When Kae Tempest released their fourth album ‘The Line Is A Curve’ last year, it felt like a real lightning-in-a-bottle moment between spoken word and hip-hop. And, after such an accomplished release, you’d expect a quiet period. But when you’re a Mercury-nominated rapper, Ted Hughes Award-winning playwright, Sunday Times bestselling novelist and renowned poet, rest is clearly the last thing on your mind.
‘Nice Idea’ comprises four tracks created in conjunction with long-time collaborator Dan Carey. On the surface of it all, you may think it’ll be business as usual, but there’s a laid back air to this release that reveals a performer who knows exactly what they’re about.
That’s not to say that their lyrics are any less hard-hitting than we’ve come to expect. Love Harder takes aim at the family values entrenched in outdated gender identities, stating: “If my existence / threatens your safety / you need a little sweetness in your bowl sugar / you’re too savoury.”
Tempest laces the track with festival-ready choruses to take the message to the masses.
Tempest’s most effective weapon is their words, but ‘Nice Idea’ shows just how flexible they can be with their flows and rhyme structures through four wildly different and identifiable beats. From the jazz-infused drum ‘n’ bass of the title track, to the mysterious sci-fi boom bap of Thinking Clearly, Tempest is elastic in their performance to furnish every time signature and beat switch with thought-provoking and urgent verbiage.
‘Nice Idea’ continues Tempest’s trailblazing rise as one of Britain’s most authentic and arresting artists. The ‘voice of a generation’ label may seem trite and overdone, but it’s hard to think of any other way to describe them.
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