Skepta won the 25th Mercury Music Prize tonight, but he was very nearly upstaged by his parents.
The grime star’s mum and dad were his guests of honour at the event at Hammersmith Apollo and were spotted dancing during his performances.
In his winner’s speech, he said: “Shout out to my mum. I love you – you are the reason. I wouldn’t be here without you so thank you very much mum, you can dance as much as you want.”
They even joined him to collect the award and stood at the side of the stage while he performed, which went down brilliantly with viewers.
Big up @Skeptaâs Mum and Dad, superstars #MercuryPrize ðð¼ #Konichiwa #Skepta ð pic.twitter.com/reVZRgsST6
— LJ Watson (@L_JWatson) September 15, 2016
Excellent speech by #Skepta well deserved winner of #MercuryPrize totally upstaged by his Mum and Dad lots of love all around it seems
— Bramble&MrTwigg (@BrambleMrTwigg) September 15, 2016
#MercuryPrizeAny artist who takes his mum and dad on stage gets my vote. #Skepta
— charliesnow (@CharlieSnow) September 15, 2016
People were pretty pleased about his win, feeling he’d earned his success.
#Skepta wins #MercuryPrize & pays tribute to #Bowie. Deserved winner!
— Kufa Matiya (@Kufamatiya) September 15, 2016
totally deserved. glad they didn't play safe with Bowie #MercuryPrize #skepta
— Jake Reynolds (@JakeAReynolds) September 15, 2016
Proper chuffed for @Skepta for nabbing the Mercury Music prize – well deserved #MercuryPrize #Skepta
— Slim (@TheSlimfamous) September 15, 2016
Although as is so often the case with Mercury Prize winners, not everyone was sure who he was.
@janeclapton am I getting old, who is #Skepta?! Where did Fleetwood Mac come? Top 10?
— Adam (@N0022866) September 15, 2016
Skepta himself was modest, saying: “For everyone who knows what it takes to put an album together its so much more than making the music, everyone who was there for me when I was going through depressed times. Rest in Peace Lukey.
“We just did this for us but the love is really appreciated.”
Fans tweeted a fitting tribute to the track he performed earlier tonight.
Mercury prize = Shutdown ð #Skepta
— George Pugson (@GeorgePugson) September 15, 2016
Skepta played down talk of a grime revolution, adding it was more than that. He said: “I wouldn’t say its a grime revolution – this is a really good time for grime but I think this is a revolution for freedom.
“Not just in music. So many people are getting up by themselves making things work online, using the same acumen if you was working for a big company to just do it yourself. This is a revolution of freedom.”
Sure, there are those who would have liked to have seen a posthumous recognition for David Bowie, whose final album Blackstar was shortlisted.
#skepta = good effort. #DavidBowie #Blackstar = genius. #MercuryPrize = hasn't got a clue.
— Joe Hoyle (@fatsoundblog) September 15, 2016
But as Jarvis Cocker said when he announced tonight’s winner, Bowie would have been pleased for Skepta, and plenty of people were in agreement.
Kendrick Lamaar's To Pimp a Butterfly was a MASSIVE influence on Bowie's Blackstar it's not unrealistic to say he'd have liked a #Skepta win
— Sian Jasper (@SianJasper) September 15, 2016
