‘I’ve stopped recording’: Skepta, 38, hints he’s RETIRED from music as he reveals he’ll be ‘out’ of the business once upcoming track is released
Skepta has hinted at his retirement from music, after sharing a series of Instagram posts with his fans on Thursday.
The rapper, 38, suggested that his work on producer JAE5’s new song Dimension will be among his final tracks and revealed he will not record any new music in 2021.
He wrote on Instagram: ‘This Jae5 song/video featuring REMA and myself was recorded and shot last year in Ghana. I have one more song with Bando & L’s that we also recorded in 2020 – after we drop that I’m out…’
Please don’t stop the music: Skepta has hinted at his retirement from music, after sharing a series of Instagram posts with his fans on Thursday. Pictured in 2019
The Mercury Prize winner – who has collaborated with the likes of Drake, Goldie, ASAP Rocky, Wizkid and the Gorrilaz – added: ‘Any verses of mine you hear this year were all recorded last year. I’ve stopped recording 2021.’
Skepta’s last solo album was 2019’s Ignorance Is Bliss, while he joined Chip and D Block Europe rapper Young Adz for a collaborative album called Insomnia in 2020.
The news will come as a surprise to fans after Skepta, real name Joseph Junior Adenuga, revealed last year that he was working on a new album.
Speaking on Instagram Live in May, he said: ‘I’m making my album now, you get me, before I stop. I’m making my album now before I stop banging out all the beats.’
Final tracks: The rapper, 38, suggested that his work on producer JAE5’s new song Dimension will be among his final tracks and revealed he will not record any new music in 2021
Skepta kicked off music his career in 2003 as a DJ for the Tottenham-based grime collective Meridian Crew, going on to MC shortly before they disbanded in 2005.
The star and his brother Jme then joined Roll Deep for a short period of time before becoming founding members of Boy Better Know in 2005.
His debut studio album, Greatest Hits, was released to much acclaim in 2007, while he followed up in 2009 with Microphone Champion. The three-time Brit Award nominee also released studio album Doin’ It Again in 2011.
Amid a host of hit mixtapes and singles, Skepta also ventured in acting, making his movie debut in the 2015 crime drama Anti-Social, alongside Meghan Markle.
Accomplished: The Mercury Prize winner has collaborated with the likes of Drake, Goldie, ASAP Rocky, Wizkid and the Gorrilaz throughout his almost 20-year career. Pictured in 2019
Done: The news that he is no longer recording in 2021 will come as a surprise to fans after Skepta, real name Joseph Junior Adenuga, revealed last year he was working on a new album
Back in October, Skepta’s mother has told how she has ‘always supported’ his music career, and wanted to ‘protect him from the stereotypes’ he faced in living in an east London council estate.
Mother-of-five Ify Adenuga, 64, who detailed her origin story in her memoir, Endless Fortune, migrated to Tottenham in 1980 at the age of 24, where she worked as a cleaner for £11-an-hour.
Her children, Joseph Junior, aka Skepta, Jamie – otherwise known as rapper Jme – Julie, a former Beats 1 DJ and Jason, a producer and graphic designer, have been hailed ‘the most creative family in Britain’.
Appearing on ITV’s Loose Women, Ify told that growing up, she made sure she knew where her children were at all times because the area was ‘riddled with youth crime’ – and added that she always made sure her children ‘stayed out of trouble’.
Career: Amid a host of hit mixtapes and singles, Skepta also ventured in acting, making his movie debut in the 2015 crime drama Anti-Social, alongside Meghan Markle. Pictured in 2019
She said: ‘I thought, if I’m with them, if at any point in time if they’re doing extracurricular away from home or school.
‘Even if I hear the police siren on the street, i’m with them because i’m driving them around, making sure I know where they are and what they’re doing.’
She went on to explain that by the age of 15, Skepta had already dealt with being ‘stereotyped’, and that his name would ‘always be mentioned’ if there was trouble on their estate.
‘I just wanted to protect them from the stereotype’, she said. ‘Junior was 6ft tall by 15 or 16 and he stood out in the area where we lived.
Supportive mother: Back in October, Skepta’s mother Ify Adenuga told how she has ‘always supported’ his music career, and wanted to ‘protect him from the stereotypes’ in east London
‘If you mentioned people young people doing this doing that, people would always mention his name. So I said, “If music is what he wants to do I will support him so he stays out of trouble – otherwise the area was riddled with youth crime.”‘
As he began rapping, Skepta’s mother would drive him to rehearsals, waiting in the car parks of ‘run down industrial estates’ for her son to finish practising.
‘He would go to practice the music in industrial estates or in a run down area,’ she recalled. I would drive them down there and wait for one and a half hours. I would go and then drive them home.’
She went on to explain that growing up she treated her family as a ‘team’ – adding that she always strived to have a bond with her children after her own problematic relationship with her parents.
Family: Her offspring (pictured as children) are Joseph Junior, aka Skepta, Jamie – otherwise known as rapper JME – Julie, a former Beats 1 DJ and Jason, a producer and graphic designer
‘I would not say I was a happy child’, she said. ‘Because of the trauma and the poverty, I never really developed a bond with my parents.
‘Everything I wanted to do, I could not discuss it with anyone. There was no time for a relationship with your parents, so I said I would really like that bond with my kids.
‘Rather than parents and children – I want a team, I don’t know everything – I don’t want my children to look at me and think I can solve every problem on the planet, we are all team members who help this family grow.’
Reflecting on why she wrote the memoir, Ify added: ‘I decided to document it as soon as Junior, Skepta, won the Mercury Award.
‘It gave me time to take a record of myself and think of where I came from and where I ended up, I thought it would be nice to document this for my children and grandchildren.’
Close relationship: The star is known to have a close relationship with Naomi Campbell, with whom he was once romantically linked. He is also said to have dated singer Adele
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