Popular British rapper Tinie Tempah was recently spotted competing at a Grappling Industries BJJ tournament, in a blue belt division. The rapper’s real name is Patrick Chukwuemeka Okugwu, but he has gone by both Tinie Tempah and most recently just Tinie during his career. He is of Nigerian descent and born in London, where his musical career first began back in 2005 at the age of just 16/17. He became known in the UK rap and grime scene over the following years before bursting into the mainstream consciousness in 2010 with his UK number 1 debut studio album ‘Disc-Overy’.
That album spawned a pair of UK number 1 singles and a pair of top 10 singles, with those same 4 songs hitting the charts in a number of other countries as well. Since then he has released another 2 albums that both reached the top 10 in the UK, with several singles from those albums charting well as well. He has been a permanent figure in the UK music scene for over a decade and has gone on major tours around the country, including in support of superstars like Rihanna and Usher.
Music isn’t the only interest that Tinie Tempah has though, as he’s also gotten involved in BJJ over the years and has even been promoted to blue belt in the sport some time before his recent appearance at a Grappling Industries tournament. He gave a good account of himself on the mats too, judging from the footage of his match at the event. He’s far from the first musician to fall in love with BJJ and he’s actually part of a growing interest in the sport among UK celebrities in recent years, including famous actor Tom Hardy.
The footage of Tinie Tempah competing at blue belt in a Grappling Industries BJJ tournament was uploaded to the official Instagram account of Roaming Rolls:
