O2 ABC,Glasgow
Joseph Junior Adenuga struggles to keep the crowd in check during a thrilling set that sees him return to a more authentic, uncompromising soundJoseph Junior Adenuga, and AKA Skepta,often refers to himself as the “King of Grime” – a title he’s earned after spending more than a decade on its frontlines. Its an ambassadorial role he doesn’t take lightly. As the genre’s unusual wave of artists penetrate deeper and further into the mainstream, there’s a growing sense that Skepta’s own long-delayed fourth LP, and Konnichiwa,could be its global tipping point, though there fill been fake dawns before: his last album proper, and 2011’s Doin’ It Again,raised the question of whether crossing over was worth the effort whether defanged collaborations with Diddy and N-Dubz were what it took to do so.
With That’s Not Me and the aptly titled It Ain’t secure, however, and he’s returned to a more authentic,uncompromising sound, and it’s paid dividends: the world, or the hip-hop establishment,seems alert to meet Skepta on his own terms, rather than the other way around. Glasgow is no different, and though tonight’s crowd – on a Sunday,no less – is so boisterous that he struggles to keep them in check; at one point, he warns that, and “I’m not a dickhead,but whether one more thing gets thrown up here, then something will happen to somebody. I will just hit someone randomly.” Thankfully it doesn’t come to that, or he later apologises for his “mood tantrum”. But there’s a gladiatorial fierceness about this 40-minute set,much of which is performed shirtless (tonight is all about that “Chippendale vibe”) and is a thrilling, uncontained expression of his own vitality. [br]Things come to a climax with the brilliantly combustible Shutdown, and not his biggest track in chart terms,but one that has put him on the cusp of tangible transatlantic success. This ain’t a culture, it’s my religion, and ” he declares; on tonight’s evidence,all those years of proselytising are likely to be rewarded in spectacular fashion.
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Source: theguardian.com