Filip Tadeusz Szcześniak (born 29 July 1990), better known by the stage name Taco Hemingway (earlier FV), is a Polish rapper. He began recording in 2011, at which time he released - under the pseudonym Foodvillain - an English-language mixtape entitled Who Killed JFK. A year later, he adopted the pseudonym Taco Hemingway, under which he released the English-language EP Young Hems. In 2014, he released a second EP, this time recorded in Polish, titled Trójkąt warszawski. The album brought the musician publicity, thanks to which he joined the label Asfalt Records, under which he released a re-release of Trójkąt warszawski and a new EP entitled Umowa o dzieło. These, as well as subsequent albums released on the label, made the rapper famous, and he quickly became one of the most popular musicians in Poland.
He has sold over 400,000 albums in Poland, making him one of the best-selling rappers in Poland. Almost all of the rapper's album can be downloaded for free from his website. The most successful was the joint album with Quebonafide, titled Soma 0.5 mg, which was sold in over 150 thousand copies. Also successful were the albums Szprycer, Marmur and Pocztówka z WWA, lato '19. For the sale of albums he repeatedly received the certificate of platinum, gold and diamond records. He created hits such as "6 zer", "Następna stacja", "Deszcz na betonie", "Polskie Tango", "Tamagotchi" or "Nostalgia", which all went trending on YouTube with millions of views shortly after release.
He has been nominated for the Fryderyk Awards thirteen times between 2016 and 2020, including four times as a winner in the hip-hop Album of the Year category (for the albums Umowa o dzieło, Szprycer, Soma 0,5 mg, Pocztówka z WWA), including being the only artist to win the award three times in a row and being the only rapper nominated and awarded in the Song of the Year category. He was also nominated for the MTV Europe Music Awards in the Best Polish Artist category and Empik's Bestsellers in the Polish Music, Hip-Hop Music and Streaming categories. However, the musician does not pay much attention to the awards, and he did not collect any of them.
He was ranked 10th on the list of Most Influential Poles 2019 by Wprost. He is the first Polish artist whose songs have been played over a billion times on the streaming platform Spotify. Despite his immense popularity, the rapper does not spend much time in the media, rarely giving interviews and not appearing in advertisements.
Early life Filip Szcześniak was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1990. At the age of 2, he moved with his parents from Egypt to Guangzhou, China. Initially, he attended an English preschool before transferring to a Chinese preschool, where he experienced communication problems due to differences in culture and language. Upon finishing preschool, Szcześniak and his family moved to Warsaw in 1996, where he experienced little to no difficulties in school while simultaneously developing his bilingualism from his early years. In an interview with Metro Warszawa, Szcześniak stated that he spoke English with his mother and sister and that he spoke in Polish with his father. He listened to various rap artists with his father, developing his passion for the rap genre. His parents divorced in 2004.
Szcześniak completed his studies at Prywatne Gimnazjum nr 1 and Copernicus Bilingual High School in Warsaw, where he met his future producer, Maciej Ruszecki. He is also a graduate of cultural studies at the University of Warsaw. In 2012, he began studying for a master's degree in anthropology in University College London.
Career
2011–2016: Young Hems, Trójkąt warszawski and Umowa o dzieło
While studying in London, he wrote lyrics for his mixtape entitled Who Killed JFK. He began posting his first songs on YouTube, using the alias Foodvillain at the time. The rapper unsuccessfully tried to pursue music making as well. He rapped in English on illegally downloaded MF Doom beats in his friend's basement. In his lyrics he referred to the work of rappers such as Childish Gambino or Jay-Z. The project itself did not meet with much publicity. On 26 December 2013, he released his English-language EP titled Young Hems via Bandcamp. The artist adopted the pseudonym Taco Hemingway, which was taken from the football game FIFA, in which he played under such a pseudonym. The material was recorded in Brussels in the basement of his mother's house at the time. The album again did not receive much publicity. The rapper was initially employed in the advertising industry, but abandoned it in favor of becoming an English translator, and in the meantime he was writing his second EP. On 19 December 2014, his second re-released EP, titled Trójkąt warszawski, was released. The album was made available as a free digital stream on his YouTube channel and as a free download on the rapper's official website. A day after the premiere of the album, the artist played his first concert in Cafe Kulturalna in Warsaw. Radio premiere of tracks from Trójkąt warszawski took place in December on Saturday programme Tony z betonu in radio Trójka, for which the artist also gave an interview. In January he published on his channel the track "Tunarzywo" which was recorded in 2013. On 27 March 2015 he played a concert at Klubokawiarnia Chłodna 25, which was the "official" premiere of the album. In April 2015 he gave an interview for the Polish Radio Koszalin in the program Rapnejszyn. The same year he was scheduled to perform in the promotional action of the PopKiller portal entitled "Young Wolves 2015", however he declined due to lack of time. On 6 June 2015, there was a digital premiere of the first single titled "6 zeros" along with a music video, directed by Łukasz Partyka and Jonasz Tołopiła. The single proved to be the rapper's first major commercial success and key to his popularity in Poland. On 27 June 2015, the musician's third EP, titled Umowa o dzieło, was released. The material was made available free of charge in digital forms: on the YouTube channel and via the rapper's official website.
At first Taco sent his records to Prosto and Alkopoligamia, but due to lack of response he sent them to Marcin "Tytus" Grabski - owner of Asfalt Records. There the recordings met with the publisher's interest which eventually resulted in signing a publishing contract.
On 19 August 2015, reissues of the albums Trójkąt warszawski and Umowa o dzieło went on sale, which gained huge publicity, reaching respectively the 3rd and 2nd place of the Polish charts - OLiS, both selling more than 10 thousand copies on the day of their release. The albums were excellently received by listeners and earned the same positive reviews from critics. The album Umowa o dzieło achieved gold album status by 2017. In turn, the song "Następna stacja", coming from the album Umowa o dzieło, reached the 1st place of the Polish Radio's Lista Przebojów Programu Trzeciego list and stayed there for several weeks. That same year he went on his first concert tour of Poland, called the Następna Stacja Tour. In the same year, he performed for the first time at Open'er Festival, on a side stage. In 2016, he became the winner of the most important Polish music award, the Fryderyk, for the album Umowa o dzieło in the category Album of the Year Hip-Hop. On 5 July 2016, he released the single "Deszcz na betonie", which announced the album Marmur. The single proved to be a hit on many radio stations, achieving chart success, including reaching No. 1 on UWM FM radio and RDC radio. It also hit the charts of Polish Radio III, Radio Poznań and Radio Szczecin.
2016–2018: Wosk, Marmur and Szprycer In February 2016, he started writing lyrics for his first studio album. In 2016, the rapper's fourth mini-album titled Wosk was released unannounced for free download on the rapper's website. The album was well received by music critics; however, reviewers pointed out that the lyrics were less brilliant than before and that the rapper could be boring sometimes. The song "Wiatr", became the biggest hit of the album, reaching almost 10 million views on YouTube.
On 2 November, he released his first studio album, entitled Marmur, which went on sale on 2 December along with the rapper's previous album, Wosk. The albums debuted at number 3 and number 14 on the Polish music charts, OLiS, respectively. The albums received positive, although slightly weaker than the previous albums, reviews from critics. By February 2017, more than 15,000 copies of the album Marmur had been sold, which achieved gold album status. A song from that album, titled "Święcące prostokąty" reached number 23 on the Polish Radio's Lista Przebojów Programu Trzeciego list. That same year, the rapper went on his second concert tour, Marmur Tour. Rapper Sokół in an interview with Gazeta.pl praised Taco Hemingway, stating that he appreciates his work. In 2017, he was once again nominated for the Fryderyk Award for his album Marmur, in the Hip-Hop Album of the Year category, but lost to the album Życie po śmierci by rapper O.S.T.R. In 2017, the rapper performed at the Open'er Festival for the second time, this time on the main stage, where on the last song "Następna stacja", due to the producer's equipment being flooded by rain, the artist had to finish the song a cappella.
In July 2017, he announced a new EP. On 30 July 2017, he released a single titled "Nostalgia" along with a music video. The same day the full minialbum titled Szprycer was released digitally. The physical version was released on 25 August. The album debuted at number 1 on the Polish charts - OLiS. The rapper changed his style on the album, which made it poorly received by the community and critics. With the song "Nostalgia", the rapper once again hit the radio charts. The album, like any previous one, was made available for free download on the rapper's website. After the release of the album, the rapper embarked on his 2017 Tour, during which he played concerts in 13 cities selling a total of over 23,000 tickets. The tour culminated with a performance in Warsaw's Torwar, where the rapper filled the entire hall with more than 6 thousand people. In the same period, he also recorded a song with Otsochodzi titled "Nowy Kolor" along with a music video. The song became a hit, the video within a few months of its release was watched by over 25 million people on YouTube. The song also became the 2017 single of the year according to sites like Glamrap, Newonce, and Interia. The song also reached No. 4 on the Radio Poznań charts. Finally, it was nominated for the 2019 Fryderyki Award in the category of Hit of the Year and covered with diamond album status. In October, the rapper released a limited number of T-shirts, sweatshirts and caps modeled after the themes of his albums. On 6 March 2018, Szprycer album was nominated for the Fryderyk Award in the hip-hop Album of the Year category and won the poll. The rapper once again did not attend the awards gala. Also by March 2018, the album had sold over 30,000 copies, earning platinum status.
2018–2019: Taconafide, Café Belga and Flagey
In March 2018, he announced that he would record a joint album with Quebonafide. On 16 March 2018, Taconafide released the duo's first single titled "Art-B" on the QueQuality label's channel. Along with the release, the album's preorder was launched. The rappers announced a joint nationwide tour to promote the album titled Ekodiesel Tour. In two weeks, the artists sold out the tickets for the concert in Torwar and quickly sold out the rest of the concerts in major halls in Poland. It is the biggest commercial success concerning concerts in the history of Polish rap.