5 Things You Need To Know About Skepta

Skepta is finally getting some recognition in the U.S., thanks to co-signs from rap's two biggest stars, Drake and Kanye West. Yeezy brought him out, and publicly thanked him, during his "All Day" performance, and Drake used one of his lines, and also thanked him, on his latest mixtape. Though he doesn't need a co-sign from anyone, the increased attention has put more worldwide hype on the London MC than ever before. Skepta's moment is now, and he knows it. And it's not only high-time for Skepta, but for U.K. grime as a whole, which has been criminally ignored by mainstream hip-hop. That's all about to change, and Skepta is leading the way.

Drake knows he's a legend and so does Kanye. Now it's your turn. 

If you're a Londoner, chances are "That's Not Me" was your biggest tune of 2014. If you're on this side of the pond, you probably know grime as the U.K.'s take on rap, but the genre has a history that's all its own. Grime first started getting played on London pirate radio stations in the early '00s and proliferated from there in grassroots-style. Yes, there were MCs, but the instrumentals, or riddims, were the focal point at first--street sounds designed to smash up the club. MCs would record and freestyle over the riddims that circulated the airwaves and put out mixtapes on the web and on the streets. It's no surprise that many of grime's leading men, Skepta included, produce mostly all of their own tracks. 

Skepta first came on the scene by joining the Roll Deep crew, founded by another grime legend, Wiley, in 2006. Soon after, he left to start his own brand, Boy Better Know, which has since become one of the most respected crews in the game. Skepta has released four solo albums on Boy Better Know, and his next, Konnichiwa, is prepped for imminent release.

Skepta recently appeared on stage, mobbing next to several other grime MCs, during Kanye's explosive "All Day" performance at the Brit Awards. He was the only guy on stage who got a shout-out from 'Ye as well as a "thank you" during the performance.

Drake has also put on for Skepta in recent weeks, and Skepta has shown love right back. Skepta was one of many names names on Drake's extensive thank you note that accompanied If You're Reading This It's Too Late. On "Used To", the extended version of the song that also appeared on Lil Wayne's Sorry 4 the Wait 2, Drake borrows a Skepta line when he raps: "Shout out to the Gs from the ends / We don't love no girls from the ends"--taken from Skepta's "That's Not Me": "Love for the Gs in the ends / We don't love no girls from the ends". 

On Skepta's latest single, "SHUTDOWN", the North Londoner returns the favor and takes a Drake line--or, rather, Vine--sampling a hilarious clip of Drake putting on his best Jamaican accent. At the end of the song, we get another spoken-word Carribean-leaning Drizzy sample, this time taken from Drake's recent short-film "Jungle". 

Before Drake shouted him out on IYRTITL, he praised Skepta (and Wiley) a few times on Instagram. 

Skepta's brother, JME, is also a grime legend. They started the Boy Better Know crew together in 2007. Since, two siblings have run things in-house and have managed to produce some of the most successful singles and albums in grime history. The aforementioned godfather Wiley is also a member of the crew. In addition to the music, Boy Better Know has hosted some of London's rowdiest parties, started a clothing line, and even a pay-as-you-go cell-phone service. The BBK stamp is synonymous with high quality street music.

Skepta's 2010 album Doin' It Again featured a "Grime Remix" of Diddy - Dirty Money's "Hello Good Morning. Diddy & co. even showed up for the video, which was shot in Glasgow, Scotland. This remix has gotta one-up the original, no? 

We already mentioned "That's Not Me", featuring his brother JME, is one of Skepta's biggest hits to date. Though the single charted in the UK, Skepta dropped a "US Remix" with NYC's Wiki, of the group Ratking. The remix shows that grime and hip-hop, though miles apart, can work perfectly in unison.

Last year, Boy Better Know took part in the Red Bull Culture Clash. Their first opponent: Harlem's A$AP Mob. Crew battles like this are commonplace in the grime world, and BBK ended up topping A$AP Mob. Though, there's no bad blood between the two groups. Soon after the Clash, Skepta hooked up with A$AP Bari aka Young Lord, one of A$AP's founding members, to churn out "It Ain't Safe", a real gangster grime number. 

Skepta also featured on Ace Hood's "Supposed to Do". Skepta shines on all the aforementioned tracks, and it's about time he starts collaborating with some real bona fide rap stars, i.e. those two guys who just co-signed him.

We rounded up a list of our top 10 favorite freestyles from British DJ Tim Westwood's YouTube sessions, and Skepta didn't make the cut. Looking back, that's our mistake. Here, London's finest goes in for an incredible nine straight minutes.