by Rachel Ogbu

34-year-old Joseph Adenuga better known by his stage name Skepta just won the Songwriter of the Year award, and Best Contemporary Song for Man at the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards in London on Thursday, May 18, 2017.

He was recently listed on Debrett’s 2017 Most influential people in the UK, recognised as being at the forefront of the grime scene.

Skepta’s most recent album “Konnichiwa” was released in the spring of 2016, and peaked at number 2. He says he is inspired by artists like Bob Marley in his songwriting and also adds record producing and music video directing to his hat.

“So many people around the world are writing music for different reasons but songs like One Love by Bob Marley showed me that if you write about a true emotion it stands the test of time, it doesn’t matter what time of the Earth we are in, it’s always going to mean something,” he said at the Ivor Novello Awards. “Anytime I write music I try and write from a true emotion and I can feel when it’s not right because I’m just not at that point, so I hope they are more times like that for everyone that writes songs.”

Skepta who is the first born son of Nigerian immigrants released his debut studio album Greatest Hits in late-2007 and his second, Microphone Champion in 2009, both independently. He is one of four siblings who all do well in the music industry – sister, Julie, is a radio host on Apple’s Beats 1, brother Jason is a fledgling producer and his other brother Jamie known as JME, is also a grime MC.

His third studio album Doin’ It Again was released in 2011 by AATW while his fourth studio album, Konnichiwa, won a Mercury Prize.

In an interview with Time Out magazine, Skepta said, “I’m not a rapper. I’m an activist.”

Tolu

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