a little..(laughs)

You have a twin brother Jodi, aka ConMan, who joined you on your track Twin Bro; what is it like being a twin and have you ever pretended to be each other?

We are un-identical which in a way is good, because he used to get himself in a lot of trouble when we were kids and I would’ve ended up getting mistaken for him during his hood dramas (laughs). But having a twin was a bonus when going to school for the first day because we had each other’s back…even when we hit nursery we would hog the toys and dominate due to the “twin confidence”…lol. The only thing is we sound identical on the phone, so one day when the house phone rang I answered it to his girlfriend… I said “hello” she just started to make conversation presuming I was my bro…so for a joke I started talking dirty to her and she hung up!!!…they temporarily split up, until I owned up….(laughs)

Where can people catch you performing? Are there any festival dates coming up and what can people expect from a Tenny Ten performance?

The next event I’m at is Big Fest at Civic Hall, Wolverhampton on 27th June. There’s a big line up including, Tinie Tempah, Wiley, McLean, Mz Bratt, Fugative, Stay Fresh and many more!!! When you see me perform expect ENERGY!!!! Stage presence, a tight delivery, good crowd interaction and SWAGGER!!!!

Our next issue is going to be Issue 101 so if you had to put another UK rapper into Room 101 who would it be and why?

Well, I would put a whole lot of rappers who copy certain flows in there as well as those who are in the game for the wrong reason, who swagger jack and don’t do half the things that they rap about

Any Last Words…?

Big bless for RWD magazine for representing for the UK scene HARD from day dot!!!

New single Swaggnificent is out now, you can follow Tenny Ten on Twitter @tennyten

Tags: Grime, Hip Hop, Interviews, Mr Hudson, Mr Woo, Tenny Ten, Tinie Tempah