Kae Tempest

Kae Tempest is an English poet, rapper and playwright from South East London, born in Brockley in 1985. Emerging from the UK spoken-word and hip-hop scenes in the early 2010s, they built a reputation as one of the most distinctive voices in British poetry before channeling that intensity into recorded music. Their lyrics fuse dense, literary wordplay with urgent social commentary, drawing on Greek mythology, working-class London life and personal introspection in equal measure.

Tempest's studio albums — Everybody Down, Let Them Eat Chaos and The Book of Traps and Lessons — are built on stark, atmospheric production that leaves space for their rapid, incantatory delivery. Tracks like «Europe Is Lost», «Tunnel Vision» and «People's Faces» pair minimal electronic beats with a spoken-word cadence closer to performance poetry than conventional rap, placing them at the crossroads of hip-hop, spoken word and experimental pop. They have collaborated with producers such as Dan Carey and Rick Rubin, and their poetry collection Brand New Ancients won the Ted Hughes Award.

In August 2020 Tempest changed their stage name from Kate to Kae Tempest to reflect their non-binary identity. Across poetry, theatre and music, they remain known for an urgent, prophetic style that treats the everyday struggles of contemporary Britain as material for something closer to modern myth.