Skepta’s first solo album in seven years lands on Friday, November 6. The Fork and Knife, the London grime MC’s sixth studio album, arrives through his own Big Smoke label with Epic Records, and it is his first full-length on his own since Ignorance Is Bliss in 2019.
For American listeners who know him mainly from A$AP Rocky’s “Praise the Lord (Da Shine),” which he produced and rapped on in 2018, this is the record that shows where grime’s biggest name has landed at 44.
What the album is about
Skepta has framed The Fork and Knife around identity: growing up British as the son of Nigerian parents and living between two cultures. Musically it pulls from sound system, club and rave culture. The visuals lean on 1980s Nigerian-British imagery, football culture and a documentary look, linking the story of the Windrush generation with the city as it is today.
Fans have already heard parts of it. He played new songs during his Reading Festival set in August, including “Pandora’s Box” and “Aloe Vera.” “Gas Me Up (Diligent),” first released in 2024, is also on the record. The full tracklist had not been made public when the album was announced on October 2.
Several of his recent releases are not on it. “Chipple” with Aya Nakamura, “Innocent Smile” with Chase & Status and Suggs, and “DANGER DANGER” with Dom Dolla and Solomun all sit outside the album, and so does “Victory Lap” with PlaqueBoyMax and Fred again.., which earned him a nomination at the 68th Grammy Awards.
Seven years, by the numbers
The gap is long by his own standards. Here is how his solo catalog has been spaced:
- Greatest Hits, 2007
- Microphone Champion, 2009
- Doin’ It Again, 2011
- Konnichiwa, 2016
- Ignorance Is Bliss, 2019
- The Fork and Knife, 2026
Before now, his longest wait between solo albums was the five years from 2011 to 2016. This one is seven, and the new album lands 19 years after his debut. He did not go quiet in between: Insomnia, his 2020 group album with Chip and Young Adz, became his third project to reach the UK top 10, and he has kept up a steady run of features and dance records, plus electronic music under the name Mas Tiempo.
The bar he set
Konnichiwa is the album he will be measured against. Released in 2016 with “Shutdown” and “That’s Not Me,” it won the Mercury Prize and reached No. 2 in the UK, then the highest chart placing for a grime album. That was 10 years ago, and grime’s two-decade history still runs through him. He co-founded Boy Better Know with his brother Jme in 2005, and Debrett’s put him on its 2017 list of the most influential people in the UK.
The Fork and Knife is out on November 6 through Big Smoke and Epic. It is his first solo album since Ignorance Is Bliss reached 15 countries’ charts in 2019, and the first test of whether a seven-year wait still pays off for the man who took grime to the Mercury.
Further reading
Image: David Jones, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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