Cheek (0) 342 views 0 favorites 1. Jare Henrik Tiihonen better known by his stage name Cheek is a Finnish rapper. He was nicknamed Cheek while in school. He was born in Vantaa, Finland and grew up in Lahti, Finland. He moved to Töölö, Helsinki, where he now resides. In secondary school he became interested in rap music and began writing in 1998. In 2000, he joined the rap group “5th Element” and became its most prominent member.
Cheek’s first albums were the self-published Human & Beast and 50/50. A large part of the songs were in English. But later on, Cheek would sing only in Finnish. He signed a contract in October 2003 with Sony Music Entertainment.
The first release on the Sony record label was Avaimet mun kulmille on 31 May 2004. The album resulted in three successful singles, “Avaimet mun kiesiin”, “Raplaulajan vapaapäivä” and “Avaimet mun himaan”. He followed it with a second album Käännän sivuu released on 18 May 2005. Both albums hit the Top 20 in Finland.
In 2007, Cheek moved to Sony’s rap music publishing specialist label Rähinä Records. Alarm Entertainment released his third album, Kasvukipuja on 18 April 2007. The first single from the album was “Sun täytyy” published by Sami Saari, followed by the single “Tuhlaajapoika” featuring Tasis.
His fourth album was Kuka sä oot released on 21 May 2008. The first single from the album was “Liekeissä”, that was chosen by the Finnish “The Voice” radio station as the official Finland summer hit of 2008. The album has so far been the most successful album of Cheek and has gone gold. The second single from the same album was released entitled “Kanssa tai ilman”