It’s all about one of the UK’s Producers Breaking Hip-Hop’s Geographical Boundaries. The British beat maker making a splash across the pond. A British-Nigerian singer at the forefront of the Grime scene. Call him a producer, an activist (I don’t want to call him a rapper). An artist inspired by the likes Bob Marley in his songwriting, record producing and music video. In a world full of pretentiousness, he’s the latest star To Turn Down An Honour From The Queen. This artist is Bold, confident and innovative, he’s proven himself as a jack of all trades and master of them all. He’s better known by his stage name Skepta,
Born Joseph Junior Adenuga on 19 September 1982 in Tottenham, North London, United Kingdom to immigrant parents from Nigeria. Skepta is an English grime artist, songwriter, record producer and music video director who released his debut studio album Greatest Hits in late-2007 and his second, Microphone Champion in 2009, both independently, while his third studio album Doin’ It Again was released in 2011 by AATW. His fourth studio album, Konnichiwa, was released on 6 May 2016 to critical acclaim, winning that year’s Mercury Prize. The eldest of four siblings. Skepta’s brother, and labelmate is the well-known grime artist Jme. They have collaborated many times, most recently on his album Konnichiwa.
Grime is a genre of music originating from the United Kingdom specifically the city of London. It was forged in East London in the early 2000s.It’s a combination of hip-hop and other music genres including UK garage music, 2 step and electro music accompanied by rap verses. It wasn’t exactly an accepted genre of music when it first emerged. It seemed more of an underground genre played on pirate radio stations. Some of the most popular artistes in this genre are independent acts.
4. “Private Caller” (2005)
Arguably Skepta’s first underground hit, ‘Private Caller’ is a raw Grime anthem from 2005 alongside the biggest MCs of the time. It was also his first video to appear on TV.
Skepta began emceeing shortly before Meridian Crew disbanded in 2005, after which Skepta, alongside his brother Jme and fellow rapper Joseph Bamber joined Roll Deep for a short period of time before becoming founding members of Boy Better Know in 2006. Following the formation of Boy Better Know, Skepta clashed with fellow MC and grime legend Seagar for the DVD Lord of the Mics 2, in what is remembered as one of the biggest clashes in grime history. Shortly after the clash, Skepta released a mixtape entitled “Joseph Junior Adenuga”.
Moving on. The road to success was not a straight line: He started out as a DJ, then moved on to producing before proving he had skills on the mic too. The pieces really started to fall into place in 2006, when Joseph Junior Adenuga and his younger brother Jamie (JME) created the
Boy Better Know label. Skepta really announced himself to Grime fans via a memorable ‘Lord Of The Mics’ clash with Devilman in 2006. Despite repeating the same lyrics twice, the London MC impressed with a series of vicious bars.
Skepta dropped his debut album. He released his first studio album in 2007 and never looked back. ‘Greatest Hits’ back in 2007 and followed up with ‘Microphone Champion’ (2009), ‘Doin’ It Again’ (2011) and ‘Blacklisted’ (2012).
3 Rescue Me no Released: 2011 no 14 Album: Doin’ It Again
In mid-2016 he released his fourth studio album Konnichiwa which was met with critical acclaim and commercial success. Skepta is one of those artists who manage to take what others are doing (grime in this case), elevate the game, and put his own stamp on it after-which many clones emerge. He’s one of the greats who have helped to shape grime music into what it is (Grime music has been around for a while and it’s most popular in the UK where it was born.
Bonus from tip off : Drake releases new project ‘More Life’ featuring Sampha and Skepta
Drake hints at Skepta collaboration in Instagram post
Skepta has been making waves lately since over a couple of years following his association with Drake and his work in North America, which has resulted in him also being associated with the likes of Kanye West and the ASAP Mob. He has the lyrical caliber, great production and embodies the raw aggression that is often associated with grime.
Drake is rumoured to have spotted Skepta while browsing the internet and the pair have become good friends. Drake brought Skepta out during his Wireless set in 2015 and Skepta returned the favour at a Section Boyz show in 2016. Drizzy is also signed to Skepta’s BBK label.
2. “That’s Not Me” f/ Jme (2014) number 21 on uk
And his ‘That’s Not Me’ video only cost £80 to make.
Skepta won Best Video at the 2014 MOBOs for his throwback ‘That’s Not Me’ video. Speaking exclusively to Capital XTRA after the awards show, he revealed he spent £70 on the hat he wore and £10 on petrol to get to the video shoot.
Skepta was named in GQ’s 10 Best Dressed Men List in 2016. “In Manchester they’re chasing the p, they don’t care about all but fashion stuff,” he told Redbull Music Academy. “Manchester is straight greazy. You see a man in a black cap and black hoody tracksuit looking greazy, they’ve been on this thing for time.”
1. Skepta – No Security November 2017
Almost a year since “No Security” first dropped, its impact has dampened somewhat. Skepta’s hype talk is some of the best in the scene and he’s got the career achievements to back it up. He finally released Konnichiwa album in 2017 which was executively produced by Skepta himself. He produced all but three songs on the album. He reinvented himself with two anthemic tracks in That’s Not Me and Shutdown Finally, in May it materialised, and it was clear the pushbacks hadn’t been a bad omen: the great hope for contemporary British music did not disappoint.
He’s got over 200 songs to his credit, three EPs Stupid EP: About 5 Mixtapes: Joseph Junior Adenuga (2006), Been There Done That (2010), Community Payback (2011), Blacklisted (2012), The Tim Westwood Mix (2015) and about 5 Album: Studio albums
Greatest Hits (2007) Microphone Champion (2009), Doin’ It Again (2011), Konnichiwa (2016) Skepta made history by winning the Mercury Music Prize for his album ‘Konnichiwa’.
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Recipients and nominees | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | MOBO Awards [23] | Best Video | “That’s Not Me” Feat. Jme | Won |
| 2015 | MOBO Awards [23] | Best Song | “Shutdown“ | Won |
| 2016 | Ivor Novello Awards[24] | Best Contemporary Song | Shutdown (Skepta song) | Nominated |
| Q Awards [25] | Best Track | “Man“ | Nominated | |
| Best Solo Artist | Skepta | Nominated | ||
| Mercury Prize [26] | Album of the Year | “Konnichiwa“ | Won | |
| MOBO Awards [27] | Best Album | Nominated | ||
| Best Grime Act | Skepta | Nominated | ||
| Best Male Act | Nominated | |||
| BET Awards [28] | Best International Act: UK | Won | ||
| 2017 | NME Awards [29] | Best British Male | Won | |
| Best Album supported | Konnichiwa | Nominated | ||
| Best Track | “Man“ | Nominated | ||
| Music Moment Of The Year | Skepta wins Mercury Prize | Nominated | ||
| BRIT Awards | British Male Solo Artist | Skepta | Nominated | |
| British Breakthrough Act | Nominated | |||
| MasterCard British Album of the Year | “Konnichiwa“ | Nominated | ||
| BET Awards[30] | Best International Act: Europe | Skepta | Nominated |
Won Mercury prize 2016 for Konnichiwa the album beating the likes of David Bowie, Radiohead and the 1975 to the £25,000 prize
For those who are curious to know if he’s related to Mike Adenuga- Nigerian business tycoon, Adenuga is a surname. There are other notable people with the same surname: Jamie Adenuga, stage-named Jme, an English grime artist. Joseph Adenuga, Don’t get it twisted, he’s nowhere related to Mike Adenuga, a Nigerian business tycoon nor Wale Adenuga, a Nigerian cartoonist and may be any othe adenuga’s you know
CONTROVERSIES
Skepta is the global ambassador for Uniqlo sparked controversy in 2011 when he released a highly-explicit music video for his song ‘All Over The House’. Skepta built a house for his dad in Nigeria. Skepta loves English slangs. UK rappers have long been prone to latching on to US slang, but Skepta appears to be going hard in the other direction. He peppers Konnichiwa with phrases almost belligerent in their Britishness – lyrics such as “spending pennies in a pissing well” or “I’ve got bars like Camden Town” are likely going to baffle Skepta’s growing US fanbase, but it’s hard not to suspect that this may be the point. He’s got concert coming up later this year.
