Skepta

Before Skepta became one of the biggest rappers on the planet, he was a grinding dynamo making his way through the murky London rap scene. From his earliest projects, though, he made it clear he had the skill set to break through and transcend national borders, helping to bring UK drill to a worldwide audience. With dashes of grime and R&B tossed in for fun, Skepta’s first albums showcased an inimitable grasp of flow and a consistent wit. Take “Reflecting,” the opening track from his 2009 album, Microphone Champion. He quips: “I would hate me, too/If I had the same MySpace views as you/If I saw Skepta go from sitting on the wall/To sitting in a white V6 coupe.” His biggest record of the 2010s, Konnichiwa, put him on Drake’s radar, and signaled both a career shift for him and a universal embrace of UK drill as rap’s next great frontier. By this time, he is Mr. Worldwide, but showcases how important his roots are to him on 2020’s Insomnia, a collaborative album with fellow Tottenham rappers Chip and Young Adz of DBE. The story is told simply enough on “Golden Brown” when Skepta offers up in his honey-sweet voice: “Yeah, the boys are back in town.” Despite linking up with the homies, though, the women come first (as they always seem to with Skepta). After shouting out his crew, he makes sure to get his priorities straight: “She’s addicted to the melanin/Golden brown, golden brown.” Just four years later, though, the priorities shift on the Flo Milli-assisted “Why Lie?” where Skepta conjures scenes much tamer and domestic in scope: “Netflix, watchin’ a movie” and “Delivery at the door.”