Skepta - Newcastle tonight!

My preview for of Skepta's appearance in Newcastle tonight at Grime On The Tyne at Stereo, for Newcastle Metro. This follows Wiley appearing in Newcastle within the last couple of weeks too. Whether the mainstream press likes grime or not it's here to stay and not just a London ting.

GIG

Skepta

Skepta (aka Joseph Junior Adenuga) is slicker than your average grime MC: one of his biggest hits is Sweet Mother a gushing tribute to his mum set to Nigerian high-life, and he also featured in politics weekly The New Statesman, imploring the government to make asthma inhalers available over the counter.

Skepta does all that’s expected of grime MCs, he’s bullishly cocky (debut LP is titled Greatest Hits) has a fierce venomous flow yet has the maturity to deliver more meaningful, conscious rap (Blood Sweat and Tears highlights the struggle and sacrifices of the parents of a generation of adolescents killing each other with guns and knives).

Skepta is one third of Boy Better Know (featuring his supremely talented younger brother JME and grime godfather Wiley), who are without doubt grime’s leading live outfit. Individually and collectively, their performances are honed to the extent where they can tear up Aya Napa garage clubs, dubstep and grime nights, mainstream events including Fabric (last Friday) or Peaches Geldof’s birthday party, indie-discos PAs, or warehouse raves. Whether it’s gigs, clothing (selling BBK t-shirts via eBay), or mixtapes, BBK’s hunger and zeal is admirable.

There’s no question that grime’s best sampled live with a baying audience feeding off 16-bar rap explosions and spurring MCs greater heights: in the flesh it’s a High Definition, Dolby stereo surround sound experience, while on CD it’s black and white TV. There couldn’t be a better boy than the larger-than-life Skepta to bring it to vivid life.