Rinse:04 - Skepta

YOU KNOW ABOUT SKEPTA THE MC, MIC CONTROLLER, KING OF GRIME. You know about Skepta the producer, on the buttons for countless grime anthems. But what do you mean you don’t know about Skepta the DJ? Boy betta know about him.

Fact is Skepta started out as a DJ, until the boys in blue cut his career short. “I had a little bit of trouble and the police took all my records off me: I was left with nothing,” explains Skepta. It was at this pivotal moment that Wiley chose intervene, acting as visionary and mentor as he has done for so many of grime’s best mic men. “He asked me ‘why don’t you try MCing? Pick up the mic and try something,’” explains Skepta. “I eventually got those records back but by then I’d lost the motivation to DJ.”

Until now. Exclusively for Rinse, DJ Skepta is back.

Last summer, Skepta and his Boy Better Know crew headed out to the Mediterranean summer resorts and took on the best urban entertainers in the game and won. Armed with a love of many different types of music, from grime to dubstep, London funky to northern bassline and even some classic house, they not only put on a show for the broad range of UK ravers who’d come seeking some sun, they turned themselves into a well oiled hit machine.

If you found yourself singing the hook from Coki and Benga’s “Night” in the autumn, blame Skepta. “I don’t like to walk around saying things to people but we are the reason a lot of people have heard the track,” he admits.” But we only supported the track because it was good in itself. Ayia Napa definitely helped the track.”

You can think of the fourth edition of the Rinse mix CD series, which includes “Night,” and the track that made Skepta want to make grime, “Eskimo,” as like a visit to the musical melting pot that is Ayia Napa.  Grime’s Newham Generals blend out of funky’s Apple and into house anthems like Soul Fusion’s “Basstone.” But you could also think of it the way Skepta does: like the perfect mixtape for his mates.

“Sometimes loads of my friends come to my house because they know I have a CD burner and say ‘Skepta make me a CD of some tunes,’” he explains. “Sometimes people don’t want to hear a CD of just one person or one type of track. Sometimes people just want to hear their favourite songs. So I thought if I mixed those tracks together, they wouldn’t have to get their friends to make them a CD, they could hear everything they want to hear.”

Martin Clark aka Blackdown
LDN Spring 2008

TRACKLISTING

1. Skepta Intro - Skepta
2. UFO - Skepta
3. Doin It Again - Skepta
4. Mr Bean - Apple
5. You Know How We Do - Newham Generals feat. Jammer
6. Basstone - Sole Fusion
7. Skengman Mode - Frisco feat. Chipmunk & Double S
8. Treble - Silencer
9. AWOH - JME
10. Eskimo - Wiley
11. Work Days - Skepta
12. JME’s IQ - JME
13. Thrown In The Bin - Skepta
14. From Day - Double S
15. Tingles - Skepta
16. Night - Benga & Coki
17. Rhythm & Gash - Rebound X
18. Deadout - JME
19. Sonorous - Skepta
20. Dead - Skepta
21. Emotions - Benga
22. Club 7 - Wiley
23. Midnight Request Line(Skepta Remix) - Skream
24. Evolution - Benga
25. World War 4 - Silencer
26. King of Grime - Skepta

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