Skepta - New edge and sound

****

What a load of Rap!!! or is it Grime!!!

Skepta **** took the stage in support of Massive Attack on Clifton Down, following a great set from Savages, it was now the turn of more rain from the sky and a change in direction to some Hip Hop on the stage. I must be honest and Hip Hop / Rap / Grime is not a style I would normally go out of my way to watch but at a festival type environment it seemed the perfect opportunity to see what it is all about live.

So Skepta, Shorty and DJ Massive all took the stage, which as you can imagine looked pretty bare but the crowd were loving it from the get go. The crowd were lapping up the rhymes of the Londoner and literally dancing in the rain, there was lots more of that to come over the course of the night.

I must admit to not knowing his tunes before seeing him but with this being a new experience found it helped as I wasn’t waiting for the hit. Turns out many more people with more diverse musical knowledge were waiting for the hit which was ‘Shutdown’ (sorry it’s probably a massive song but I don’t listen to Radio 1 or 1Xtra), my loss I am sure.

For most the set and for that one in particular he had the whole crowd jumping. It was a truly engaging performance and you can see how he fits the bill of a Massive Attack show. Being entirely honest I won’t be looking out for his tour dates, but at the time it was great and really got you in the mood for the night to come.

It is just not my sort of music, but for those that love Hip Hop and Grime he grabs the stage by the horns and doesn’t let go for an hour. He certainly went someway to making us forget about the rain and get in music mode and that was some feat when it appeared that Noah would be coming along the Avon Gorge at any moment.

Skepta has the sound of 2016 down to a T, but I even thou I said before it's not for me... I think it's going to do very well. I grew up in the time of Indie and Brit-Pop with Blur, Oasis and even KaitO being the on my CD player, and I just got into Massive Attack and some of the Dance artists around at the time. I really do think the kids now will dig it, so I am sure he is going to get bigger, and bigger in the future.