Tinie’s been back on songwriting duties himself, working on new music for the last three years.
He says his hiatus gave him a “new revitalised lease on life” and seeing artists passing through his north-west London recording studio on a daily basis motivated him to “get back on the train”.
The rapper’s been performing his latest release Eat It Up – a collab with Skepsis – and says fans approaching him to discuss memories of his back catalogue was also inspiring for him.
“It feels amazing that for more than half of my life, I’ve been giving people music that has been the soundtrack of their life and music they’ll associate with certain memories and emotions,” he says.
“If I’ve brought joy to this many people just by making music, writing the lyrics I write, why stop now?”
He also says his experience has prepared him for the challenges of standing out among those thousands of songs getting uploaded every day.
“I’ve seen people be interested, not be interested, be interested again,” he says.
“It’s all part of the process and journey.
“The main thing is that I’ve made music I really love and I’m really excited about and people get to hear it and get to live with it and that’s a beautiful thing.”