Skepta- 'Konnichiwa' review

North London MC Skepta has the world in his palm

After a truly dismal 2016 filled with political regrets and untimely deaths, I’ve taken this opportunity to reflect fondly with one of my favourite albums of this year.

Tottenham grime-king Skepta returns 4 years later from his acclaimed 2012 mixtape ‘Blacklisted’ with an epic 12-track long album full of punchy verses, booming beats and catchy hooks. Featuring guest spots from Pharell, A$ap Nast & grime pioneers Wiley and D Double E amongst others, ‘Konnichiwa’ is a raw reflection of the DIY attitude Joseph Adenuga (Skepta) has towards music and it also represents a seismic shift in the way in which grime is viewed. From backstreet garages and tower blocks in North London to a sold out show at Alexandra Palace, Skepta’s ‘Konnichiwa’ has propelled grime into the forefront of modern British culture.

The anticipation surrounding ‘Konnichiwa’ has been huge ever since Adenuga’s banger ‘That’s Not Me’ dropped in 2014, leading many people to have extremely high expectations about the rest of the album. Fortunately, ‘Konnichiwa’ meets them on all counts. Skepta is on superb form throughout, using his bars to diss rival MC’s (Lyrics feat. Novelist), divulge into struggles on the road (Text me Back) and facing hassle from the feds (Crime Riddim).

For me the stand-out track is the gang anthem ‘Man’, where Skepta spits about his love for his BBK family, “No fake ones, trust no one; It’s Boy Better Know ‘til I die”. The song’s backing beat is mostly based around a Queen’s of the Stone Age sample from their 1998 song ‘Regular John’, truly displaying the complex dexterity and broad mindedness of Skepta and ‘Konnichiwa’. The Pharell featuring ‘Numbers’ is another banger in which the sound completely differs from the large majority of people’s viewpoint of grime. Sounding more like a NERD retro RnB tune, ‘Numbers’ offers us a completely different side to Skepta’s normally brutal sounding tunes with its smooth hooks and smart producing, thus adding another feather to Adenuga’s already plentiful bow.

'Konnichiwa’ displays Skepta in his most nakedly vulnerable guise yet, gifting us an album that is as banger-filled as it is complex. ‘Konnichiwa’ has given a glimpse of the future of grime with it offering a stepping stone for this up-and-coming genre, it is our role as listeners to remove our preconceptions and explore it for all that it all has to offer. Greatness only, Mr Adenuga

Btw, if you read this Skepta, please unblock me on Twitter @TomHayes98