SKEPTA COMETH
Fake your way into the cool kids club with this cheat sheet on the King of the Tracksuit Mafia. By Yolisa Mkele
Have you accepted our lord and saviour Skepta into your life?
If you’re disconnected from youth culture and looked at his name on a passport, you would be tempted to think that Joseph Junior Adenuga is the bespectacled intern in your marketing department. If you made this assumption, you’d be laughed out of any conversation populated by those who consider themselves cool.
As king of the tracksuit mafia, Skepta has been at the forefront of the exploding influence that grime and UK hip-hop have recently had on global youth culture. His impending arrival in South Africa is likely to send all the counter-culture cool kids into fits of edgy hysteria.
This presents a problem for those looking to fit in with people who scoff at the likes of Chance the Rapper but haven’t had a chance to figure out why a style of music would be named after a type of dirt, or why having a taste for Skepta will lead you to eternal musical salvation.
Never fear, we have compiled a semi-comprehensive need-to-know guide on how to pretend you know Skepta.
What is grime?
A fair question if your favourite act is UB40. Grime is a major reason why you’re hearing words like “ting”, “mans” and “bruv” creeping into popular slang of late. Emerging from the non-touristy parts of London in the early 2000s the genre incorporates elements of hip-hop, dancehall UK garage music and a host of other styles being played at about 140 BPM. Its eminent citizens include Skepta, Wiley, Stormzy, Dizzee Rascal, Kano and JME.
Who is Skepta?
Remember when Drake started incorporating Jamaican patois and London slang into his persona? Skepta was undoubtedly one of his influences.
Naomi Campbell’s lover is the Gucci-eschewing tracksuit connoisseur responsible for the acclaimed Konnichiwa album (which won the 2016 Mercury Prize, the UK’s most prestigious music honour) and a string of music videos in which the overarching theme seems to be a middle finger.
The video for Man, for example, looks like the chaotic love child of a riot and an anarchic warehouse party.
Skepta is also something of a sex symbol. The kind of rough young man who looks like he will break your heart, warm your loins and drive your parents crazy.
So, why bother?
There is a reason the mainstream scene is boring you. The rappers whose names start with “lil” sound like they were all mass produced in a Xanax factory and though entertaining enough, the Drakes of the world are as authentic as chicken nuggets.
Grime musicians represent a return to urban music’s (not urban as in black but urban as in inner city) gritty, anti-establishment roots and that kind of thing is catnip for suburbanites. In fact your suburban credentials would be badly damaged if you didn’t find yourself shouting “that’s not me” in a new designer tracksuit at his show.
Cheat sheet:
● If anyone asks, mention that Blacklisted or Greatest Hits (his debut album) is your favourite Skepta project. His last album Konnichiwa was fantastic and awardwinning, but you don’t want to sound like you just stumbled upon him.
● Acclaimed grime artist JME and Beats 1 (Apple Music’s radio station) personality Julie Adenuga are his siblings.
● The video for the hit song That’s Not Me apparently cost less than £80 to make.
Introductory playlist:
● Tour Bus Massacre featuring Krept & Konan (from Blacklisted) ● Badman in Tivoli (from Blacklisted)
● Shutdown (from Konnichiwa)
● Numbers (from Konnichiwa)
● I Spy (from Greatest Hits)
● Not Your Average Joe (from Greatest Hits)
● Ghost Ride featuring A$AP Rocky (from Vicious)
● Still (from Vicious)