General U.S. NewsNov 7, 2026·2 min read

Skepta: 'I'm what it looks like if you give an immigrant child a chance'

BBC News – UK

bbc.co.uk

1d ago

Skepta: 'I'm what it looks like if you give an immigrant child a chance'

Summary

Skepta released The Fork and Knife on Friday, his first album since 2019's Ignorance Is Bliss One of the biggest names in grime is back - and he's picked his moment. "Finally," Skepta promises BBC Newsbeat, "some good rap music, some good UK grime sounds." The Fork and Knife has been a long time in the making. Seven years on from his last album, Ignorance Is Bliss, and more than two years since it was first teased, the rapper knows how to keep fans waiting. But, as he's keen to point out, "you can't rush greatness". It's taken so long in part because Skepta's got big issues in his sights, with the new album taking on everything from immigration and racism, to Brexit and culture wars. "That was the first time I thought, 'OK, cool, this is a talent of mine'. "I could just spit my emotions on a track that I made and people will feel it for years to come." Born and raised in Tottenham, north London, to Nigerian immigrant parents fleeing the country's civil war, Skepta, real name Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr, has long drawn on his early life in his music. In Innocent Smile, his new track featuring Chase and Status and Madness frontman Suggs, he raps: "Ain't no love for an immigrant child / The writing's on the wall, has anyone else noticed? / Was it Brexit? Was it Covid? / They point fingers, I feel hopeless." "I think grime is a product of immigration," he says, with some of the genre's biggest names and pioneers - like Wiley, Stormzy and Dizzee Rascal - all coming from similar backgrounds. "That was important for me to represent what it looks like if you give an immigrant child a chance.

From the source

The grime artist, widely considered to be one of the UK's best, returns with his first album in seven years.

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