Piotr Kowalczyk (Polish pronunciation: ) (born June 25, 1986), better known under his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Tau (), and formerly as Medium (), is a Polish

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

beatboxer Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.

and

hip-hop producer Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and " ...

. In 2008, he released his underground debut album ''Seans spirytystyczny'' (''Séance'') under the name Medium. His next underground album ''Alternatywne źródło energii'' (''Alternative Energy Source'') was released in 2010, which helped Medium to be spotted by Marcin "Tytus" Grabski, CEO of

Asfalt Records Asfalt Records is a Polish independent record label specialized in hip-hop music. It was founded in 1998 by Marcin "Tytus" Grabski. In July 1998, Asfalt Records signed a three-year distribution deal with Sony Music Entertainment Poland. The first ...

, who offered him a contract. On November 22, 2011, Tau released his official debut album (performing as Medium) titled '' Teoria równoległych wszechświatów'' (''The Theory of Parallel Universes''), which, despite slight promotion, sold over eight thousand copies in Poland. In 2012, Tau announced that he had converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

. A few months later he released his second album '' Graal'' (''Holy Grail''). The album was highly criticized by many reviewers due to its radical lyrics. In 2013, Medium and producer Galus formed a one-album-group Egzegeza. The album ''Księga słów'' (''The Book of Words'') was released on June 28, 2013, in a limited number of copies. On December 6, 2013, Medium announced that he had changed his pseudonym to Tau due to the fact that his name Medium may have been seen as connected to

mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

practice, which is in opposition to

Christian philosophy Christian philosophy includes all philosophy carried out by Christians, or in relation to the religion of Christianity. Christian philosophy emerged with the aim of reconciling science and faith, starting from natural rational explanations w ...

. A few days later, on December 13, 2013, he declared that he left

in order to form his own label, Bozon Records. On December 3, 2014, Tau released his first studio album under his new name, titled '' Remedium''. The album peaked at #4 on the

OLiS OLiS (Oficjalna Lista Sprzedaży; en, Official Sales Chart) is the official chart of the highest selling music albums in Poland. The chart exists since 23 October 2000 and is provided by ZPAV. This is a chart of best selling music albums in the ...

chart, having sold over fifteen thousand copies. On August 10, 2015, Tau posted a picture on his

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profile with a caption that he had finished making a new album. A few days later he said that it is almost sure that the album would be released in November 2015. On October 21, 2015, Tau revealed that his new project was to be titled '' Restaurator'' and it was going to be released on December 15, 2015. On December, 2015, Tau said he also was writing an

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

entitled "Odszukany" ( pol. ''Found''), yet not release data was set. In 2016, Tau stopped touring, saying that he wanted to focus on his new project that he had been working on for a while. On January 8, 2017, a single entitled "ON" was released which was to announce a new album and launching a new

charitable foundation A foundation (also a charitable foundation) is a category of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that typically provides funding and support for other charitable organizations through grants, but may also engage directly in charitable ac ...

, both known as '' On''. On February 28, 2017, the second single "Newsletter" was released. ''ON'' was eventually released on May 26, 2017, as a

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

, which was divided into two parts entitled "On" and "Off". The album debuted at #1 on the OLiS chart. In 2018, the rapper said that his next album would be released. In December 2018, he posted a message saying that the album would be named ''Egzegeza: Księga Pszczół'' (''Exegesis: The Book of Bees'') and presented its cover. On January 9, 2019, the first single "Ul. Znaków zapytania" was released and the official pre-order was launched, and the rapper announced that the project would be released on March 1.

Discography

* ''Alternatywne źródło energii'' (2010) * '' Teoria równoległych wszechświatów'' (2011) * '' Graal'' (2012) * ''Egzegeza: Księga Słów'' (2013) * '' Remedium'' (2014) * '' Restaurator'' (2015) * '' On'' (2017) * ''Egzegeza: Księga Pszczół'' (2019) * ''Ikona'' (2020)

References

{{Authority control 1986 births Living people Hip hop record producers Polish rappers Beatboxers Polish keyboardists Polish Roman Catholics Performers of Christian hip hop music Musicians from Kielce