Skepta - Konnichiwa
8/10
Skepta’s album and Kano’s recent release Made in the Manor share three key similarities. Both were a long time in the making, both were released in what is arguably Grime’s biggest year ever, and both are seminal records, destined to become classics in the genre.
The album delivers track after track, bar after bar of energy and aggression, as well as a sense of control, a more professional feel that highlights Skepta’s progression since his last album four years ago. It’s fiercely territorial with bars rooted in Skepta’s life in London and its slang. Grime is about respect, divisions and earning your place; Skepta tells us on Man his response to fake interest in him and his culture – “’Naa, sorry man’ / I only socialise with the crew and the gang”. Title track Konnichiwa is as good an opening as they come, starting with the swirling sound effects of a Japanese garden before a siren and grungy bass launch the rest of the album.
One big question before the album’s release was would Grime’s biggest fan across the pond Drake feature on the album. He doesn’t, but this isn’t a loss. Yes we all can’t wait to see what a collaboration between the two artists will look like, but Skepta has rightly said he doesn’t want to force it prematurely – one to get excited for in the future then. The album isn’t short of high-profile guests though. The Godfather of Grime grants his blessing on Corn On The Curb, looking back to when the garage scene tried to quell the growing influence of MCs and mocking its inability to do so. New boy Novelist lays down an impressive verse on my favourite track of the album Lyrics; watch out for this one to dominate DJ set lists over the summer. Skepta and Pharrell Williams team up for Numbers, a song which baffled me a bit the first time I heard it, but the more I listen the more it grows on me, and it definitely provides a nice change of pace in the middle of the album coupled with Ladies Hit Squad.
Features aside though, the credit for Konnichiwa lays firmly at Skepta’s feet. Like his brother and fellow MC Jme, Skepta wrote and produced the majority of the album himself and every track feels completely his own. New track Crime Riddim uses heavy sounds to match a heavily political message on police racism. Being the best MC is the album’s main focus, but Text Me Back looks at Skepta’s other favourite topic: girls. My main complaint of the album is that there isn’t more; we’d already heard five of the twelve titles before the release of the album. This isn’t to say that they don’t fit with new tracks agreeably as a single body of work; take it as a compliment to Skepta’s talent that enough is never enough.
Hard-hitting and well structured, big beats and even bigger bars, Konnichiwa sets a standard that will be hard for others to match.
8/10
