Tataee

Vlad Irimia (born October 17, 1976), primarily known by his stage name Tata Vlad, formerly Tataee, is a Romanian record producer, rapper, record executive, and music manager.

He is one of the founders of the influential Romanian hip hop trio B.U.G. Mafia, also having produced albums and overseeing the careers of many acclaimed Romanian hip hop artists, such as La Familia, XXL & 10 Grei, Mahsat and JerryCo.

As a music producer, he is frequently credited as one of the pioneers and key figures in the architecture of the Romanian version of gangsta rap, a style of music that closely resembles its American counterpart but also includes various local influences derived from balkan music or, more recently, electronica.

Tata Vlad began his career in music as a solo artist and he later found fame as a member of the gangsta rap group B.U.G. Mafia with Alin "Uzzi" Demeter and Dragoș "Caddilac" Vlad-Neagu, with whom he popularized the use of explicit lyrics in rap to detail the violence of street life.

Tataee was born Vlad Irimia on October 17, 1976, in Sebeş, a city in Alba County, central Romania, southern Transylvania.

His father was as a mechanical engineer on various construction sites for hydroelectric power stations in Transylvania, while his mother worked as an accountant.

Irimia spent his childhood years in numerous blue-collar working colonies adjacent to the various dams his father was hired to work on.

His mother, an amateur singer, would occasionally perform publicly at friends' weddings and baptism parties, while also encouraging the young Irimia to sing.

In 1981, his family relocated to Caransebeș and then to Drobeta Turnu-Severin for the ultimately failed construction project of Iron Gates III, after which, in 1990, his father moved the family to his native Bucharest, where Irimia, the oldest of three children, attended the Alexandru Ioan Cuza highschool in Titan, where he swiftly became acquainted with gang violence, while also gaining an interest in chemistry and geometry.

He dropped out of college after the first semester when he realized it was keeping him back from a full-time musical career and focused on producing B.U.G. Mafia's second album.

As Romania had been a communist country until late 1989, western music was banned by Nicolae Ceauşescu's regime and official releases of hip hop albums were virtually impossible to find on the Romanian music market.

Tataee himself stated in an interview for CNN that he got acquainted with rap music after the political regime switch that occurred in Romania in 1989.

As a more liberal political system replaced the totalitarian rule of communism, heavy bootlegging of American music occurred on the Eastern European market.

Inspired by Public Enemy and N.W.A, Tataee tried steering his professional options towards becoming a rapper and started working on his own music.

By 1993, when he met his first collaborator, Daddy Caddy, he had only recorded one song and had little professional perspective.

The official press release for B.U.G. Mafia states that they first met in late 1993 and recorded their first track together in 1994.

B.U.G. recorded more tracks in English, producing their own beats with help from Romeo Vanica, a well known producer, who had a professional keyboard.

In 1994, they had their first live appearance in one of the first Romanian hip hop shows, made possible by Bogdan "DJ Sleek" Untea, a famous Romanian hip-hop DJ and one of the first Romanians to pursue this career.

Still looking for new rappers they met with Demonii ("The Demons"), one of the few Romanian hip-hop crews to rap in Romanian at the time.

One of the members was Alin Demeter, also known as drama Drama then, later as Uzzi, who joined the group in 1995 and at the same time they changed their name adding Mafia so the Romanian public would get better acquainted with their style.

They also stopped writing lyrics in English and switched to Romanian for the same reason.

In the summer of 1995 they signed their first professional music contract to record an album with Amma Sound.

In 1997, Tataee provided vocals and produced several tracks on La Familia's debut album, Băieți De Cartier (Hoodboys), paving the group's way to hip hop superstardom in Romania and remaining a frequent collaborator until the feud that occurred between them in 2003.

Their 1998 album, "De Cartier", released under Cat Music in Romania led them to become one of the country's best-selling performing artists, as well as one of the most respected Romanian hip hop groups.

Later in his career, he worked with Romanian artists such as Akcent, Andreea Antonescu, Bitză, Cristina Spătar or Adriana Rusu, receiving credit for changing and improving their sound.

Later, in 1998, he produced XXL&10 Grei's whole debut album, Personajul Negativ (The Bad Guy) and although the album sold poorly, it was met with unanimous positive reviews by music critics and fans as well, establishing Grasu XXL and his collaborator, Paco "10 Grei" as two of the most prominent figures in Romanian hip hop.

He started his own record label, Legend Audio, in 2002, as he assumed his role as a record producer and music executive.

The B.U.G. Mafia Prezintă Casa (B.U.G. Mafia Presents Casa) album, released February 20, 2002, featured songs by his group, B.U.G. Mafia, as well as by newly signed Casa artists and the single Cine E Cu Noi (Who's With Us), intended as a new milestone in Romanian hip hop.

JerryCo, a Romanian rapper had released two independent albums while still part of Agresiv, the well-known Romanian producing duo.

Following the success of B.U.G. Mafia's Băieţii Buni in 2003, Tata Vlad focused on producing music for various other artists.

JerryCo met Tataee in 2004, as the latter heard a demo containing some songs and called him to discuss a record contract.

It was only a year after this meeting occurred that JerryCo actually signed with the label, after making significant progress on his own, enough to impress Tataee and determine him to finally start the Legend Audio project.

Besides overseeing the production for every B.U.G. Mafia album, Tataee proved to have a strong interest for work as a music producer since the late-90s, helping launch careers for acclaimed acts such as La Familia, XXL & 10 Grei or Mahsat, to name a few.

Following the success of Băieţii Buni, Tataee focused on producing songs and albums for other artists.

In 2004, he produced the third album for raggamuffin Bucharest-based group M&G, also providing vocals for the album's lead single, "Asalt Raggafonic" (Raggaphonic Assault).

He also worked with Romanian pop group Akcent, producing and writing their 2004 single "Poveste De Viață" (Life Story).

In 2005, he signed Romanian hip hop artist JerryCo who released his debut single in late 2009 following a four-year work period with Tata Vlad on his first album, "Orice E Posibil" (Everything Is Possible), released in 2010 by Legend Audio in Romania.

Tataee's work on the album earned them an MTV Romanian Music Awards nomination in 2005, in the "Best New Act" category.

He produced Bitză's "Urmatorul Pas" (The Next Step), the first single from his debut album, "Sevraj" (Withdrawal).

The track proved to be a great success, launching Bitză's career while providing significant record sales.