Tommy Tee
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Tommy Tee, also known as Father Blanco, birth name Tommy Flåten, is a Norwegian musician, record producer, broadcaster, record company owner, concert promoter and magazine publisher. Tee owns the label "Tee Productions", which is located in Oslo, Norway and is Norway's leading hip hop label. As well, he publishes Norway's only graffiti magazine and hosts a weekly radio program.
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[edit] Early Years 1980-1991
Tommy Tee started out as a graffiti artist and break dancer. Tee then became interested in DJing and started making mixtapes. In 1986, Rainbow Radio offered him his own show and he soon became its music director.
In 1989, Tee started Norway's first and only hip hop magazine Fat Cap which has become one of the world's leading graffiti magazines with international distribution. He also started doing production work in the late 1980s while he was Ice Cube's support act in his 1990 Oslo concert. Tee later would promote concerts by Ice Cube, Run DMC, The Fugees, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest in Norway.
[edit] Radio program
In 1992, Danish company Mega Records appointed Tee as its Norwegian sales manager. Norway's national broadcaster NRK offered him a prime time show on its new P3 network. The show is called "National Rap Show" and runs every Friday night from 21:00 to 00:00. It quickly became popular and has featured guest acts such as Snoop Dogg, the Roots and Big Pun.
[edit] Tee Productions 1995-
Tommy Tee started Tee Productions in 1995. He produced his first album by jazz artist Helén Eriksen called Standards in 1996. This album was later released by Blue Note Records in Europe and Japan. Eriksen won a Norwegian Grammy as Best New Artist in 1996.
Tee's first album Bonds Beats and Beliefs was released in 1998 becoming Norway's most successful hip hop record. It featured Talib Kweli on the track "Day by Day" which was released as a single in the US. While the album was not officially released in the US, it did have a following on college radio and in hip hop magazines and also received reviews in Australia, England, Germany, Sweden and Denmark.
Tee then features on a compilation album of the artists on his label T.P. Allstars: Norske Byggeklosser debuted in the Norwegian top 5 and was released in the US in late 1999 through Fat Beats Records. It featured US rapper Pete Rock on the first single "World Renown". The Source said the single was a "contender for Indie Release of the year."
The T.P. Allstars album also featured a collaboration between Swedish artist Petter and TP artist Diaz on the track "Crossing Borders" which was a top ten hit in Scandinavia in 1999. In return, Tee produced two tracks on Petter's album Bananrepubliken which went platinum and won three Swedish Grammy awards in 2001.
In 2004, Tee released a collaborative album with Ken Ring of Sweden called 2 Legender utan Penger, as well as a single and video, BB Berättelsen. As of 2005, Tee Productions has six artists on its roster including Tee, Diaz, Warlocks, Opaque, Son of Light and Gatas Parliament.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Bonds Beats and Beliefs (1998)
- T.P. Allstars: Norske Byggeklosser (1999) (with other Tee artists)
- 2 Legender utan Penger with Ken Ring (2004)
- Tommy Tycker Om Mej (2005)
[edit] Singles
- Takin Ova (1998)
- Crossing Borders (1999)
- International Connects (1999)
- Day by Day (1999)
- World Renown (2000)
- What's Your Name (2002)
- BB Berättelsen (2004) with Ken Ring
[edit] Albums by other artists
- Standards by Helén Eriksen (1996)
- Lovevirgin by Helén Eriksen (1998)
- Deep Green by N-Light-N (1998)
- Mic Knights by Warlocks (1998) [as Father Blanco]
- 2050 by Diaz (2000)
- Gourmet Garbage by Opaque (2001)
