kate tempest

I’m usually the last person to ask about “what’s happening now” in music, or books, or TV. When I was a professional musician, I dutifully kept track of what was popular, what seemed to be the trends, etc. That’s part of being a professional, in any field.

But then, when I quit, I stopped paying attention and listened to what I felt like listening to. I occasionally know something about current music, but usually after everybody else has discovered it first (I really like Lorde, but I think everybody else knew about her already).

But I just found out about Kate Tempest, and this time I think there are still a few people who don’t know about her yet, at least in the U.S. I read about her in the Guardian, and she sounded interesting. A poet, playwright, “spoken word artist” and rapper. Even apart from the fact that I’m not sure what a “spoken word artist” is, that’s an intriguing combination.

So, I bought her album Everybody Down (do we even say “album” anymore?), and when I was listening I just kept hitting Repeat to listen to this song again and again:

 
As I say, I don’t know where the borders are between “rapper” and “poet” and “spoken word artist,” but there’s this, which I frankly admit made me cry:

Too many embedded videos in one blog post can cause problems — at least for me — so here’s a link to Kate Tempest’s ringing and poetic endorsement of hip-hop and what it means to her:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKdUEcnYW7M

I want Kate Tempest to make a record with Lorde. ASAP.