LIMASSOL (Cyprus) – The action continues for teams in Group C and D as the Final Phase already beckons for some.
With Gameday 3 on the horizon in Limassol and Katowice, there are a handful of teams looking to continue their perfect run with the Round of 16 already in sight. For others, this marks a chance to get things going with the first win.
Who is going to prevail and who will have to salvage things in the last two games?
Key Storylines
Giannis, Greece take on Georgia with eyes set on 3-0;
France, Poland look to extend perfect run;
Fontecchio and Nurkic go head-to-head.
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Group C: Giannis back for Greece
Can Giannis and Greece qualify on the first try?
With two nice wins in the books, Greece now take on Georgia with their eyes set on the knockout stages. Be sure to tune in and find out if Georgia’s passion can take down Giannis Antetokounmpo who is returning after sitting out the Cyprus game. Reigning champs Spain, who bounced back on Saturday, want to build on that as they take on the hosts Cyprus. Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina will finish things off with their battle for 2-1 and a Simone Fontecchio vs Jusuf Nurkic matchup.
Did you know?
Georgia knocked down only three three-pointers in their last game after making eight or more three-pointers in eight of their nine previous games at the FIBA EuroBasket.
Spain have dished out 20 or more assists in six straight games at the EuroBasket with the longest streak of that kind being seven games.
Saliou Niang is the only Italia’s player to go into the double digits in the scoring column in each of their first two games at the FIBA EuroBasket 2025.
All information has been provided by Opta.
Group B: France look towards Riga
France with a chance to extend their perfect run
After surviving the encounter with Luka Doncic, France now look upon the clear pathway to the top of the group. Next stop is Israel, a team at 1-1 who just missed out on making it two from two. Earlier, Slovenia take on Belgium in a must-win game now that they found themselves at 0-2 as hosts Poland will end the day with a bout against heartbroken Iceland, aiming to record their third win and book the stay in Riga.
Did you know?
Luka Doncic has scored 30+ points in five EuroBasket games since the start of the 2022 event, more than any other player in that span.
This is the first time that France have started a FIBA EuroBasket tournament by scoring 90+ points in each of their first two games (92 vs Belgium & 103 vs Slovenia).
Mateusz Ponitka has had three double-doubles at the FIBA EuroBasket, the second-most for any Polish player
over the last 30 years. Only Marcin Gortat has more with five.
Andre-Frank Anguissa was the hero for Napoli on Saturday with the last-gasp winner which gave the Serie A champions a 1-0 success over Cagliari, while Roma saw off promoted Pisa by the same score.
Cameroon midfielder Anguissa struck in the fifth minute of stoppage time just as it looked like Antonio Conte’s team would fail to break down dogged Cagliari.
Just moments before, Scott McTominay had wasted a golden opportunity to snatch the points at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona where the hosts had few clear chances on goal.
“It was a hard match because they defended really well but we didn’t leave anything out there, we pushed and in the end we won,” said Anguissa to DAZN.
A year ago almost to the day Anguissa netted a winner in added time against Parma, but he scoffed at suggestions Saturday’s strike was an good omen for Napoli’s bid to successfully defend the Scudetto for the first time.
“The most important thing is winning, we played as a team and that’s how it should be,” Anguissa said.
The closest Napoli came to breaking the deadlock before stoppage time came in the 57th minute when Cagliari goalkeeper Elia Caprile pulled off a one-handed save to stop Leonardo Spinazzola’s low drive fizzing in at the near post.
Stars Kevin De Bruyne and McTominay were subdued, while Lorenzo Lucca was again ineffective as a replacement for injured Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku.
Napoli are set to sign Rasmus Hojland from Manchester United with the Denmark striker landing in Italy on Saturday ahead of an initial loan move with obligation to buy.
Roma continued their positive start to life under Gian Piero Gasperini with their narrow win in Tuscany, Matias Soule deciding a tough contest nine minutes after half-time.
Soule stroked home Evan Ferguson’s lay-off to give Roma a perfect six points, level with Napoli — who lead on goal difference — and Cremonese.
The Argentine had the ball in the net for a second time shortly after opening the scoring, but he was denied a brace from the raucous Arena Garibaldi when he was spotted handling the ball before shooting past Adrian Semper.
“Every day that I’m here with the faith that is shown in me I feel better, but I can still give more,” said Soule, who shone alongside countryman Paulo Dybala.
“I’m always with him, so we have a connection off the field as well. When he’s on the pitch he gives us something more.”
Riccardo Orsolino celebrated his selection by new Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso by guiding home the only goal of Bologna’s 1-0 win over Como.
Winger Orsolini met Santiago Castro’s low cross just before the hour to give Bologna their first win of the season, suggesting he is set to carry on with the fine form which helped Vincenzo Italiano’s team win the Italian Cup last season.
The 28-year-old struggled for playing time with Italy under former coach Luciano Spalletti, who was sacked in June following a troubled start to the Azzurri’s World Cup qualifying campaign.
“I need to get to know the coach (Gattuso) but I’m there for him and the rest of the lads. I’m always ready,” said Orsolini.
Atalanta are without a win under Ivan Juric after Patrick Cutrone gave Parma a 1-1 draw.
Cutrone’s 85th-minute strike cancelled out a fine finish six minutes earlier from Mario Pasalic who was playing 300th match for Atalanta and was a key figure in the team which won the Europa League under Gasperini last year.
Life needs proteins for almost everything, from cell repair to immune defense. Scientists have long asked how the first proteins were formed before cells had complex machinery.
A new study reports a simple, water-friendly reaction that links early ingredients into the first steps toward protein-making.
The project was led by Professor Matthew Powner at University College London (UCL), a chemist whose lab explores prebiotic chemistry.
“At life’s functional core, there is a complex and inseparable interplay between nucleic acids and proteins, but the origin of this relationship remains a mystery,” wrote the researchers.
Molecules that build proteins
The team showed that RNA – a molecule that stores and transfers genetic information and can catalyze reactions – can become chemically linked to amino acids. These small molecules build proteins, and the linkage occurs under mild conditions in water.
The researchers changed amino acids into a more reactive form that holds extra energy, then linked those energized amino acids to RNA at a specific spot in the molecule, all without needing enzymes.
The reaction preferred the end of a double stranded RNA over interior positions, which avoids random chemistry that would scramble sequences. The experts also reported strong yields for several amino acids, including arginine linked to adenosine at up to 76 percent.
Sulfur chemistry drives origins
A thiol is a sulfur-containing compound common in metabolism, and thioesters made from thiols power many reactions in modern cells.
Using thioesters makes chemical sense for early Earth because they react in water without falling apart quickly, helping drive protein-related chemistry.
Earlier work from the same community showed that pantetheine, the active fragment of Coenzyme A that forms many biological thioesters today, can form under prebiotic conditions in water. That work supports the idea that the same types of sulfur chemistry existed before life began.
This new result connects that energy-rich chemistry to RNA handling of amino acids. It links metabolism- like reactions to information carriers, which is exactly the bridge origin of life research has needed.
Molecules found in all living cells
The team uncovered a switch that controls two different steps. In step one, thioesters favor attaching the amino acid to RNA, creating aminoacyl RNA in water at neutral pH.
In step two, converting to thioacids and adding a mild oxidant pushed peptide bond formation, which produced peptidyl RNA in very high yields.
Peptides are short chains of amino acids, usually two to 50 units long, while larger folded chains are proteins. Making peptidyl RNA shows that RNA-bound amino acids can be extended into short chains, a necessary move toward protein-like function.
“What is groundbreaking is that the activated amino acid used in this study is a thioester, a type of molecule made from Coenzyme A, a chemical found in all living cells,” said Dr. Jyoti Singh of UCL Chemistry. “This discovery could potentially link metabolism, the genetic code, and protein building,”
Neutral waters spark proteins
The chemistry works in water at near neutral pH, which points to pools, lakes, or wet shorelines rather than the open ocean. Concentrations would have been higher in small bodies of water, and minerals could have helped organize the molecules.
Freeze concentrate cycles also help. The researchers observed effective aminoacylation under eutectic ice conditions near 19°F. In this environment, ice excludes salt and concentrates solutes into brines, which speed reactions without harsh reagents.
“It seems pretty probable that this reaction would have been occurring on early Earth,” said Professor Powner. That assessment reflects the mild requirements and the water compatibility of the chemistry.
Bridging chemistry and biology
Modern cells make proteins with the ribosome, a ribonucleoprotein machine that reads messenger RNA and couples amino acids with the help of transfer RNAs.
The new chemistry provides a path for RNA to handle amino acids without proteins, easing the chicken or egg problem.
An earlier study proposed an RNA peptide world in which RNA and short peptides co-evolved, forming chimeric molecules that could grow and select function. The present result shows a plausible way for RNA to acquire and extend amino acids in water.
The modern genetic code
The genetic code is the set of rules that maps RNA triplets to amino acids. By preferring attachment at RNA termini and operating under duplex control, this chemistry hints at how sequence specific pairing could later become coded instruction.
The researchers point to the need for sequence preferences that pair specific RNA sequences with specific amino acids. That would move from chemistry that charges RNA to chemistry that begins to encode.
Success there would show how early RNA could use simple rules to shape peptide sequences, with later evolution building the fully fledged ribosome and the modern code.
The study is published in the journal Nature.
—–
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At first glance, a landslide, an avalanche, or even a heap of sand pushed by a bulldozer looks like a simple stream of grains moving downhill. However, beneath the surface lies a hidden world of swirling currents, where grains sneak sideways or loop in circles instead of following the obvious flow.
These invisible motions, called secondary flows, have long been suspected in computer simulations, but never directly observed in real materials. Now, scientists have captured them for the first time, using a powerful new X-ray imaging method.
Their discovery could transform our understanding of avalanches, landslides, and even how we handle everyday powders like flour, wheat, or medicine.
The trick to viewing the hidden swirls
For decades, researchers believed that when grains slide down a slope, most follow the steepest path downhill, known as the primary flow. However, theories and computer models suggested that not all grains follow the herd.
Some take detours, swirling sideways beneath the surface, subtly shaping how far and fast a landslide travels. These hidden flows were thought to exist, but proving them experimentally was nearly impossible. This is because stopping the grains for X-ray scans froze the motion, destroying the natural flow. Adding liquids to make grains transparent altered their behavior.
Therefore, researchers were stuck with indirect evidence from ripples on the surface or from simulations, never able to see the actual three-dimensional movement inside a flowing pile.
To overcome this problem, the study authors designed a conveyor-belt bulldozing experiment in a 0.55 m long, 0.10 m wide flume filled with three-millimeter glass beads. The belt pushed glass beads against a wall, forming a pile.
To look inside without disturbing the grains, they used a technique they developed called X-ray rheography, part of a new setup named DynamiX. Rheography works by taking rapid X-ray images of a moving pile of grains. As the grains flow, they block X-rays in shifting patterns of light and dark.
By tracking how these patterns move from frame to frame, scientists can calculate the speed and direction of the grains inside the pile, without ever stopping or disturbing the flow.
The first images from this setup revealed faint ripples on the surface of the pile. Previous studies had hinted that hidden swirls inside the flow might cause such ripples. However, for the first time, the researchers could link these ripples to real sideways motions beneath the surface.
To further strengthen the case, they mapped the surface from the X-ray data and tracked how grains moved through the full depth of the pile, not just along the main flow. What they found was sideways and swirling motions, providing the first direct experimental evidence of secondary flows in granular materials.
“We present an experimental confirmation of secondary kinematics within granular media using dynamic X-ray radiography, without needing to stop motion for tomography,” the study authors note.
The significance of watching secondary motion
The study shows that secondary flows are a fundamental feature of granular materials, whether in snowdrifts, sandpiles, or wheat silos. This finding is of great value.
For instance, in the case of natural hazards, models of landslides or avalanches that ignore secondary flows might underestimate how far debris can travel. Adding this detail could help engineers design better predictions and safety measures.
The findings also have implications in various other industries, ranging from pharmaceuticals to agriculture. Countless processes rely on moving powders or grains, so knowing that hidden sideways currents exist could improve how materials are stored, mixed, or transported.
However, the study also had some limitations. The team studied glass beads in a controlled bulldozing setup, not real snow or rocky landslides. Plus, the full three-dimensional picture of the flows is not yet complete, as the DynamiX system currently measures the motion along only one direction.
To overcome these, the researchers aim to expand the imaging methods and test more realistic materials in the future.
The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.
The Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Peshawar Board has announced the 12th Class (HSSC Part II) Annual Result 2025.
Result Date and Time
Result Day: Saturday, August 30, 2025
Time: 02:00 PM
Exam Session: Annual 2025
Applicable Class: HSSC Part II (12th Class)
How to Check Your BISE Peshawar Board 12th Class Results
Students can access their results through the following methods:
Method 1: Online via Official Website
Visit the BISE Peshawar official website
Navigate to the “Results” section.
Select “HSSC Part II” and enter your Roll Number.
Click “Submit” to view your result.
Method 2: By Name
On the same results page, choose the option to search by Name.
Enter your Full Name as per the examination records.
Submit to view your result.
Method 3: SMS Service
For students without internet access:
SMS Code: 9818 (Applicable for all KPK boards)
Message Format: Type your Roll Number and send it to 9818.
You will receive your result details via SMS.
Note: Standard SMS charges may apply.
Method 4: Gazette
The official gazette containing all results will be available for download on the official website after the announcement.
Position Holders
He names of the top three position holders were announced earlier today before the general result release. These students were honored in a ceremony organized by the board.
Contact Information
For any inquiries or issues related to the result:
This press release accompanies a presentation at ESC Congress 2025.
It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Society of Cardiology.
Funding: The trial was supported by Boston Scientific.
Disclosures: Professor Ahn reports research grants from Boston Scientific, Pharmicell, Shinpoong Pharmaceutical, Abbott Vascular, Eli Lilly and Company, KyungDong Pharmaceutical and Medtronic; funding from the Korean Society of Cardiometabolic Syndrome, Basic Research Laboratory for Vascular Remodeling Research Center, National Research Foundation of Korea, Administrative Office of the Korea-US Collaborative Research Fund and Cardiovascular Research Foundation; and materials from Boehringer Ingelheim.
References and notes:
1‘OPTION-STEMI: Timing of complete revascularization during index hospitalization in patients with STEMI and multivessel disease’ presented during HOT LINE 6 on 31 August 2025 at 09:27 to 09:37 in Madrid (Main Auditorium).
2Byrne RA, Rossello X, Coughlan JJ, et al. 2023 ESC Guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndromes. Eur Heart J. 2023;44:3720–3826.
3Diletti R, den Dekker WK, Bennett J, et al. Immediate versus staged complete revascularisation in patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome and multivessel coronary disease (BIOVASC): a prospective, open-label, non-inferiority, randomised trial. Lancet. 2023;401:1172–1182.
4Stähli BE, Varbella F, Linke A, et al. Timing of complete revascularization with multivessel PCI for myocardial infarction. N Engl J Med. 2023;389:1368–1379.
Follow European Society of Cardiology News on LinkedIn
Journalists are invited to become accredited and register here.
Check out the ESC Media and Embargo Policy.
About ESC Congress 2025
It is the world’s largest gathering of cardiovascular professionals, disseminating ground-breaking science both onsite in Madrid and online – from 29 August to 1 September 2025. Explore the scientific programme. More information is available from the ESC Press Office at press@escardio.org.
About the European Society of Cardiology
The ESC brings together healthcare professionals from more than 150 countries, working to advance cardiovascular medicine and help people to live longer, healthier lives.
Not long ago, 7,000 mAh batteries were usually associated with big-screen devices like tablets. However, the latest trend in battery tech is the silicon-carbon chemistry, which enables batteries with higher energy density. The latest Oppo A6 Max smartphone features the latest battery technology on board, with its key highlight being the massive 7,000 mAh battery.
Battery aside, the A6 Max employs a large 6.8-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and advertised 1,600 nits of peak brightness. The panel also works with wet hands, and it’s protected by the in-house Crystal Shield Glass.
The chipset is Snapdragon 7 Gen 3 and is paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The camera system on the back comprises a 50MP main camera and a 2MP auxiliary depth sensor. The selfie is 32MP.
The 7,000 mAh battery won’t take long to charge either. It supports Oppo’s SuperVOOC 80W fast charging, promising a 50% charge in just 24 minutes.
Another standout feature of the A6 Max is the IP69 certification against dust and water, and it also carries an SGS certification for operating in high-temperature environments.
The handset is now available in China for CNY 1,599 ($220), but it remains unclear whether Oppo will ship it to other countries, even if it rebrands it. The available colors are White and Blue, with the former featuring a glass back, while the latter is made with glass fiber.
AsianScientist (Aug. 31, 2025) – As people live longer than ever, dementia is emerging as one of the world’s most pressing health challenges. Globally, millions of families already grapple with its devastating impact, and with no cure in sight, scientists are turning their focus toward identifying risk factors that can be managed or prevented.
Among the many suspects, painkillers may not be the first to come to mind. But new research suggests that regular opioid use, which is a common treatment for chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP), could significantly raise the risk of dementia, particularly vascular dementia.
CNCP refers to any persistent pain lasting more than three months that is not linked to cancer. It affects about 30 percent of the global population and is expected to grow steadily.
The findings, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, shed light on how long-term opioid use may affect the brain, offering new insights into the complex links between pain, medication, and cognitive decline.
The study revealed that people who regularly used opioids had a 20 percent higher risk of developing all-cause dementia compared to those taking other painkillers. The risk was even greater among strong opioid users, who faced more than a 70 percent increase of developing dementia. By contrast, individuals using non-opioid analgesics had dementia risks similar to non-users.
For this study, the researchers conducted a prospective cohort study involving 197,673 individuals with CNCP aged 37 to 73 from the UK Biobank – a large-scale biomedical research database and resource in the United Kingdom – with a mean follow-up of 13.8 years.
The study was led by Sha Feng, associate researcher from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Jed A. Barash, Medical Director at the Massachusetts Veterans Home at Chelsea, and W. Andrew Kofke, Professor, the University of Pennsylvania.
“Our findings suggest that long-term opioid use may be neurotoxic and associated with an increased risk of dementia, which underscores the importance of weighing the cognitive risks of opioid use when managing CNCP,” the researchers stated in the study.
Since the mid-1990s, opioids have been widely prescribed to manage CNCP, but their inappropriate use, dependency issues, and misuse of high-potency opioids have raised public health concerns.
“Previous studies have suggested that opioid use may affect the endogenous opioid system and potentially impair the hippocampus and other central nervous system regions, increasing the risk of cognitive decline and dementia,” the paper stated.
Brain scans showed that regular use of strong opioids was linked to a shrinkage in overall brain size, including white matter and the hippocampus, an area vital for memory. Opioid users also performed worse on tests of fluid intelligence, though their prospective memory – the ability to remember to carry out future tasks, like taking medication or keeping appointments – was not significantly affected.
According to the study, these findings highlight the need to consider both the strength of the opioid and the length of use when assessing how these drugs may contribute to dementia and other health risks.
—
Source: Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology ; Image: Shutterstock
The study can be found at: Regular use of opioids and dementia, cognitive measures, and neuroimaging outcomes among UK Biobank participants with chronic non-cancer pain
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.
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”.
His hits didn’t go away during his absence. Like “Mr Brightside”, his songs represent the party playlist terra firma, deployed at bars and in late-night taxis to perk up flagging revellers. But the time has come for new songs and new crowd-pleasers. This month, he released “Eat It Up” – a fierce, frantic track in collaboration with Skepsis, built on the skittish polyrhythms of drum and bass. Like its predecessors, the song is primed for sweaty dancefloors – that is, if there are any left in the UK in the coming years.
In tandem with releasing new music, Tempah is throwing his support behind The Last Night Out, a campaign from Night Time Industries Association to address the country’s rapidly declining number of clubs and music venues. A toxic mix of Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis (a situation not helped, perhaps, by a lack of young people eager to drink and party) means three UK clubs are closing every week. “By 2029, there’s going to be virtually nothing left,” he tells me from across the booth, looking solemn. The partnership makes sense: Tempah is, to many, an avatar for the UK’s once robust nightlife scene of yesteryear – a time when Fabric, Turnmills and Ministry of Sound dominated the music scene, of which Tempah was a crucial part.
After all, it was at many of those clubs that Tempah cut his teeth as a south London teen during the Noughties, bopping around High Wycombe, Luton, Bury St Edmunds and Wolverhampton. It was also there that he first got interested in fashion as a way to distinguish himself from the other 16-year-old fans he was performing to. “That was my rite of passage. It was my 10,000 hours in a live space,” he says. “I had to overcome stage fright. I had to overcome ego. Sometimes you’re expected to pack out a show and you get there and there’s 10 people and a tumbleweed rolling through. You still need to do your thing.”
Plus, the fans you earn from those live shows are the ones who will stick around. “Social media fans are fickle,” he observes. “The more content you put out on there, the more people find you, but it’s the ones I brought on board at the start of my career who are still with me today.”
Tempah has seven No 1s and two Brit Awards to his name (Getty)
At 36, Tempah might look younger, but he seems older than he is. His confidence isn’t quiet per se – before we begin, he briskly shoos away his team who have set up camp in the booth with us – but there’s no sign of the cold swagger he paraded on early tracks (“I’m fairly famous, I’m sorta known/ And if your son doesn’t, I bet your daughter knows”). His trademark braggadocio is still in evidence on “Eat It Up”, but it’s coming from the vantage point of reflection: “Remember when they wouldn’t book us for a fiver?”
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Tempah certainly remembers. “There were a lot of people who resisted,” he says, speaking of his more pop-leaning sound. The 2010s saw a re-energised grime scene, out of which Tempah himself emerged, but his forays into other genres weren’t always welcome. He points to his 2006 breakout demo “Wifey” as an example. “When I dropped that, I was 18 and everyone was doing really hard-line rap talking about street life, and there I was on an R&B tune talking about a girl I like,” he says. “People thought I was soft. Now you’ve got AJ Tracey and Unknown T sampling it.” In other words, he was right all along. “It’s validating to see that,” he smiles, or is it a smirk?
A lot of men, and I’m not talking just musically, hit their peak at 40 or 50 – so watch this space
As far as the purists were concerned, he was diluting the essence of what made British rap British. Yet for him, there was nothing more British than folding in other sounds. “I had the Nigerian influence from my parents, and two younger sisters who were always listening to Destiny’s Child, Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, Steps and all that,” he says. “I felt like being able to mix all that stuff up was almost a perfect representation of UK culture versus trying to make the purest rap possible.” He traded in the more abrasive, chunky beats of his still excellent 2007 mixtape Hood Economics for a glossier sound, and the world responded.
It was seeing the crossover success of Dizzee Rascal and So Solid Crew in the early Noughties that broadened his horizons as a school kid putting out music. “These were the guys that I saw breaking out of that kind of confined zone that we were in, which was initially restricted to pirate radio stations, where we were almost like faceless entities,” he says. “I remember when Dizzee supported Red Hot Chili Peppers [in 2012], and that was such a juxtaposition. This grime guy from east London is flying around the world with the Red Hot Chili Peppers – what the hell? For me, it was reaffirming the fact that all my ideas and where this could go was possible.”
The 2010s saw a re-energised grime scene, out of which Tempah himself emerged (Sophia J Carey)
Still, it was a big deal for his family when Tempah forgoed his studies to pursue a music career. “I’m the eldest in my Nigerian family with two younger sisters and a brother who’d I’d always had to be a role model for,” he says by way of explanation. “I was embarrassed to not go to university; I felt like I was letting the side down by not completing my education to do something which has no guarantee of working.” After he found success, it was that same up-from-the-bootstraps work ethic gleaned from his parents, who moved from Nigeria and started a property business, that stopped him from getting complacent or cocky. “I always was scared of becoming or being considered as a one-hit wonder, and I felt like [any display of] ego was going to fast-track that,” he says. “You start thinking that you’ve made it before you have and before you know it, you’re faded into the past.”
Inevitably, the musical landscape he’s entering now is very different from the one he left nearly a decade ago. For the better, he says. “Wherever I go in the world, people know me or Stormzy or they’ll know Dave or whoever. We’re considered artists on the world stage and taken seriously. When I first started out, it was very marginalised. People didn’t know what we were doing; they thought we were trying to copy American culture. It was very misunderstood.”
Tinie Tempah at the BT Digital Music Awards 2010 at London’s Roundhouse (PA)
Likewise, Black culture is getting its due, finally. “A lot of Black culture is synonymous with ‘cool’ and I feel like that’s always been known, but it’s also, in my opinion, underappreciated,” he says. “When Black people think something is cool, typically it is.” For his part, Tempah, known back then for his preppy-meets-street style look, has been as much a fashion reference as he was a musician. Having rappers such as A$AP Rocky sitting front row now at fashion shows makes sense, he says. “They’re taste-makers of culture and before everyone knew it, but no one celebrated it. Now it’s a celebration, and an acknowledgement.”
In the decade between 2010 and 2020, Tempah notched no fewer than seven UK No 1s – more than any other rapper, and only bested by Calvin Harris and Ed Sheeran, who had eight each. It’s an impressive feat. I wonder aloud whether he feels he ever got his flowers for that chart-topping success. “I used to care about that more when I was younger,” he says, even-keeled in his response. “One little comment on social media could affect me – or even that question itself. But maybe I haven’t totally got my flowers yet because I’m just not done. A lot of men, and I’m not talking just musically, hit their peak at 40 or 50, that’s when you see titans. So yeah, watch this space.” He grins. “And anyway, I’ve got loads of flowers in my garden.”
