After becoming one of this year’s most admirable and most talked about voices, it’s about time we had something to document Skepta‘s unique rise to fame. Now, Apple Music has released a full half-hour documentary which delves into the Tottenham rapper and producer’s career; the man who stands the forefront of the revitalisation of Grime.
For the past few years Skepta has been constantly generating a huge amount of buzz. 2014 saw the release of That’s Not Me, the mega-anthem which saw him toe-to-toe with his brother JME. It didn’t end there though, the massive It Ain’t Safe featuring Young Lord came next, and marked the pivotal beginning of the UK and New York link up. 2015 was the year of the co-signs, with Drake and Kanye West both weighing in on this much talked-about emcee. Not to mention the release of Shutdown, which undoubtably went on to become the UK’s anthem for the year.
Then came this year, 2016. After releasing his critically acclaimed fourth studio album Konnichiwa, he went on to earn himself the prestigious Mercury Prize, catapulting himself into peak worldwide success, all while staying true to his major values and remaining an independent and authentic artist.
This latest documentary, Skepta:Greatness Only, filmed in the week prior to his meteoric sold out Alexandra Palace headline show, walks us through these years; from his apparent mental breakdown in 2012, to the in-depth creation of That’s Not Me, he holds nothing back.
Presented and written by his sister, Beats 1 host Julie Adenuga, the film talks to those closest to him, who have been there from the very beginning: his managers Grace LaDoja and Sam Burton, tour manager Paddy London, his brother JME and mum Ify, alongside journalist Hattie Collins, soccer player Bradley Wright-Phillips, BBC’s DJ Semtex, designer Kritikal, MsM, PPP’s Charaf Tajer, Pharrell Williams, Guillame Schmidt, Roony Keefe and Jonny Banger. The film also features the likes of Section Boyz, Lethal Bizzle, Giggs, and Kano, serving as the greatest standing record of his career.
Watch the full documentary here or checkout the trailer below!
https://twitter.com/Beats1/status/810592352456687616?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Image: The Fader
Skepta‘s new album Konnichiwa has been officially certified gold, shifting half a million units (or streaming equivalents) since its release earlier this year. While this may not be so remarkable compared to the goals getting kicked by his bro Drake, it is a giant leap for grime, which has continuously struggled to break ground in the US and almost anywhere outside the UK except for Australia, and even here it’s not as big as it could be.
The rapper, who unfortunately cancelled his recent Australia and New Zealand tour just days before he was supposed to touch down, took to social media to announce the news:
WE DID IT #KonnichiwaIsGold – Infinite thanks to everybody listening worldwide for real, to all… https://t.co/ki5HLirZQp
— Big Smoke – (@Skepta) November 7, 2016
This isn’t the first accolade that Skepta has received for Konnichiwa; it was also nominated for the coveted Mercury Prize, which he won, beating out the likes of David Bowie and Radiohead.
You can read our review of Skepta’s album here.
Image: BBC
Kami – Home Movies
Chicago artist KAMI (Leather Corduroys) just dropped the video for Home Movies, the first track off his debut LP which is slated for release early next year. The video, directed by Andre Muir follows as a short film of sorts involving a diner waitress closing up early and indulging in a prom-night fantasy complete with backup dancers. There are some familiar faces in the video with Vic Mensa doing double duty as both a really confused dish-washer and member of the house band, along with Joey Purp and Knox Fortune, the latter having produced the track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hP6bMKU4lw
Lisa Mitchell – Warhol
Last week, Lisa Mitchell released her beautiful third album, Warriors and headed out on a national tour. Now, she’s followed up with a video for the latest single lifted from the LP, Warhol. Speaking of the track, Mitchell explained that it is a highly personal song (“It’s as if I was calling out to Andy Warhol, as if he were a dear confidante… A world to find refuge in…”). Which is perhaps why she opted for such an intimate visual to accompany the song. The video is a simple, live recording: Mitchell under warm orange lights, accompanied by her band as she dances around the small stage.
https://youtu.be/cUq0hb7NkiE
Sofi Tukker – Awoo ft. Betta Lemme
The newest video from New York based electro duo Sofi Tukker comes from their debut EP Soft Animals. A whimsical, piano driven dance track, Awoo comes in with a bright, colour-filled video to accompany it. Filmed in a pretty lavish location, it’s a little different to what might be expected at first. Complete with ducklings hatching and some strange underwater sequences, it’s fun and kind of quirky without taking itself too seriously.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7g_SWE90O8&feature=youtu.be
Maggie Rogers – Alaska
Maggie Rogers first came to attention through a video featuring her song Alaska when she played it for Pharrell Williams during a masterclass with the Grammy Award winner during her time as a student at The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. The song blends her folk sensibilities with her love for dance music in what Pharrell himself described as being a singular manner without compare. The video an extension of both those influences as she wonders through fields and forests, stopping to dance in clearings before night falls and the coloured lights come out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNWsW6c6t8g
Olsson – Hold On ft. Mapei
Stockholm based songwriter and producer Olsson’s got a new video out and it’s for his most recent single, Hold On which features vocals from Rhode Island’s Mapei. Filmed on location in Berlin, the video was shot on four different cameras over one weekend and has a throwback-90s vibe complete with bright colours and an analogue aesthetic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfy0qxGjnys&feature=youtu.be
D.R.A.M – Cash Machine
The man behind the worldwide hit Broccoli, and now a gorgeous debut album, is back at it again with yet another insanely catchy feel-good anthem. This time sampling Ray Charles’ classic piano intro from Hallelujah I Love Her So, it’s a perfect blend of old and new. Pair this with imagery of D.R.A.M. rolling around town spraying money from a tricycle, it’s almost impossible to not crack a smile while watching this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=9rx0eqQl8wk&app=desktop
Smoke Dawg – Overseas ft. Skepta
Teaming up with Canada’s young trap king Smoke Dawg, it seems like the king of grime is slowly turning more and more to the sounds of the South. Sure the pair aren’t bringing the most lyrical verses, but with it’s heavy hook and bold verses, it’s hard to question energy that the London – Toronto link up brings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=26&v=cymJJEGOuJE
Lance Skiiiwalker – Lover’s Lane &
Top Dawg Entertainment’s newest signee has dropped two new videos along with his highly anticipated debut, Introverted Intuition. The clip for Lover’s Lane sees Lance on the search for love, and the soundtrack to which is a beautifully violin lead slow burner, where Lance serenades those with his slick, laid-back tone. Meanwhile, the incredible Attraction is simple, sedate and thoughtful, predominantly featuring lightly falling snow in front of a simple building, with what we can only assume is Lance Skiiiwalker gazing out from a window.
Read more: Everything we know about Lance Skiiiwalker, TDE’s latest signing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbFxHR6Om1I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=195&v=pk4ZhTtdpC8
Ab-Soul – Huey Knew
Yet another TDE member to drop a video this week, this time we’ve got new visuals from Ab-Soul. Backed by imagery of black panther members, Donald Trump, and various cases of police brutality, the emcee delivers a powerful bundle of truth over this brutal boom-bap beat; this one is sure to turn heads.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=mS1P75OPnRE
Manu Crook$ – Blowin’ Up ft. Miracle
If you haven’t already peeped Australian artist Manu Crook$, now’s most definitely the time. Dropping the video for Blowin’ Up, it sees the emcee flexing through the streets of his city alongside collaborator Miracle, over the aggressive, bass heavy soundtrack and melodic verses beneath. Also check out the cameo by Brisbane’s celestial songstress JOY.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=144&v=lXraNbqyBOw
YOUNG MONKS – Bad Bad Freddy
Built upon an oddly brilliant carnival themed instrumentation, neo-psych indie rockers YOUNG MONKS have made their long-awaited return with an equally trippy video for their latest single. Blending puppets, and face masks with a reggae like groove and catchy as hell hooks, sure it’s a weird combination, but man does it work well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_0av2sVS1k
Words by Ruby-Rose Pivet-Marsh and Martin McConnell
Image: Lance Skiiiwalker / Youtube / TDE
Born in the bedrooms of British estates, Grime is one of the most vibrant and powerful cultures, capturing the ideals of London’s youth with the world left in awe. Where 80s New York had hip-hop to represent them, the portrayal of life in their city, early 2000 London remained in a limbo in-between the shadow of the punk takeover and the UK dance sounds which emerged.
The answer wasn’t flashy, it was gritty and rough; grimy, even, a reflection of real life. Blending home-grown sounds of garage and jungle, it was illegal pirate radio stations based in kitchens which inevitably cultivated a booming culture. London’s answer to hip-hop, it gave a voice to the voiceless within the fast paced, digital world of 21st century Britain.
From the streets to the award show stage, there’s definitely been a huge change in the past few years alone. A major turning point was when pioneer Dizzee Rascal was awarded the coveted Mercury Music Price back in the year 2003, but it’s taken another 13 years for grime to be once again be praised at the award show.
In the past two years alone grime has grown from essentially a small group of friends to a global phenomena. Just this month, North London’s Skepta took home the coveted Mercury Prize, beating David Bowie and Radiohead with his album Konnichiwa. But what actually sparked the grime explosion? Why has it taken 16 years to reach the worldwide spotlight and why now?
If we look back to the early 2000s, we find early pioneers like Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Wiley, D Double E. There was a point where many reached out to American sounds, compromising their unique identity to adopt a more traditional hip-hop voice. The result was the mainstream Dance Wiv Me rapping Dizzee, the Wearing My Rolex Wiley, and even the Amnesia Skepta. It didn’t stand out because, well, it didn’t stand out. It didn’t feel original and it lacked a key theme for these artists, integrity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnEZmk7as9Y
“I’ve been keeping my ear to the streets, The UK run out of ideas, Everybody doing covers of American beats,” Skepta acknowledged in his single Ace Hood Flow the following year, a theme which many seemed to suddenly pick up on and acknowledge in the scene. In response, artists’ decided to journey back to the original sounds, the vibes that they had begun with, a change which resulted in Skepta’s first global grime breakout That’s Not Me, capitalising on the original ‘eskimo’ sounds.
From here many more followed, including another leader of the grime trend Stormzy, who found his break with a freestyle over the Functions On The Low instrumental, a tune originally released back in 2004. These days it comes easier, with new artists Santan Dave and AJ Tracey blowing up with their single Thiago Silva, a booming remix of the 2003 Pied Piper instrumental.
The decision to return to the genre’s roots and build upon their past rather than jump on a foreign sound cultivated something truly original and important, something that authentic and entirely British. During a time when mainstream rap was stretching out in countless directions thanks to a growing boredom among listeners, grime endeavoured.
Now, as listeners and outsiders to the culture, we’re standing at a real turning point. Beyoncé is dancing to Skepta onstage, Drake is a part of Boy Better Know. It’s not even close to the underground anymore.
So what does that mean for the future? Already the term grime is becoming broader and broader, reaching out to different sounds and vibes, but staying unexplainably grimey. It’s hard to predict what such a new form of expression will do next, but already we are seeing this trend of nostalgia, and the legendary Jammer agrees, “You’re always gonna get people recreating what’s been done before if it was great,” the BBK member and Lord of The Mics founder explained, “Moving forward, someone’s gonna come along and add their thing which is new, mix it with something old, and that’s fusion, out of a magical thing something else is gonna come.”
The one problem with a genre that champions such specific sounds and rhythms is that it has its limits, it’s boundaries. That said, there’s marked diversity with many artists, be it Novelist‘s experimental beats, J Hus’ addictive dancehall blend, or Section Boyz’ trappy inflections, so it’ll be interesting to see where grime will shake and shift to in the coming months and years. Will it prevail when it’s no longer the new kid on the block?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GYYYZbGEuU
Image: Noisey
UPDATE 16/9/16: Skepta has had to cancel his tour. Refunds will be available from point of purchase.
Skepta has had to amend a few of the dates on his upcoming Australian and New Zealand tour. The delay is due to the Mercury Prize ceremony on September 15, at which Skepta is due to perform, as well as being nominated for his new album Konnichiwa. Other performers include ANOHNI, Savages, and a “special performance” of David Bowie‘s Blackstar, all of whom are among this year’s shortlist.
The first dates for the tour sold out pretty much immediately, and additional dates for most cities are now on sale – this includes additional dates in Perth, Dunedin, Christchurch, Auckland and Melbourne.
It’s also been announced that Skepta is bringing his Boy Better Know kin FRISCO as main support for the entire tour.
All details for the changed dates can be found below. Ticketholders don’t need to do anything, but refunds are available for anyone who can no longer make the show due to the changed dates.
Read our review of Konnichiwa here.
NEW SKEPTA TOUR DATES
Sat Sept 17 | Metro City, Perth *SOLD OUT
Sun Sept 18 | Metro City, Perth
Tues Sept 20 | 170 Russell, Melbourne (previously Sept 13) – NEW DATE *SOLD OUT
Wed Sept 21 | Town Hall, Dunedin
Thurs Sept 22 | CPSA, Christchurch
Fri Sept 23 | Logan Campbell Centre, Auckland
Sat Sept 24 | Enmore, Sydney *SOLD OUT
Sun Sept 25 | 170 Russell, Melbourne
Mon Sept 26 | 170 Russell, Melbourne (previously Sept 14) – NEW DATE *SOLD OUT
Tues Sept 27 | Enmore Theatre, Sydney (previously Sept 26) – NEW DATE *SOLD OUT
Thurs Sept 29 | Tivoli, Brisbane (previously Sept 16) – NEW DATE *SOLD OUT
Image: Hypetrak
In one of the cuter stories of the day, grime MC Skepta decided to show his appreciation for his Canadian contemporary Drake in the form of painfully applied ink. Whilst on tour in Toronto, the rapper showed Drizzy some love by getting the OVO Sounds logo tattooed onto himself, OVO being Drake’s own record company.
The photo was uploaded to Instagram and depicts the company’s trademark owl perched above the clock tower and London’s Houses of Parliament.
The tattoo is Skepta’s answer to Drizzy’s own ink on his shoulder, which depicts the letters ‘BBK’ in reference Skepta’s label Boy Better Know.
The joint ink adventure is just the latest in a growing list of PDA’s seen between the two artists of late, with Drake going as far as to be proclaimed as the first artist to sign to BBK, but any details about that deal are still yet to be released.
Skepta also revealed in an interview with BBC that there could be a potential collaboration with Drake in the works for a future release, but has remained tight-lipped about the issue since.
Regardless of what the future holds for the two, the present is looking pretty good right about now for the Skepta, with his latest album Konnichiwa taking the hip-hop world by storm and cementing grime’s place on the map.
You’ll have the chance to hear the album live when he visits our shores this September.
See below for dates.
Images: Image 1- Instagram
Image 2- Supplied
Image 3- Capital Xtra
Skepta has dropped his first new track since his long-awaited album Konnichiwa came out in April. Below, listen to Coming Soon featuring both Makonnen and Ceon on the hook.
It’s completely different to what we’ve heard from Skepta before. The track opens with a bouncy melodic hook and really bright, playful instrumental phrases, while the repetitive hook features the words “coming soon” over and over again, with a few additions, like “new house coming soon,” “new money coming soon.” Honestly it’s pretty silly, to a point where it could be a self-parody. I don’t know if I like this track, but it might just be that one instrumental layer that I cannot stand. It sounds like the noise a unicorn would make instead of a neigh.
The rhythm is quite slow, and Skepta swings from line to line with a laid-back sense of ease. He spends most of his lines reflecting on the past few months, including talking about the release of Konnichiwa, about not being able to tour the USA, about playing Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage etc.
I do really like the verse which references both Kanye and Jay Z, specifically the couplet, “Who can they name in the US? Everybody gonna say “You, S,” a clever take on a line from Kanye’s verse on Estelle‘s American Boy, “Who killing ’em in the UK? Everybody gonna say you, K.” Skepta then says he feels like Jay Z back in 1996 and he “Dropped Konnichiwa, that’s the Blueprint, now you’re stuck with me.”
Skepta is touring Australia later this year, full dates can be found below.
Read our review of Skepta’s “Konnichiwa”
Image: Supplied
Skepta has added new dates to his Australian tour, after the initial run of shows sold out pretty much immediately. The grime rapper has just released new album Konnichiwa, and last visited Australia at the start of this year to play a handful of New Years festivals. In the wake of his album, the consistently growing international spotlight on grime and of course, a Drake co-sign, it’s pretty damn clear that his fanbase has exploded in that time.
Read our album review of Konnichiwa here
Read our feature – Getting to know grime: The rise of Boy Better Know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOhxPhqzMwg
Image: Supplied
Having taken the world by storm and introduced grime to thousands around the world, London’s own Skepta has now announced a new set of headline Australian tour dates. He last visited the country across New Years, where he performed at a number of festivals including FOMO and Field Day.
Skepta recently released his new album Konnichiwa, which not only features the biggest and best names in grime, including Wiley, Novelist, Jme and D Double E, but Pharrell Williams and A$AP Mob. He’s also made his mark on the USA, largely thanks to a heavy co-sign from his best buddy Drake. We can’t get enough of the album, and believe us when we tell you that it’s a whole other level when live on stage.
Get in quick, because tickets go on sale this week: 10 am local time on Thursday May 26. Details below, and you can find tickets and more information right here.
Skepta Tour Dates
What better place to hold a launch party for an album titled Konnichiwa than Japan itself, and what better place to make your Japanese debut than Tokyo? Well that’s where English-born grime superstar Skepta held the launch party of his latest full-length effort a few weeks ago, and the video is now available to watch.
Japan isn’t exactly the first country you think about when you think about hip-hop, or grime for that matter, but the scene is by all accounts booming, and it’s cool to see a major artist take his launch event somewhere other than, say, London or New York or Los Angeles. Showcasing the best in upcoming hip-hop from Japan, Skepta invited Japanese rappers KOHH, Dutch Montana, Loota and DJ Riki to open for him at the event. Watch their sets below:
Following this opening, Skepta came out and rocked the tiny Tokyo venue, at which he performed some of the biggest hits from Konnichiwa as well as a few new songs. Although his set only clocks in around 25 minutes, it’s a hectic, energetic 25 minutes that undoubtedly left a satisfied, exhausted audience in its lurch. I don’t think anyone could keep up such a crazy show for much longer. Watch the full set below, hosted by Boiler Room.
Image: Hypebeast