Skepta

Skepta

Skepta in Breezy Point, 2014
Background information
Birth name Joseph Junior Adenuga
Born (1982-09-19) 19 September 1982
Tottenham, England
Genres
Occupation(s)
Years active 2003–present
Labels
Associated acts
Website www.helloskepta.com

Joseph Junior Adenuga (born 19 September 1982), better known by his stage name Skepta, is an English Grime artist, songwriter and record producer. Adenuga 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.

Career

2003–06: Career beginnings, Joseph Junior Adenuga and Greatest Hits

Skepta is of Nigerian descent.[1] He is the brother of fellow musician Jme and radio presenter Julie Adenuga. Skepta was originally a DJ from Broughton-based grime crew Meridian Crew. Early in his career, Skepta released a number of instrumentals, the most notable being "DTI (Pirate Station Anthem)" and "Private Caller", the latter of which was released as a single and vocaled by various other members of Meridian Crew.

Skepta began emceeing shortly before Meridian Crew disbanded in 2005, after which Skepta, alongside his brother JME, 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 Devilman for the DVD Lord of the Mics 2, in what is remembered as one of the biggest clashes in grime history.[2][3] Shortly after the clash, Skepta released a mixtape entitled "Joseph Junior Adenuga".

Skepta publicly released his debut album Greatest Hits on 17 September 2007, on his label Boy Better Know.

2008–11: Microphone Champion and Doin' it Again

Skepta self-released the first single "Rolex Sweep" in September 2008 and reached number 89 on the UK Singles Chart. Skepta then released the album Microphone Champion on 1 June 2009. He then also released single "Too Many Man" with JME, Wiley, Frisco and Shorty, which went to chart at number 79. Skepta has released five singles off his third studio album Doin' It Again (first with a major label), titled "Bad Boy", "Rescue Me", "Cross My Heart" featuring Preeya Kalidas, "So Alive" and "Amnesia", as well as a video for the Hello Good Morning (Grime Remix). Three singles charted in the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, with "Rescue Me" being the most successful at number 14. "Cross My Heart" came in at number 31 and dropped out of the Top 40 a week later. Doin' it Again spent 3 weeks in the top 100 album charts and debuted and peaked at number 19 on its first week of release. In 2011 Skepta caused a big controversy by releasing a hardcore music video of his single "All over the house". [4]

2012–present: Blacklisted and Konnichiwa

Skepta at the Festival Internacional de Benicàssim 2016

In 2012, Skepta released two singles from his fourth forthcoming album. Both "Hold On" and "Make Peace Not War" were Top 40 charting singles in the UK but were a departure from Skepta's usual sound. Skepta's second major label album was intended to be released in the fourth quarter of 2011, entitled The Honeymoon but was delayed till 2012. After a disappointing response from the first two singles Skepta decided to release a purchasable mixtape, titled Blacklisted. It was released on 2 December 2012 along with music videos to support the release prior to the release.

In March 2014, Skepta provided a verse for the remix of "German Whip" by Meridian Dan, and in the same month, he released his new single, "That's Not Me", featuring his brother JME, peaking at number 21 on the UK charts.[5] The single's music video won the award for Best Video at the 2014 MOBO Awards.[6] Upon receiving the award, Skepta stated that the video cost him £80.[7] In late 2014, Skepta released another single titled "It Ain't Safe" featuring A$AP Bari. This was followed in early 2015 with "Shutdown", as well as features on "Red Eye to Paris" by Flatbush Zombies and the remix of "Ojuelegba" by Wizkid, also featuring Drake. Skepta and others joined Kanye West at a surprise show in London, performing numerous songs together during a shared set.[8] He was also named one of GQ's 50 best dressed British men in 2015.[9]

In an interview it stated that Skepta's making his acting debut in 2015 film Anti-Social Released initially in May.[10] On 14 February 2016 Skepta released his latest song "Ladies Hit Squad" featuring grime artist D Double E and American rapper A$AP Nast, of the New York-based A$AP Mob.

Through a post on Instagram, Skepta announced that his album, Konnichiwa was due to be released on 6 May 2016.[11] Konnichiwa was released to critical acclaim and became Grime's highest charting album, peaking at number 2 in the UK music charts.[12] Konnichiwa features songs such as "That's not me", "Shutdown" and "Man". The release of Konnichiwa was celebrated with a launch party on 5 May 2016 held in Tokyo and live streamed on Boiler Room, featuring a live performance of the entire album by Skepta and supporting performances from Japanese trap artists Kohh, Dutch Montana, Loota, and DJ Riki. [13][14][15][16]

In the days leading up to Coachella Music Festival, Skepta announced that his application for a work visa had been denied by U.S. authorities making him unable to perform at the festival and raising doubts about his other shows in the country as well.

Discography

Main article: Skepta discography
Studio albums
Mixtapes

References

  1. ↑ O'Brien, Jon. "Skepta". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  2. ↑ Yates, Kieran (3 October 2014). "Jammer's top grime clashes: featuring Wiley, Kano, Skepta, Devilman and more". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  3. ↑ Trammell, Matthew (4 May 2015). "Why Grime Beef Might Shake Rap Awake This Year". The Fader. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  4. ↑ Moir, Sam (25 March 2011). "Skepta's new video: a step too far?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 22 September 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  5. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100: 15 June 2014 - 21 June 2014". OfficialCharts.com.
  6. ↑ "Leading the way for UK Youth Culture". What's Good?. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  7. ↑ "Skepta ft. JME | Best Video Award acceptance speech at MOBO Awards | 2014". MOBO Awards / YouTube. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  8. ↑ "Watch Kanye West perform with Raekwon, Skepta and more". FACT Magazine. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  9. ↑ Johnston, Robert (5 January 2015). "50 Best Dressed Men in Britain 2015". GQ.
  10. ↑ Jones, Wil (30 April 2015). "Interview: Skepta's Keeping It Strictly 'Anti-Social'". Complex UK. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  11. ↑ "Official Announcement".
  12. ↑ "Final Chart Position for Skepta's 'Konnichiwa' Announced".
  13. ↑ http://thefourohfive.com. "Skepta is premiering his album on Boiler Room today". The 405. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  14. ↑ NME.COM. "Skepta Just Launched His New Album With A Lively Live-Streamed Show In Tokyo – Here's What We Learned | NME.COM". NME.COM. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  15. ↑ "Stream Skepta's Konnichiwa Launch Party, Live From Tokyo". The FADER. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
  16. ↑ "Watch Japanese Rappers Spit Grime in the Video for Skepta's 'Konnichiwa' Album Launch | Thump". Thump. Retrieved 2016-05-24.
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