Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Kae Tempest, Fiction 2022.
Kae Tempest is an English spoken word performer, poet, rapper, recording artist, novelist, and playwright.
In 2020 Tempest came out as non-binary, using the pronouns they and them. I will respect the expressed wishes and do likewise in this review.
At the age of 16 Tempest was accepted into The Brit School for Performing Arts and Technology and in 2013 won the Ted Hughes Award for Brand New Ancients, a theatrical spoken word piece which was performed at the Battersea Arts Centre in 2012 to great acclaim.
The big break came for Tempest with the release of the rap album Let Them Eat Chaos in 2016.
It debuted at 28 on the UK album chart and it was also released as a book.
The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize and also for best British Female Solo Performer at the 2018 Brit awards.
The Line is a Curve is Tempest’s sixth album and I think it’s the best since Let Them Eat Chaos.
It’s an album for the troubled times that we’re living through.
Tempest’s command of language is powerful, and their delivery is so clear and precise that I can hear what is being said with little to no difficulty.
I can tell you that with my old ears a lot of rap is undecipherable, but this is not the case with Kae Tempest.
On the track Nothing To Prove their staccato presentation is a machine gun of plosives while in No Prizes the cadence is that of everyday conversation.
The presentation style changes to suit the subject matter of each track, so we never get that horrible rap mantra that seems to come as a standard fixture with most American rap.
Tempest is a poet first, and a rapper second.
Their words, their meaning and moods, is paramount.
I’m not really into rap and hip-hop but I do like Kae Tempest, they present something different and intelligent.
