Konnichiwa

Konnichiwa is Skepta's most fiery album to date. And with five years separating it from his last LP, it's both a meditation on fame and a victory lap. Yet the MC's take-no-prisoners approach still packs dark, percussive rhymes and rattling intensity into tracks like “Crime Riddim” and “It Ain’t Safe." He’s suspicious of success on the Pharrell-featuring “Numbers,” and alternately sensitive about it on “Text Me Back.” But he spits like gunfire on “Shutdown," a grime anthem full of classic hip-hop braggadocio where Skepta raps, "They tried to steal my vision/This ain’t a culture/It’s my religion."