GearCrave Interview: Adam Tensta
Turn up your speakers, GearCravers, you’re going to want to hear this. The freshest face in hip hop promises a bold new direction for the genre. Why haven’t you heard of him? He doesn’t hail from Brooklyn, Long Beach or Atlanta. Adam Tensta is the number one hip hop artist in an unlikely setting– the great nation of Sweden.
Adam’s most noteworthy trait is not his Swedish heritage, but the fresh, vibrant sound he delivers in songs like “My Cool” and “They Wanna Know“. Where American hip hop is increasingly stale and cookie-cutter, Adam Tensta revises the script completely with refreshing, pounding electro beats and powerful vocal delivery. Beneath this bold new sound is a man who decries the misogynist-thug language common in hip hop today– and instead brings a positive and infectious message.
GearCrave sat down with Adam Tensta to get to know his history, his influences, and where his future may take him. Keep reading, GearCravers, we’ve got Adam’s latest videos plus a giveaway of Adam’s debut album to one lucky GearCrave reader.
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Adam Tensta’s hit single, “My Cool”, directed by Marcus Lundin.
I grew up listening to Bob Marley, but that was before I was really listening. As a kid I guess you really don’t understand the bigger picture until you get to a certain age. Even though the music of Bob Marley has stuck with me since then I’m more in tune to whats going on in the genre of hiphop. I been into Dead Prez, Outkast, Kanye West to say a few and I guess that my sound is a hybrid of what I appreciate listening to. Never compromising lyrical content but pushing boundaries when it comes to production. Some of my favorite producers are Hi-Tek, Just Blaze and Organized Noise.
Haha… the first cd I ever bought was a birthday present to a friend. It was Mark Morrisson-Return of the mack. The first record in my own record collection was Mobb Deep-The Infamous.
The climate for hiphop music in Sweden isn’t as giving as the climate over there. The biggest genre is the Rock/Pop genre so that’s were most of the money end up. Hiphop is on the rise though, its the larges growing genre out there and its getting more and more airtime in public media– much due to the quality of the music hiphop artists put out.
Being a hiphop artist in Sweden has in the past been really rough but right now the climate is better than it ever been. The biggest problem being a hiphop artist over here is getting the right people into your music, the people in power seldom listen to hiphop therefore seldom put that on rotation, so you really need to flirt with the indie crowd to get anything done over here, specially if your a new artist on the come up.
I spit in English so of course we aiming to get overseas. Not just to the U.S though, but anywhere in the world where people can relate to what I’m saying. Music is universal so we aiming to take it everywhere.
I would say it like dead prez said it. Its bigger than hiphop, everything I’m speaking on is real so I know you can relate to what I’m saying if you been through shit. I’m in the process of becoming a better man, always learning and always growing. So yeah…its bigger than hiphop.
Tune in to my shit if you wanna know bout a nigga, its always out there and personal.
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Another banger from Mr. Tensta, “They Wanna Know”.
Myspace myspace myspace…cant stress that enough. Get in touch with how things are working nowadays.
I don´t drive so I would have to say an oldschool BMX just like the one I had back in the day. That dangerous jump over a railing type of shit.
The best book- The Alchemist
The best movie- La Haine
Cant live without my cellphone (HTC s730), nintendo (NES), nintendo DS, nintendo (n64), nintendo (WII), PS3 and my Casio watch.
Mac straight up!
Assassins Creed for PS3… haven’t have time to play it though.
I can solve a Rubix Cube in less than one minute.
Thanks so much for chatting with us, Adam. We’re excited to hear more from you in the future, and we look forward to seeing your name in lights here in the U.S. If you’d like to hear more of Adam’s music, visit his myspace page and checkout My Cool and They Wanna Know on youtube.
If you love Adam’s sound like we do, go ahead leave a comment below. Adam’s label, RMH Ent, is giving away a free copy of Adam’s latest album “My Cool” to one lucky GearCrave reader. We’ll select a comment below at random to win. Good luck!
