Tinie Tempah addresses racism in the music industry

TINIE Tempah has said black artists still face racism and suggested some are given lower budgets by record companies than their white counterparts.

The 32-year-old rapper, from south London, said black artists have to navigate many “nuances”, including their commercial power being undervalued. He said the internet had made becoming an artist more accessible but many still face discrimination.

He said: “I would say the internet has made it easier for anyone to become an artist. I could be green and if my song is interesting and my videos are interesting enough then I could be an artist.

“But in terms of speaking about the industry, and what a black artist would have to navigate, there’s lots of nuances.

“Once you’re part of a record label or a system, there are lots of complexities within that framework — what your budgets are versus someone else.

“’You’re a rapper so this is your budget and you’re black, but this is a folk artist who’s from, like, Shropshire, and this is their budget and they haven’t sold as many records as you, but we think that they’re more viable, so we’re going to spend more’.

“So I wouldn’t say it’s become easier, I would say the internet has made it easier for anyone to be an artist. But then, once you have success, and once you’re navigating the industry, the world is still a racist place, and people are still racist.”

The rapper said “not everyone that’s racist has died out” and that many of the issues he experienced in the music industry were related to the “working class, black element of it all”.

He added: “Just fairness, equality in music, equality across the deals, the certain level of deals that you get, equality in terms of the opportunities. You don’t need me to tell you but as a solo artist and a rapper it’s very different, but maybe when we’ve seen interviews from people in bands, Little Mix or One Direction, the person that’s black, or the person that’s mixed, will always tell you — I’m not quoting them, we’ve seen all of this on TV — they’ll always tell you, ‘Oh, I’ll go to a certain country and they put me at the back even though I’m the best singer’. So a lot of my issues are more linked to that.”

Tempah is presenting a new property programme on Channel 4 called Outrageous Extensions which will air on Wednesday October 20 on Channel 4.