Skepta review – grime royalty broadcasts London to the world

Crystal Palace Park, London
The Tottenham-born rapper transmits forceful hits and ferocious lesser-known cuts to the inaugural Big Smoke festival crowd

Skepta has been basking in legend status as of late, enough to step with one Air Max into the pinnacles of other creative disciplines, from taking over Ibiza’s DC10 with his tech-house project Más Tiempo, to auctioning his paintings at Sotheby’s. He clearly feels he can take the liberty: “I’m talking about taking a year out, still I can’t see no competition” he says on recent hit Gas Me Up (Diligent). On a run of some of his best singles in years, Skepta holds the inaugural Big Smoke festival, his own curated one-dayer bridging longtime affiliates with more recent interests in tech house and amapiano. He treats the festival to a gig like no other, taking fans through some of the older and more personal cuts that a normal festival date couldn’t accommodate.

An air-raid siren announces his presence, and he begins with Same Shit Different Day from his 2012 mixtape Blacklisted. No one transmits their voice as forcefully while maintaining such a calm demeanour as the Tottenham-born artist, who raps with a mic stand as though he’s singing a ballad. Rolling out ferocious lesser-known cuts including Nokia Charger Wire and Text Me Back, they don’t inspire uproar, but those who have ridden with him for years understood their significance.

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