Kae Tempest – Know Yourself

Scott has chosen something from the non-self-titled album Self Titled…

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[7.33]Al Varela: An interesting little track! Kae’s flow is incredibly sharp, delivering his poetry with really tight confidence and great breath control, as he reminisces on how far he’s come and how much he has left to go. The song he samples is actually one of his own he made when he was younger, which touches on themes of talking to one’s older self, which is an incredibly cool creative decision! I find it especially touching knowing how Kae would go on to transition in between the two songs.
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Ian Mathers: Thought it might be a Chemical Brothers sample, but nope it’s just one of them producing. And it enhances, not overwhelms, the central conceit of the song, Tempest duetting/cross-talking with his younger self. We’ve all heard of sad bangers, is the world ready for moving bangers?
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Alfred Soto: Better known in the UK than on these shores, this spoken word polymath offers therapy-with-enjambment and a solid hip-hop foundation, enough to deactivate his vocal similarities to Phil Collins.
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Nortey Dowuona: Tom Rowlands: creates a very simple, bassy addition of dubstep alongside the smooth drum pattern allowing for plenty of space, ceasing for pauses which allow Tinie to reassert himself and muddle through, becoming more of a coherent and thoughtful stylist, leaving his cocksure smirks to soften into proud smiles as his flow slinks past your ear, and managing to keep you all throughout.
Fraser T. Smith: creates a lush, piano driven stunner with a simple thin drum pattern that lays back in the mix allowing the keys and ghostly wails of Paul McCartney to step back for Dave’s insistent, earnest pleas to take center stage, the rich double bass played by Daniel Casmir jabbing back to these pleas to test their strength.
Fraser T. Smith AND Tom Rowlands: assemble a heavy drum pattern that fades into a simple four-on-the-floor pattern, with arpeggiated bass below, then slips back into the rumbling drums, bass zipping in as the arpeggiated bass and four-on-the-floor pattern reasserts, a brief dash of additional synths appear, then return to the rumbling drums and lush synth chords. A gentle dusting of strings dashes across the mix before Kae’s voice gently offers us release, and the song ceases. Beautiful. (Kae snapped on this too.)
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Claire Davidson: “Know Yourself” announces itself with a confidence that suggests it might just be another rags-to-riches rap song, but Kae Tempest is a spoken word poet, not a hip-hop lifer, and as such, his approach to a victory-lap track is thornier, more measured. The lyrics devote a great deal of time to his battles with inner anxiety and self-doubt throughout the first two decades of his career, topics that are surely much more of a relief to broach now that Tempest has come out as a trans man. Yet the song itself feels slightly underdeveloped: the transition from the reserved brooding of the first verse to the more lucid clarity of the second is a bit abrupt, stopping short of detailing the inner revelations that led to Tempest finding the peace he so desperately craved. The instrumentation, too, is overly restrained, particularly in a chorus that, thanks to its open synths, frenetic bassline, and more active percussion, feels on the cusp of hitting a triumphant stride the never really comes. That Kae Tempest has finally begun to live a more self-assured life is certainly cause for celebration; I just wish that his journey was more vividly rendered.
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Scott Mildenhall: The train drives on: actualisation isn’t a terminus, but a platform. As such, “Know Yourself”‘s conclusions are rarely more definitive than its title — the knowledge is in its conviction. Tempest’s twist-turning time travel shows that he knows he is a work in progress; no more an end product than when he previously spoke these words, reaching back and pointing within. It’s stirring to hear him so released and full of self-commitment, making a vow as much as an affirmation. As the sinister codification of a fringe poison proceeds, this holds power.
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