SKEPTA WINS MERCURY PRIZE

Skepta has won the 2016 Mercury Prize with his album ‘Konnichiwa’, beating strong competition that included David Bowie, Radiohead and Kano. You can see the full list of nominees below.

Jarvis Cocker announced Skepta as the winner to a huge reaction at last night’s Hyundai Mercury Prize ceremony at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, with Skepta subsequently joined on stage by his team, as well as his Mum and Dad, to the soundtrack of ‘Shutdown’.

“I’ve been trying to do this music stuff and work it out for so long, but it was the moment where like, yo, let’s do this for ourselves, for our family,” he said when receiving the award at last night’s ceremony. “We travelled the world, no record label, nothing. We just did this for us, but the love is very appreciated”.

You can watch part of Skepta’s acceptance speech below, and see the full list of nominees underneath that.

Skepta ‘Konnichiwa’
ANOHNI ‘Hopelessness’
Bat for Lashes ‘The Bride’
David Bowie ‘Blackstar’
Jamie Woon ‘Making Time’
Kano ‘Made in the Manor’
Laura Mvula ‘The Dreaming Room’
Michael Kiwanuka ‘Love & Hate’
Radiohead ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’
Savages ‘Adore Life’
The 1975 ‘I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It’
The Comet Is Coming ‘Channel the Spirits’

Rob McCallum is DJ Mag’s deputy digital editor. Follow him on Twitter here.