Key Takeaways
- Skepta returns with The Fork and Knife, his first solo album in seven years, featuring 15 tracks and guests including Central Cee, Jorja Smith, Fred again.. and JME.
- The album explores his British-Nigerian identity and family aspirations, with Skepta finding fulfillment in meaningful work rather than status or fancy dinners.
- Skepta insists he'll "never retire from music" as he celebrates the release with sold-out shows in London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.
Skepta has dropped off his first new album in seven years — listen to The Fork and Knife here.
Released via Big Smoke/Epic Records, the 15-track project is the grime legend's first full-length solo project since 2019's Ignorance Is Bliss, and follows recent singles "Innocent Smile," with Suggs and Chase & Status, and "Pandora's Box."
Features on the album include Central Cee, Jorja Smith, Novelist, Finessekid, Fred again.., and PlaqueBoyMax. There’s also a nine-minute posse cut, "Belly," that sees Skepta team up with JME, Frisco, Kibo, Queenie, Bossman Birdie, Mayhem NODB, and Kruz Leone. Check it out below.
According to a press release, identity drives the record, which deals with being British as the son of Nigerian immigrants and living between two cultures. Its release notes describe diaspora as "a source of strength, a superpower."
Speaking in his first-ever Complex UK cover story, Skepta said the album represents an irony involving his mother.
"I think this album is going to mark a moment where I look back at the things my family once aspired to," he said. "I remember going to the GQ Awards and winning Man Of The Year, and they brought out the beetroot. My mum looked at me and said, 'You know what this is?' And I was like, 'Yeah, this is what we were talking about.' This album is really gonna mark that irony, that oxymoron."
He continued: "It doesn’t even make sense, because that wasn’t really what we wanted. And actually, it’s a good lesson in being careful about what you set your sights on as success. I’ve learned that no matter what you see as success, once you achieve it, you’ll just set yourself another goal. So it’s never-ending. The happiness and liberation aren’t necessarily in achieving those things. For me, it’s about being happy with the work I’m doing, making sure I’m using my voice for the right reasons and making the music I want to make.
"That’s what The Fork and Knife represents: the irony that my mum doesn’t even want them fancy dinners — she just wants ground rice and stew [laughs]. I just bought my parents a house out in Lagos... They’re living it up over there right now, in the house I got them."
Elsewhere in the interview, Skepta said that The Fork and Knife is not a farewell, explaining that although he's spoken about stepping away from music before, he doesn't think he ever will retire.
"Obviously, I'll have breaks and take time out whenever I need to rest my mind, but I'll never retire from music," he said.
Skepta will celebrate the album's release with a sold-out show at The Cause in London on Friday, then he plays sold-out December dates at Élysée Montmartre in Paris, La Madeleine in Brussels and Gashouder in Amsterdam.
