Tommy Tee

Tommy Tee was first introduced to hip hop culture in the 1980s. He started as a graffiti artist and breakdancer, and later became moved on to music through DJing. He has been a radio and club DJ since mid 80's - something that sparked his interest in music production.

In 1989, Tee started Norway's first hip hop magazine Fat Cap which has been amongst the world's big graffiti magazines with international distribution.

Tommy Tee also started doing production work in the late 1980s but got more serious on the music throughout the 90's. That being said he is credited for creating one of the first Norwegian Hip-Hop record on wax in 1989. The record "The Crazy Minister" (also Tee´s nickname at the time) appeared on the group Snikk Snakk´s album "More Muffens" in 1989. Tee has also said to have done a lot of tracks and remixes under many aliases from this time. For Ice Cube's 1990 Oslo concert he was the support act. He was the DJ for Norway's first rap group on record. Tee also arranged concerts by Ice Cube, Run DMC, The Fugees, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and 50 Cent in Norway.

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 is still running. It quickly became popular and has featured guest acts such as Snoop Dogg, the Roots and Big Pun. DJ Herkules is the co-host of the show which is the channels longest lived show to date.

Tommy Tee started Tee Productions in 1995. He produced his first whole album, jazz artist Helén Eriksen's 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 featured 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 two videos, BB Berättelsen and Måste Seja Hei. He also releases the mixtape series H.E.A.T. (vol1-6) and the album Fred, Frihet & Alt Gratis with group Gatas Parlament which got international exposure in CNN, XXL, Billboard and more.

Tommy Tee's recent work includes producing the song "Church" on Sean Price's 2007 album Jesus Price Supastar, two songs on the album "Ghetto Warfare" by M.O.P., and five songs off the Smif-n-Wessun album "The Album" (2007).

In 2008 Tee signed newcomer Jesse Jones to Tee Productions and released his debut "12 Blokker & 1 Vei Inn" on TP/EMI.

Tommy Tee released a street-album entitled "No Studio No Time" with artists like Grafh, Masta Ace, Agallah, Tim Dog, AG, Party Arty, Large Professor, JoJo Pellegrino and many more to warm up for the new official album.

Tommy Tee released the album Studio-Time on 5 October 2009. The album was highly praised in media and won a Norwegian Grammy (Spellemannsprisen) for best Rap/Hip-Hop album of the year. The album features artists like Bun B, Devin the Dude, Diamond D, Saigon, Kool Keith, Mad Con and many more.

In 2013 Tommy Tee debuted in his native language and made a hit single with rapper Don Martin. The song "Nilsen" is an ode to their hometown of Oslo and was instantly labeled a classic. The same year saw Tee recording and releasing his first own album in his native language. "Musikk Ække Viktig" (means "Music is not important") saw a new side of Tommy Tee as an artist - something liked by both fans and critics.

2013 was also the year in which Tommy Tee (maybe as little surprising to some) participated in the Norwegian version of the hit TV show "The Voice".

Tommy Tee won the prestigious Norwegian Honorary Grammy Award (Spellemann Hederspris) in 2016. He also released his latest album "Bonds, Beats & Beliefs vol.2" featuring artists like M.O.P, Daytona, Mike Zoot, S.A.S., Skam, Oscar Blesson and many more. This album alongside his debut BBB was also printed on vinyl in a grandios 8 LP box released in May 2016.

Tee these days has just built a brand new Tee Studios in central Oslo and is said to be hard at work on projects with Oscar Blesson, Ken Ring, Opaque, Harry Fraud and more.

• Tommy Tee Allmusic article
• Tommy Tee on Myspace