Born on December 22nd, 1985 in Westminister, London, rapper/musician, playwright and novelist Kae Tempest’s incendiary mix of accented English poetry and beat-driven music has earned them a place at the top table of contemporary British pop luminaries. Cutting their teeth at open mic nights in London hip-hop store Deal Real, they began making a name for themselves across the spoken-word circuit and soon landed support slots for John Cooper Clarke, Billy Bragg, and Benjamin Zephaniah. Poetry and playwriting came before music and in 2013, they released their first poetry book Everything Speaks in Its Own Way – a limited edition run on their own imprint, Zingaro – also garnering critical acclaim for their theatrical spoken-word piece Brand New Ancients (2012). Having taken their first steps towards music in 2011 as a rapper with UK hip-hop trip Sound of Rum, they launched their solo career in 2014 with a debut album for esteemed London imprint Big Dada/Ninja Tune, which was produced by Dan Carey. The LP, Everybody Down, was nominated for the 2014 Mercury Prize and was followed by the release of their first poetry collection for Picador, Hold Your Own, in October 2014, a career-defining collection that secured their status as a Next Generation Poet. They published their first novel, The Bricks that Built the Houses, in 2016 and a second album came that same year. Impressively, 2016’s Let Them Eat Chaos was also nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2017 and went to Number 28 in the UK. Their third studio album, The Book of Traps and Lessons, arrived in 2019, and in August 2020, Kae Tempest came out as non-binary, using they/them pronouns, and changing their name from Kate to Kae. Kae Tempest’s fourth studio album, The Line Is a Curve, dropped in 2022, and reached Number 8 in the UK charts. The EP Nice Idea followed in 2023, before the release of Tempest's fifth full-length Self Titled (2025), featuring collaborations with Fraser T. Smith (production), Raven Bush (arrangements), Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet), Chelsea Carmichael (saxophone), Anoushka Nanguy (trombone), Theon Cross (tuba), Tom Rowlands (programming, keyboards), and vocalists Neil Tennant, Tawiah, Connie Constance, and also Alloysious Massaquoi, Graham Hastings and Kayus Bankole from Young Fathers.
