Quotes from Skepta

There are different things to wear in different places, and if you want to fit in and show respect, you can dress to do that, or you can dress to show that you are foreign and not from there. That can work, too.

I think the grime scene is one of the sickest, most diverse scenes ever.

I was like, 'I can't do grime. That's for kids.' - I was 20 at the time, and I thought I was a gangsta, a proper rude boy.

The thing about awards is that a lot of those moments are about the whole world telling you that you deserve it and rah, rah, rah. I'm very appreciative of that, but I love experiencing stuff by myself. Because it feels different. You know the truth, and you can hear what the voice in your head is saying properly.

'No fear' is a mindset that I stand for. It's the reason why I've got to where I am today.

I suppose when I was growing up, it was all about fitting into a box or fitting into a category. You know, looking like I listened to hip-hop, or looking like I listened to grime. You'd see someone and go, 'Oh, look at that person. He's wearing that or that; he listens to punk rock.'

Adele texts me all the time and keeps me in check.

Thank you to everybody who was there for me when I was going through depressed times.

With the music that I've put out, I realized that putting pressure on an album isn't always the right thing to do for yourself.

I am for feminism. I stand up for women standing up for themselves in the same way I stand up for being black.

Radio 1 doesn't exist to me. I don't judge my success by anything they say.

Now, I think you'll find a lot of rappers and artists are getting girl managers. It just makes sense. The guys in my team have learnt a lot from bringing girls in.

Boy Better Know, when we die, people are going to realise that we are just seven guys who just, like, try to have fun.

I was working so hard at music and trying to do this whole 'industry' thing and realised that it wasn't for me.

It took a long time for hip-hop to become commercial. Now there's all these big black icons that came from nowhere to somewhere. Look at Jay-Z! People stopped being threatened by the music and just started to appreciate that it's good.

When I got 'forever' tattooed on my throat, it meant that my legacy was going to live forever. So anything that I create, I do it because I believe it will live on, forever.

I can't make hard street music for the rest of my life. Your references change.

I used to think my accent was blocking me, and I hated it. Then I went to America, and every time someone said, 'What? Can you say that again?' I started liking it.

There would be weeks when I'd just go to Paris on a cheap ticket, sleep on my friend's floor, and just do a show because I knew I was going to do a show. Do it, get home, see it on my timeline, and be happy that I was just working.

The worst thing that happened to me at a gig was when the microphone wasn't on one time, and for the three lines of the verse with Chipmunk, you couldn't hear me.

All the other rappers around me aren't saying anything worthwhile. They're lost in rap: all they do is tell you they're a sick MC and they're better than you. I don't want to look like all these other little punk, dress-up, fake, manufactured artists. I'm not a rapper. I'm an activist.

'Konnichiwa' was made because I don't like the industry. I really had to remove myself from it to understand myself.

Every year, I always go abroad with dark music, and I'm going to these places, and I feel like I want a party rep - I want something that everyone is going to go crazy to and enjoy and have a good feeling.

Everyone knows their wrong from right, so when people are being racist, they know they're being ignorant.