Bookies favourite Tempest has awards for her poetry but with hip-hop album Everybody Down she has moved towards the mainstream and the Mercury judges love a female MC
Mercury nominees 2014: Jungle
Mercury nominees 2014: GoGo Penguin
Mercury nominees 2014: FKA twigs
Mercury nominees 2014: East India Youth
Who? Kate Esther Tempest is the Next Generation poet, playwright, social activist and rapper from south London whose observations cover class and relationships with warmth, sincerity, fragility and humour. She started out as a rapper and a spoken-word poet, shes lived in squats, studied music at the Brit school, created Everything Speaks in its Own Way, a collection of poems published on her own imprint Zingaro, The Glasshouse, a forum theatre play for Cardboard Citizens, the plays Wasted and Hopelessly Devoted and the award-winning poem Brand New Ancients. Her debut album proper, Everybody Down, tells the story of three individuals grappling with loneliness in the city, with each song representing a new chapter in their lives. The characters featured in this album, and her previous works, are being made into a novel due to be published next year.
The album: Everybody Down
