Skepta, the self-proclaimed king of grime, has returned with a new album, The Fork and Knife, out next week - a mere 33 months after it was first announced. In an interview with The Guardian Europe, the grime legend explained that the delay was due to the album "winding me up," but he now believes he's "actually made something here that is what the people want from me." The socially conscious contents were shaped by skinheads, fatherhood, and rap history, though not necessarily in that order.

"I can't be perfect," Skepta said, pulling a black Arc'tyrex beanie down over a furrowed brow with both hands. "But I can be conscious." The self-proclaimed king of grime has always been a serious person, wary of fools and time-wasters. Focus is important to him, perhaps because he's often multitasking: balancing his music career, his fashion label Mains, film-making and acting (his debut short, Tribal Mark, came out in 2024), his Big Smoke festival and a house music project, Más Tiempo. He coordinates them all from the scruffy but functional studio in London's West End where the interview takes place. At one point, he picks up a Rubik's Cube from the cluttered coffee table and, over the course of five minutes of conversation, solves it - a feat that probably says more about his focus than any press release could.

Skepta also voiced his anger at the racist right, stating that "ignorance towards immigration is horrible. It's not British." The album's socially conscious themes, including his perspective on immigration and racism, are evidently a central part of The Fork and Knife, which arrives after a wait that has tested the patience of fans. But if anyone can turn a 33-month delay into a statement about consciousness and solving puzzles, it's the man who wears Arc'tyrex while doing it.