WHAT’S ON: Adams Tensta remains hot star in Swedish hip-hop music

The ever-changing music genre, hip-hop, is constantly moving in new exciting directions, locally as well as globally. In 2008, the Swedish hip-hop scene is experiencing a new sound, which has been embraced by an amazingly varied crowd ranging from 5-year-old snot-nosed kids to 65-year-old grandmothers.

The person behind this new sound is Adams Tensta. According to the young hip-hop star’s official site, he is the latest in a long line of talented hip-hop entrepreneurs who have put their imprint on Swedish hip-hop music.

Born Adam Momodou Eriksson Taal, on August 1, 1983, Adam grew up the son of a single mother and a Gambian father, in a project in the outskirts of Stockholm called Tensta.

In a neighborhood where violence and crime is the norm, Adam Tensta refused to take the path of many of his peers. Instead of stealing, smoking dope and skipping school, he found a mental sanctuary in hip hop music and artists like the Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Nas and Bob Marley became the source of inspiration for his first rhymes.

Adam Tensta gained national exposure in May 2007 with his debut single "They Wanna Know", which enjoyed heavy rotation on all major radio stations as well as music television stations, including ZTV, The Voice TV and MTV. A few months later the big breakthrough came, as Adam Tensta dropped the single "My Cool" from the album "It’s a Tensta Thing".

It became an instant hit and parked itself on the Swedish Dance chart for eight consecutive weeks, reaching a fourth place on the Swedish single chart. "My Cool has been downloaded nearly 150,000 times from MySpace and had more than 1.2 million views in its first five months on YouTube. Perhaps the biggest sign of appreciation came when the album It’s a Tensta thing was awarded the 2008 Swedish Grammis, Sweden’s equivalent to a Grammy, for best Dance/Hip Hop/Soul album," he said.

To honor his roots, Adam took Tensta as his artist name, and for the first time Swedish newspaper headlines didn’t only refer to crime stories. Adam Tensta has never smoked, drank alcohol or done drugs. He strives to be a good role model and is a representative of "A Non-Smoking Generation" and an ambassador for the Swedish chapter of "Save the Children," a child advocacy group that looks after the value and safety of all children in the world.

Adam Tensta, a representative of the independent label RMH (Respect My Hustle) Entertainment, has swept the Swedish audience off its feet with his electro and house influenced hip-hop style. With eight Swedish music nominations and counting, Adam Tensta’s music is slowly, but surely, spreading across the world, popping up on popular websites like www.allhip-hop.com, www.onsmash.net, www.perezhilton.com and HHNlive.com.

Since the beginning of 2008, Adam Tensta has kept a busy schedule with club performances and as the opening act for Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes, Rihanna, Akon, Blackstreet, Beatnuts, Musiq Soulchild, Mando Diao, Flo Rida and Jazzy Jeff. Now, he is ready to launch an updated version of his award winning debut album It's a Tensta Thing – worldwide. Not only has the recognition of Adam Tensta’s music opened international doors for his record label, RMH Entertainment, but also for the Swedish hip-hop industry as a whole.

Every once in a while an artist comes along that completely changes the game. In 2008, that artist is Adam Tensta.