‘A bunch of young men, all dressed in black, dancing extremely aggressively on stage. It made me feel so intimidated, and it’s just not what I expect to see on primetime TV.’
So goes a sample that crops up midway through Skepta’s latest single, ‘Shutdown’, seemingly the recording of a complainant in relation to Kanye West’s now, somewhat, infamous performance of ‘All Day’ at this year’s BRIT awards; a performance that ended up being as equally riddled with expletives as it was shoddy attempts to mute them.
However, what really became a talking point in relation to the performance was Kanye’s use of his platform to bring attention to the lack of diversity at the awards, and particularly the seeming blanket ignoring of urban music, by filling the stage with a number of renowned grime artists, to which the complaint is referring, and of which Skepta was a part of.
Aside from that statement, it also highlighted the steadily increasing cross-pollinating of American hip hop and UK grime. Something that once would have been completely written off as a possibility, on account of grime’s inherent UK-ness, being not so appealing for the yanks. However, the times they are a-changing, and grime has been steadily on the rise overseas for some time now, and Skepta’s latest single if further evidence of that mutual exchange and appreciation; giving that it opens with a sample of Drake doing his best bit of London.
The track itself is a banger and a heavy indicator for what’s going to be going down on Skepta’s upcoming fourth full-length, Konnichiwa. With the quality high, and ever-increasing international attention focussing on the grime scene in general, this single and album are likely to be crossover smashes. ‘Shutdown’ is our SINGLE OF THE WEEK.
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