Skepta Releases 'Konnichiwa' Tracklist; Denied Entry into the USA

One of British grime’s most prominent rappers Skepta announced that his fourth studio album will be released next month on the 6th of May 2016. The album which is titled Konnichiwa will be released by the label that he co-founded, Boy Better Know. Four singles have been released in support of the album thus far which you can pre-order on iTunes. The complete tracklist and album art for the project have been released via the artist’s Instagram account.

The emcee’s third studio album, Doin’ It Again, came out in 2011 to moderate success managing to make it to the UK Albums Chart. With his recent association with Drake and several American artists it’s likely that Konnichiwa will attain more commercial success than Doin’ It Again. Frequent collaborators Wiley, Chip, and JME are featured on the new album as well as Pharrell Williams, A$AP Nast, and other lesser-known names.

Skepta has recently toured and done shows in the USA which has helped him to grow his fan base outside the UK. But in an unfortunate turn of events the rapper who was supposed to perform at Coachella this weekend as well as various places after the festival was denied entry due to Visa complications. The announcement was made through his Instagram account, where he said he’s “still taking forward steps and forever working with God.” Coachella is one of the biggest annual music festivals in the world and it’s such a shame that Skepta won’t perform there. This year’s event was going to be his first time participating.

Hopefully the situation will be sorted out in time to proceed with his planned gig dates as he hasn’t outlined whether they will be cancelled or not. He’s definitely not the first artist to be denied a Visa into the US, so it’s nothing new.

Apart from the studio albums, Skepta also released several mixtapes mostly in the years when he didn’t release any official studio albums including Blacklisted which came out in 2012. He also starred in his first film last year in the 2015 movie Anti-Social, further extending his reach.

The complete tracklist is below: