From Grime to Groove: Skepta’s Evolution with Mas Tiempo

By Anuli Okeahialam

Skepta doesn’t know who you are!”, I shouted at the 6ft guy who pushed in front of my 5’3” self during the Más Tiempo set at the Cause this summer, all just so he could be within breathing distance of the legendary Skepta on decks. Más Tiempo is the name of the house label launched by Skepta and Jammer in 2022. The pair came together to deliver a fusion of groove house and mellow tech, more than 15 years after their original venture as founding members of the famous British grime group, Boy Better Know. 

There Skepta was, dressed in a camo windbreaker, beanie and sunglasses; inconspicuous as ever. Well, as inconspicuous as a world-renowned Mercury Prize winner can be. He’s not one for interacting with the crowd, rarely moving his fixed gaze from the decks. He treats his entourage behind him with the occasional nod of acknowledgement, but to the crowd, he maintains his nonchalant demeanour, almost as if all of the event attendees didn’t know exactly who he was. The camo jacket is almost symbolic, as if he didn’t want to be present as ”Skepta”, but instead to have the people appreciate the music alone. However, the juxtaposition between old-school, in-your-face grime legend Skepta and this reserved new-era deep house DJ, who has an aversion to crowd interaction, is interesting to witness.

This is not the first new venture that Skepta has launched. In addition to Más Tiempo, he debuted his fashion line ‘MAINS’ in 2017, a menswear brand focused on integrating classic London streetwear into high fashion spaces - an industry which has historically shunned such culture. At the launch event, Skepta recalled that it took him a while to realise ‘you can do great things in a tracksuit’. Given this, it seems unfair to claim that Skepta is shy of his past and has turned his back on the culture that fostered his rise to fame. No musician should feel bound to their roots, and pushing personal boundaries and entering new spaces should be celebrated. Skepta’s various ventures are connecting different circles in the art, fashion and music scene that would not typically cross. 

Can consumers of this new content ever truly separate the old artist from the rebrand? Well, much like myself, everyone seemed to be having a great time. The wavy beats paired with the views of East London’s stunning skyline during sunset were a perfect match (the Cause is a must-visit venue for this very reason by the way). However, it was hard to ignore the flashy phones, or old-school camcorders for the more pretentious raving clan, waving frantically in Skepta’s face. As we know from the guy who pushed in front of me and immediately whipped his phone out, there was always going to be an underlying motive for people’s attendance at this event: to be in the presence of Skepta the British icon, not merely the DJ. It’s no surprise that social media, especially TikTok, has changed the landscape of DJing. I’m not one to judge this phenomenon, I got into the scene after seeing endless DJ sets all over my ‘for you page’. I am also definitely not one to judge people for getting a cheeky video as I am prone to keeping the Instagram highlights up to date. Do I think people attended to see “Skepta” rather than “Mas Tiempo”? It’s highly probable, yes. This is simply an insurmountable feat that artists looking to enter new spaces will likely have to face, and I think artists who make this shift should embrace it. With the overbearing salience of social media in all our lives, it counteracts any attempts to be subtle and ‘hidden’.