''Disc-Overy'' is the debut studio album by the British rapper Tinie Tempah, released in

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on 1 October 2010 and in the

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on 4 October, by

Parlophone Records Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1 ...

. The original album track list includes

Kelly Rowland Kelendria Trene Rowland (born February 11, 1981) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. During the g ...

Ellie Goulding Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and Artists and ...

Labrinth Timothy Lee McKenzie (born 4 January 1989), better known by his stage name Labrinth, is an English singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer. After initially pursuing a career in music production, Simon Cowell signed him to his record lab ...

Emeli Sandé Adele Emily Sandé, ( ; born 10 March 1987), known professionally as Emeli Sandé, is a Scottish singer and songwriter. Born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, and raised in Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, by an English mother and a Zambian father ...

, Eric Turner,

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, ''Show and Prove'', in 2006 and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 20 ...

, Swedish House Mafia and Range. ''Disc-Overy'' uses predominantly upbeat, dance-orientated production with lyrics concerning fame, youth and love. The album earned Tinie two BRIT Awards in 2011 and has received Double-Platinum certification by the BPI. It also reached number one on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. In July 2011, ''Disc-Overy'' was announced as a nominee for the annual

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

. Following the success of " Written in the Stars" as the album's North American lead single, it was announced that ''Disc-Overy'' would receive a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

release with a revised track list. The tracks "Obsession", "Invincible" featuring

, and "Just A Little" featuring the Roc Nation artist Range were removed from the American track list, while new collaborations with

Bei Maejor Brandon Michael Green (born July 23, 1988), better known by his stage name Maejor (formerly Bei Maejor and later Maejor Ali), is an American record producer, singer, and songwriter from Detroit, Michigan. Green has written and produced songs f ...

and Ester Dean were added. New production contributions came from Boi-1da,

Alex da Kid Alexander Junior Grant (born 27 August 1983), professionally known as Alex da Kid or by.ALEXANDER, is a British musician, record producer, songwriter, record executive and fashion designer from Wood Green, London. He has gained recognition for p ...

and

Stargate ''Stargate'' (often stylized in all caps) is a military science fiction media franchise based on the film directed by Roland Emmerich, which he co-wrote with producer Dean Devlin. The franchise is based on the idea of an alien Einstein–Rosen ...

. The album was released in the United States on 17 May 2011. The three new tracks were later released in the United Kingdom on a deluxe edition of ''Disc-Overy'', made available on 20 June 2011.

Background

Discussing ''Disc-Overy'', Tinie Tempah said, "If you've heard "Pass Out" and "Frisky" and think you know what to expect, you're wrong. I wanted this album to be really raw, not only in terms of the production but the guests. I was only interested in working with people I really respect and who I'm a fan of." He also said, "I met

very early on, we swapped numbers and after that we started living very parallel worlds; the same festivals, interviews and so on. It made total sense to have her on the album."

Chart performance

On its release, ''Disc-Overy'' received generally positive reviews, earning praise for its broad musical appeal and being compared with other crossover acts such as Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Stryder. Following an anticipated release as a result of several setbacks from its original winter 2009 release date, ''Disc-Overy'' entered number the UK Album Chart at number one, selling 85,000 copies in its first week. Six singles from the album have attained UK chart success, including the number ones " Pass Out" and " Written in the Stars". ''Disc-Overy'' has received double platinum certification by

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

(BPI) and has sold over 750,000 copies in the UK alone since its release. It has spent fifty consecutive weeks in the UK Top 40 Albums Chart to date. In the US, the album debuted at number twenty-one on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 16,400 copies sold in the first week. In the second week, 6,300 copies were sold, making a total of 22,700 domestic units in two weeks.

Singles

" Pass Out" was released as the album's first single on 28 February 2010. Produced by

, who also sang the vocal hook, the track entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number one, selling 92,000 copies in it first week. The track was later released on vinyl to promote the third annual

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

, and a remix was recorded with

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

for the American market, although it was later decided that the original version would be marketed in there. " Frisky" was released as the album's second single on 4 June 2010. The track features production and guest vocals by Labrinth. After a highly publicised chart battle with

Dizzee Rascal Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a British MC and rapper. A pioneer of grime music, his work has also incorporated elements of UK garage, bassline, British hip hop, and R&B. D ...

and

James Corden James Kimberley Corden (born 22 August 1978) is an English television host, actor, comedian, and singer. In the United Kingdom, he is best known for co-writing and starring in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom '' Gavin & Stacey''. In the ...

's official World Cup single " Shout", "Frisky" debuted and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. " Written in the Stars" was released as the album's third single on 27 September 2010. The track features guest vocals from the American singer and multi-instrumentalist Eric Turner, and was produced by

iSHi Ishi ( – March 25, 1916) was the last known member of the Native Americans in the United States, Native American Yana people#Yahi, Yahi people from the present-day state of California in the United States. The rest of the Yahi (as well as ...

. After first-week sales of over 115,000 copies, "Written in the Stars" entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, becoming Tinie Tempah's second number one on the chart and his third consecutive top three hit. The track was later released as Tempah's first single in the United States, reaching number twelve on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "

Invincible Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 drama film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy / martial arts TV movie starring Billy Zane ...

" was released as the album's fourth official single on 26 December 2010. The track features guest vocals from the American singer

. The track peaked at #11 on the UK Singles Chart after nine weeks in the Top 40. " Wonderman" was released as the album's fifth official single on 7 March 2011. The track features guest vocals from the British singer-songwriter

. The track peaked at number twelve on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Tempah's lowest charting single to date, one place behind its predecessor, "Invincible". "

Till I'm Gone "Till I'm Gone" is a song written and performed by British rapper Tinie Tempah featuring American rapper Wiz Khalifa. The song was produced by Norwegian production team Stargate. The single became the seventh overall single from Tempah's debut ...

" was released as the first single from the deluxe edition of the album on 17 May 2011. It was also released as Tempah's second single in the United States. The track features guest vocals from the American rapper

. Despite not being released in the United Kingdom until August 2011, the track peaked at #24 on the UK Singles Chart.

Other notable charting songs

" Miami 2 Ibiza", was released as a single on 4 October 2010. The track is a collaboration between Tempah and the Swedish House Mafia, from the latter's album '' Until One'' (2010). The track peaked at #4 on the UK Singles Chart. " Simply Unstoppable" was released as a promotional single from the album on 20 April 2011, albeit in remixed form, in order to promote a Lucozade advertising campaign. The track peaked at #33 on the UK Singles Chart. The remix of the track features the drummer

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Tran ...

and the boxer Katie Taylor. " Love Suicide" also received some coverage in selected European countries, charting in Ireland at number 7, and in the Netherlands at number 20. The track features guest vocals from Ester Dean.

Critical reception

On its release, ''Disc-Overy'' received generally positive reviews from music critics.''Disc-Overy'' (2011): Reviews

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. Retrieved on 17 May 2011. At

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

score of 72, based on 18 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

Track listing

;Notes * Track listing and credits from album booklet. Tinie Tempah. (2010). ''Disc-Overy''.

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

: Disturbing London Recordings /

. (

EMI Music EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 2012 ...

) * signifies a co- producer * signifies an additional producer * signifies a

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

er *"Intro" features uncredited vocals from Vanya Taylor. *" Simply Unstoppable" features uncredited vocals from Vanya Taylor *" Pass Out" features uncredited vocals from

*"Illusion" features uncredited vocals from Sam Frank *"Snap" features uncredited vocals from Mark Asari

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

*
Disc-Overy
' at

{{Authority control 2010 debut albums Albums produced by Boi-1da Albums produced by Emile Haynie Albums produced by Alex da Kid Albums produced by No I.D. Tinie Tempah albums Albums produced by Naughty Boy Albums produced by Stargate Albums produced by Labrinth Albums produced by Al Shux