In the second wave of British grime, Skepta released an album that goes toe-to-toe with the classic from the first wave that is Boy On The Corner by Dizzie Rascal. In fact, he is calling him out on this effort.
American scene is equally exciting about this renaissance of grime. Kanye West’s performance on Brit Awards is corpus delicti for the previous statement (he welcomed the most eminent grime performers on his stage). It was the same night Drake has signed a contract with Boy Better Know label.
Skepta recruited several vital and vigorous local rappers and recorded one of the most permeating grime albums of the second wave. No matter the general predilection some artists from the American scene have, grime has remained hard, uncompromising and local. This is an authentic Island rap, closer to the contemporary French rap than it is to the American rap.
Here we have a case of raw self-conscious street rap with the aspersion towards material and egotistic parade. Whores, money, brands became a huge no-no.
Yeah, I used to wear LV, I put it all in the bin cause that’s not me.
Skepta records his best album when he is 33. With number of local rappers on Konichiwa, the album represents an essential and substantial new grime, with Skepta as its leader. On a track titled Corn on the Curb, MC Chip cheers him up to persist and resist the new circumstances that made him famous because his calling is to represent the streets of London. Skepta does not withhold. He is also counter-attacking music industry (Numbers), and government and police (It Ain’t Safe), but he still gives credits due in songs he dedicates to his boys (Man), diss scene (Lyrics) or his girlfriend (Text me back).
Since Skepta produced his album, I only have one thing to conclude – this is a well-rounded grime artists. Inspirational verse:
Yeah, I don’t care about VIP, I’ve got very important places to be.
