This rapper was having panic attacks on stage, until he transitioned

Affirming his gender last year has renewed Kae Tempest's love for performing live. (Supplied: Handsome Tours)

A poet, rapper, musician, playwright, novelist and essayist, Kae Tempest is adept at expressing himself through his art.

At 28, Tempest became the youngest winner of the prestigious Ted Hughes Award for his epic poem Brand New Ancients.

His first two solo albums, Everybody Down and Let Them Eat Chaos, were both nominated for the Mercury Prize, which is awarded to the best album released by a British or Irish act.

He's collaborated with Rick Rubin, been nominated for a Brit Award, and won the Silver Lion at the Venice International Theatre Festival.

It was the polymath's prodigious output that helped him realise he needed to transition.

"It got to a point, I think I was hiding in my work," says Tempest, now 41.

"As long as my work was going alright, I could deal with the fact that when I was back from tour, I often would collapse and wouldn't be able to move and would go into some kind of depression."

He didn't realise the way his mental health was impacting his physical health, too.

"As long as it didn't show up on the tour bus, or it didn't show up when I was sitting at my desk with something to deliver, or as long as it didn't come into the studio, I could kind of think that it was just normal," he says.

"[But] finally, when it turned up at work, which for me is my reason for being, that's when I realised that something was different because I was unable to function."

This disconnect between his public persona and private self took the form of panic attacks on stage, which Tempest experienced for many years. However, affirming his gender last year has renewed Tempest's love for performing live.

"When I was younger, [music] was always the place where I could flourish and thrive," Tempest says.

"Being behind a mic on stage was the place where I kind of left everything behind and went to the divine. It was really the most euphoric, uplifting, connected place for me.

"I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to feel like I've come back. I've been gifted a selfhood that I didn't really have access to before.

It's not just internally that Tempest's gender euphoria manifests itself, but also in the way he connects with his audience.

"It's so wonderful to go out on stage at the moment," says Tempest.

"I'm back in the room and I can use all of the things that I've learned over 20 years of being on stage."

Released to widespread critical acclaim, Tempest's most recent album, Self Titled, is a paean to the trans and gender-diverse com