artist Skepta

his big break - it’s exactly this kind of street-level support that powered his rise to the mainstream. 2009 saw the club anthem "Too Many Man" become a minor hit - despite mainstream radio failing to pick up on it, it still notched up over 2.5 million YouTube views. The electro-tinged "Bad Boy", his first track to go top 30 only won radio support once it became a hit.

Signed to 3Beat in April 2010, Skepta was finally embraced by Radio 1 with the release of "Rescue Me", the second single from his third studio album "Doin it Again". "Rescue Me" climbed to number 14 in the UK chart. Skepta’s latest single "Hold On" is taken from his upcoming album "The Honeymoon".

A charismatic, distinctive MC, Skepta (aka the "King") has been as crucial to the development of the grime scene as Wiley (aka the "Godfather") and Dizzee Rascal. As part of the Boy Better Know collective, which includes his brother JME, Skepta has been instrumental in the elevation of grime, producing some of the decade’s most seminal beats. BBK have released anthems, albums and mixtapes and worked with peers Tinchy Stryder, Jay Sean and N-Dubz.

Such achievements mean Skepta (known to his mum as Joseph Junior Adenuga) has been able to impact on the underground scene AND appeal to a more commercial audience.

Hard working and massively talented, Skepta is nothing if not versatile: he can do menacing, he can do witty; he can do thoughtful, he can do feel-good party tracks. He can make you laugh and get you hyped up, and he’s never less than a thrill to listen to.

He cut his teeth as a DJ on the Déjà Vu pirate station, only stepping up to the mic himself one day when his records were lost. He credits the camaraderie and competition of pirate radio with his development as an artist - and the ease with which he performs now.