Brightest Young Things

all photos: Chris Svetlik
all words: Micheal Parker

Adam Tensta debut album, It’s a Tensta Thing song gained worldwide recognition. His music has been labeled as the future of Hip-Hop, seamlessly blending a brutal lyrical delivery with slick and sexy electro beats, his music videos top 3.5 million hits on YouTube, and you haven’t heard of him, at least not yet. If I told you that a vegetarian, straight-edge, half Swedish, half Gambian artist, who rapped over electro beats was hitting America by storm, would you believe me?

Adam Tensta gets his name from the Tensta Projects, a rough area of Stockholm where Tensta grew up, and still lives. After starting an independent label, self releasing his album and playing relentless and energetic live shows, Adam Tensta won a Swedish Grammy award and became one of the most recognizable faces in European Hip-Hop.

Tensta has now set his sights on the United States, and after flying in to play two sold-out back-to-back shows in DC, he and his label mates are flying out to LA and New York to meet with booking agents and media outlets.

We sat down for a 3 hour long impromptu interview at the House of Sweden before his show, and kicked it afterwards, talking about everything from Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Gambian pop-stars. Here are some of the best bits:

Michael Parker: Tell me why you chose to name yourself Adam Tensta

Adam Tensta: My real last name is Taal…but I actually took the name because in the beginning I googled “Tensta” and all these words came up, negative words, words like “Welfare”, or just crime statistics…but that’s not what it is…I just wanted to make [Tensta] into something positive.

MP: Some Americans (like me) have this perception that Sweden is this sort of paradise, full of sexy blonde girls, and where everything is perfect, but we were talking last night about the rise of the right wing in Europe and other social issues in Sweden, obviously that stereotype isn’t accurate, so tell me about how social issues relate to your music?

AT: That’s really what made me big, because I came from an angle that people hadn’t seen before. I was from Tensta, mixed heritage and whatnot… I came from a single family home, my dad was locked up. Still, I made something positive out of it. Not claiming I’m gangsta, never that, just that I’m me.

MP: Speaking of that, you’ve come out to say that you don’t drink , smoke or do drugs, is that just a personal choice of yours?

AT: Its never really been a thing for me, I didn’t really think about it until people were like… “Yo you don’t drink? You don’t smoke? How come??” Its just never been a thing, even though my peers – my homies did it all, It just didn’t catch on – --People will think that I cant party without drinking or doing drugs, but I can.

MP: You told me that you don’t make Hip-Hop music, that kind of blew my mind, what did you mean by that?

AT: When I first started I was like… “this is English rap from Sweden… over electro beats… the market is going to be very small” but it grew to something very big. But the only thing really Hip-Hop about the music right now is the rap element.

MP: Were you more hip-hop when you started, or more electro?

AT: Hip-hop, this is something that grew from hip-hop,maybe in some regard I still do Hip-Hop music, but we stumbled across a production, which became our first single, “They Wanna Know”. I never thought I would merge [electro and hip-hop]. But on my debut album (“It’s a Tensta Thing”), you can start to see the direction I wanna move into… as far as breaking barriers go.

MP: So were here in the House of Sweden, what are you up to here in DC?

AT:The Swedish Embassy flew us out to do a couple of shows, and were just taking our opportunity, since were new on US soil, were linking up with DJs, booking agents, and all that. I’m really liking it though. People in Sweden already know all the songs, this is a chance to meet new people and its fun – its fun to be a new artist again… we’ve done 300 shows since the release of the album, and I consider myself first and foremost a live artist, so its nice.

MP: You’ve got “It’s a Tensta Thing”, any plans for a new album?

AT: We’re planning to re-push “It’s a Tensta Thing”, were not in a hurry, just trying to build a new fan-base. I’m always working on new material, so we will see.

MP: Swedish Hip-Hop is amazing, any other artists we should be looking out for?

AT: The number one is right here, Eboi, {Tensta’s hypeman and friend from a young age} the second artist signed to Respect My Hustle.

MP: Whats Respect My Hustle?

AT: That’s the management company (run by Adam's manager Babak Azarmi and partner Thomas Gunnarsson-ed) that represents my clique, containing Eboi, Rooftop and myself.

MP: Sounds like the Swedish Roc-a-Fella…

AT: haha, basically… basically… without a Swedish Dame Dash dancing in the videos. But there's a lot of talent in Sweden, a lot of people who have found their own way, and we proved this can be done without major labels, we just did a big guerilla marketing campaign and it worked out. It can be done.

I had offered to get out of Tensta’s hair as he prepared for his show, but he was gracious and magnanimous, we talked for a while, about him returning to Gambia (where his father is from) and playing shows out there. The lounge area and green room in which we sat in was a conference room for the European Union, fitting for an artist already prolific in his home continent. Interestingly, I ran into Winston Ford, of The Couch Sessions.com, who had praised Tensta on his website 4 years previously, and whom Tensta had invited out to show his appreciation.

At 11pm, the call came in that the rooftop was ready for his performance, and the charismatic rapper put on an amazing show. The roof was packed with adoring Swedish girls and locals in the know, the deck was shaking as a sold out house bounced to Tensta’s energetic brand of club music. I get the feeling this is only the beginning of Tensta’s venture into the US. His album is available for free on his myspace, be sure to check it out.

Links:
My Cool (video) click here
Homepage:click here
Label: click here

Previously in Live DC:

• 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
• 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
• 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
• 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre
• 2/7: LiveDC: Augustana/ Graffiti6 @ 930 Club
• 2/6: LiveDC: All Things Go Presents: Reptar/ Casual Curious/ Fort Lean @ Gibson Guitar Showroom
• 2/6: LiveDC: TYCHO/ Beacon @ RNR Hotel
• 2/6: LiveDC: The Kills / Jeff The Brotherhood @ 9:30 Club