Excentral Tempest Interview interview 0563 added 16.04.08 words: Anna Nathanson technical: Spoon Meet Kate, aka Excentral Tempest, who has been grafting on the UK underground scene for no less than five years, performing at festivals, open mics, and writing constantly. Anna Nathanson catches up with the MC for her first ever interview… Introduce yourself… I’m 22 and grew up and live in South East London and I’ve been rapping for about five years now, and in the last 2-3 years I’ve been gigging and recording. I’ve done a bunch of festivals, such as the Latitude Festival, as well as loads of scraggly ones that aren’t proper, but they’re loads of fun. I used to go down to Deal Real loads back when I was about 15-16. I also used to do shows down at Speaker’s Corner in Brixton quite a lot. It was sad when it finished but not too sad as I know they’re coming back. In the meantime, there’s the People’s Army open night that I’ll be performing at in the future. Tell us about your name? My producer’s mum came up with ‘Excentral’ and for a little while that was my name, but then I added the Tempest bit, which is a reference to a Shakespeare play. I love water and really identify with the sea, and turbulent storms, and that’s how I feel my style is sometimes, a bit stormy. You have a lyric that claims people say you write well, ‘for a lady’. To what extent has sexism affected you and your work, or is it just a lyric? No it’s not just a lyric. I wrote it because I feel that sometimes people don’t realise that when they’re giving you a compliment, it’s also an insult in a way. In hip hop especially, if you’re a woman rapping, there’s always gonna be the tag ‘female MC’, when I just want to be an MC in my own right, not necessarily a ‘female MC’. I have experienced sexism in the industry. When I first started out and no-one knew who I was, I couldn’t get on mics anywhere, I used to have to get my producer to get the mic for me, and I’d grab the mic and start rapping and it was only then that they’d let me spit. But in a way, I appreciate that it works to my advantage, because when people don’t expect you to be good, then even if you’re a little bit better then shit, they’re like, ‘oh, you’re a lot better than I thought’. What’s the writing process like for you? It’s pretty intense. Sometimes it grabs me by the throat, shakes me around and this rhyme comes out, and sometimes it’s very casual. I pretty much write constantly though. It’s always been something very natural for me. With raps, you need to keep crafting them and work out your style and everything, but it’s still very natural. They’re not contrived and I don’t think too hard about them, I just write them. What else are you up to at the moment? I’m currently doing a Literature Degree so I’m doing a lot of reading for that, I really enjoy reading. I’m hoping to do a Masters afterwards, probably in Poetry, and one day I’d like to do a PhD. Who do you rate personally in the scene? There’s one guy who’s really doing it called David Jay, he used to be a rapper but he’s more of a poet now. He’s just got a different style and his lyrics are f***ing amazing. In terms of hip hop, I really like Roots Manuva, Klashnekoff, Taskforce, Kashmere. There’s also people that you hear at open mic nights and they’re sick but you don’t know their names. Where do you see yourself in the future? I’d like to record an album and have a body of work that I’m really happy with and represents where I’m at right now, and I’d like for it to be available to people. I’d like to work on other things as well, not just writing rhymes. I’ve written a play, and I’d like to work on maybe a book. But I just f***ing love rapping and hip hop, I love being around it, so I want to just continue what I’m doing. - Anna Nathanson   Related Links: Excentral Tempest on myspace... Anna Nathanson

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