'A lot of men, and not just musically, hit their peak at 40 or 50 watch this space'

Tinie Tempah is back with his first new music in eight years. He speaks with Annabel Nugent about his return, why Black culture is finally getting recognition, and the decline of clubs

- Annabel Nugent

Eight years is a long time to be out of the game for a rapper. That’s nearly 3,000 days away from the spotlight, out of the charts, out of sight and out of mind. Taking a break of that scale isn't advisable for any artist, let alone a young rapper still on the rise. Yet this is exactly what Tinie Tempah did when, at 29 years old with seven No 1s and two Brit Awards to his name, he hit the brakes.

"I felt like a Lil Wayne or a Justin Bieber in the sense that I've been doing it a long time, so I always said to myself that when I got to 30, I'd take a break," he says now, still only 36 but passing for late twenties in an oversized grey hoodie and sneakers. "My life had been so surreal and I wanted to do normal things: hang out with my friends, have kids, try other hobbies." He has a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Rewind to 2017 and Tempah, née Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu Jr, was at the height of his cultural influence. He had established himself as a perceptive and intricate lyricist with slick, cheeky songs like “Pass Out” and “Frisky” that channelled some of rap’s febrile energy into sticky dancefloor pop. He had been anointed GQ’s best-dressed man and appeared on Top Gear. Prince William, a fan, gave him a high-five on live TV.

From the outside looking in, the hiatus was baffling. From where Tempah was standing, it was all part of the plan. He'd heard the horror stories: all the rock stars, the tech entrepreneurs, the finance guys who regretted not spending enough time with their children, and so he set about creating a family. He married Eve De Haan, daughter of Sir Roger De Haan, in 2019, and has two children, now aged four and seven. “For me, none of this is worth it if my house is not intact,” he says. Turns out, Tempah is no longer the man who “just wanna have eh eh”.