Words by Martin McConnell
This past year has been huge for the UK’s once underground culture known as grime. At the forefront of the worldwide takeover is none other than Tottenham born MC Skepta, who achieved huge worldwide success with his anthem Shutdown almost a year ago. Since then he has released several singles such as Back Then, Top Boy and the Devilman diss-track Nasty. All while he toured the world (see our review of his set at Brisbane’s FOMO Festival) and linked up with Earl Sweatshirt, Pharrell Williams, Wiki, Flatbush Zombies (who’ve just announced a new album of their own,) Drake and more in anticipation of his fourth studio album expected to be released this year.
For his newest tune Ladies Hit Squad, he has enlisted who he believes is the “greatest grime MC of all time” D Double E, while continuing the London to New York connection with A$AP Mob, in this case A$AP Nast.
Sonically, the song has a strong OVO feel, and combined with Nast’s catchy hook, you can definitely feel a Drake influence, which is no surprise given the friendship and connection between the pair. The song itself is laced in seductive innuendos, and with each MC delivering provocative bars over this wavy beat, Ladies Hit Squad perfectly fits with the Valentines Day release.
The clip is quite the opposite to how we’ve seen the grime MC in the past. That’s Not Me, It Ain’t Safe, and even Shutdown all had a very gritty street feel and setting, whereas Ladies Hit Squad boasts a flashy exclusive club scene filled with girls, drinks and of course hot tubs.
While many are already calling him a sell-out, Skepta has always been known to mix it up, even in his last full-length project, Blacklisted. This featured the dark and gritty Ace Hood Flows, but also in comparison the auto-tuned disco track Lay Her Down.
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