Thirty-three months after it was announced, the grime legend’s new album is coming out. He explains how skinheads, fatherhood and rap history came to bear on its socially conscious contents

‘I can’t be perfect,” Skepta says, 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 we meet. 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. “This album has been winding me up,” he admits, referring to The Fork and Knife, which is out next week, 33 months after it was first announced. “But I think I’ve actually made something here that is what the people want from me.”

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© Photograph: Jordan Hemingway

© Photograph: Jordan Hemingway

© Photograph: Jordan Hemingway

3Arena, Dublin
Several unannounced guests feature on the first European date of the rapper’s sold-out benefit tour, including video messages from Mark Ruffalo and Cynthia Nixon

“We’d like to thank Ed Sheeran for organising this concert,” offers a member of Kneecap, one of several unannounced guests who have turned up for the first European date of Macklemore’s Free Palestine tour. It’s a characteristically two-fisted approach to the matter in hand from a band who have seldom shied away from controversy, but it has more than a grain of truth in it.

The events of the last six weeks are quite something, and perhaps not what Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, had in mind when he led efforts to pressurise Sheeran to remove Macklemore from his summer US tour, after the rapper made a speech about Palestine on stage at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium. Macklemore was duly removed from the tour, but the rapper saw his profile rise dramatically as a result – in fairness, he was hardly unknown, but his biggest hits are a decade old – while every other artist on Sheeran’s tour quit in solidarity. Sheeran’s tour limped on amid much opprobrium, while Macklemore was able to translate the publicity into a tour of his own, in noticeably bigger venues than he played on his last European tour, with proceeds donated to organisations assisting Palestinians. Dublin’s 13,000-capacity 3Arena is sold out, as is every other date on the tour.

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© Photograph: Zoe Rain

© Photograph: Zoe Rain

© Photograph: Zoe Rain

Filtering alt influences and eskibeats through a distinctly Black British point of view, the Ipswich rapper’s scorched-earth rage sounds like a lot of fun

From Ipswich, UK
Recommended if you like Linkin Park, Kano, Bob Vylan
Up next New single Dumb Bruddah released via SharpTone Records on 30 October

“Laaa!” growls Native James on his 2025 track Fallen, stretching a wicked fried scream over more traditionally poppy “la-la-la” chants like a hair-raising metal frontman. Because, well, that’s what he is. But James is also a pretty deft rapper, the kind of artist who grew up listening to Evanescence during school lunchtimes then went home and studied first-wave grime on Channel U. The preceding verse on Fallen rattles through quick-witted bars over bouncy nu-metal riffs, blending Jamaican Patois with The Lion King references for a scorched-earth unmasking of his “demon within”. He’s raging in every sense of the word – and it sounds like a hell of a lot of fun.

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© Photograph: Sophie Webster

© Photograph: Sophie Webster

© Photograph: Sophie Webster

Beim Battle-Rap geht es darum, sich auf der Bühne möglichst kreativ gegenseitig herunterzumachen. Zwischen Livestreams, Abos und ausverkauften Events ist daraus in Deutschland ein profitables Geschäft geworden.

The lore of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, once bought by Martin Shkreli, is explored in a rambling film produced by RZA

For every reason except one, Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the seventh album by the Wu-Tang Clan, should’ve been a commercial hit. The 31-track double album, recorded in secret between 2007 and 2013, reunited all of the remaining members of the hallowed Staten Island rap crew and featured eye-catching collaborators from the standard (Redman, offshoot group Wu-Tang Killa Bees) to the unexpected (Cher, Game of Thrones actor Carice van Houten). The sound, at least according to those involved, harkened back to the glory days of the group’s beginnings in the 90s.

But for years, almost no one heard it. The group only issued a single copy of Once Upon a Time in Shaolin – on CD, ensconced within layers of filigreed silver – with the stipulation, in legalese, that it could not be used for any commercial purposes for 88 years. The decree, either a stunt or a bold artistic statement on streaming’s devaluation of music, depending on your generosity and perhaps your net worth, succeeded in drumming up plenty of hype. And if you were anywhere around the blogosphere or cable news in 2015, you may recall that the beneficiary of that hype – the purchaser and thus single intended listener of this $2m musical treasure – was one Martin Shkreli, the “pharma bro” widely despised for gleefully hiking the costs of prescription drugs for profit.

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© Photograph: Courtesy of Netflix

© Photograph: Courtesy of Netflix

© Photograph: Courtesy of Netflix

Frauen im Rap sind sichtbarer denn je: Die Sängerin Ikkimel ist im Mainstream angekommen, polarisiert und inspiriert andere Künstlerinnen - eine neue Generation von Rapperinnnen.

Das Gericht in Las Vegas sieht als erwiesen an, dass Duane Davis die Vergeltungsaktion gegen den US-Rapper organisierte und die Waffe beschaffte.

In einem Video teilt der Bruder des Rappers mit, dass alle angesetzten Konzerte bis auf Weiteres abgesagt werden. Haftbefehl wolle sich nun „voll und ganz auf seine Gesundheit konzentrieren.“

The rapper was arrested in Miami Beach on Thursday, days after an ex-girlfriend accused him of physical abuse

Rick Ross has been arrested on domestic violence charges in Miami Beach, according to local police.

The rapper was booked at Turner Guilford Knight correctional center at 6.10am local time on Thursday and faces one felony count of battery by strangulation as well as a misdemeanor count of battery.

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© Photograph: RMV/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: RMV/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: RMV/REX/Shutterstock

The Grammy-winning artist on ​d​estroying egos in school, the dealers who looked out for her, and learning from early failure

Born Eve Jihan Jeffers in Philadelphia in 1978, rapper Eve released her debut album, Let There Be Eve … Ruff Ryders’ First Lady, in 1999; it entered the Billboard 200 at No 1. She followed its success with the platinum-selling Scorpion, which went on to win a Grammy for the single Let Me Blow Ya Mind. As an actor, she appeared in the Barbershop films and starred in her own sitcom, Eve. She married London-based entrepreneur Maximillion Cooper in 2014; together they have a son, and she is stepmother to his four children. Eve will tour the UK and Europe in 2027.

This was taken in Miami, where I was recording Scorpion. I was obsessed with red because of its astrological affiliation with Scorpio – everything had to be that colour. My hair is short because I convinced my hairstylist to put both a perm relaxer and colour in, which you’re not supposed to do. All my hair fell out, but thankfully it looked good. I felt powerful and sexy.

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© Photograph: Harry Langdon/Getty Images

© Photograph: Harry Langdon/Getty Images

© Photograph: Harry Langdon/Getty Images

Unnamed woman who filed and later dropped lawsuit against rap superstar states that she never met him, contrary to initial allegation of 2000 assault

A woman who accused Jay-Z of raping her when she was 13 years old has formally withdrawn her allegation, saying that she has never met the rap superstar.

The unnamed woman had originally made the allegation in a lawsuit filed in 2024, claiming that Jay-Z, real name Shawn Carter, had drugged and raped her with Sean Combs, known as P Diddy. The incident was alleged to have happened at a party after an MTV awards ceremony in 2000.

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© Photograph: Edmond Sadaka/SIPA/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Edmond Sadaka/SIPA/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Edmond Sadaka/SIPA/Shutterstock

Moment of reckoning for ‘Mr Nice Guy’ of music, who embraced Macklemore’s political cred only for pro-Palestine rapper to be dropped under pressure from billionaire

Ed Sheeran has long been known as the “Mr Nice Guy” of music. His is an unthreatening kind of pop stardom; he looks and talks like the bloke who might be standing behind you in a pub, rather than someone selling out stadiums. He champions other artists, he celebrates different cultures. His songs are about love, heartbreak and friendship. People get engaged at his concerts.

But this week, one of the most successful musicians in the world faced the biggest controversy of his career, and found himself dragged into exactly the kind of political row he has spent his career avoiding.

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© Photograph: Andy Von Pip/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Andy Von Pip/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Andy Von Pip/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Rapper won prestigious award as an unsigned artist before breaking UK Top 10 and nurturing artists including KSI

The British rapper Sway, who proved inspirational to a generation of Black British musicians thanks to his independence and frank, dextrous storytelling, has died aged 44.

The news was announced by the Mobo awards, with whom Sway won best hip-hop act in 2005, the first unsigned act to do so. “Proud to have him as part of our history. Our love goes out to his family, loved ones and fans,” the statement read.

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© Photograph: Tony Buckingham/Redferns

© Photograph: Tony Buckingham/Redferns

© Photograph: Tony Buckingham/Redferns

The masterful ​Harrow MC behind the year’s funniest, most inventive UK rap debut explains how his parents sparked his ravenous outlook – and why he’s wrestling his peers

A few Guinnesses into an interview in his local Irish boozer, and 26-year-old Harrow rapper Kibo is cooking. We’re talking football. As a kid, he preferred playing Fifa Street – where ordinary players backflip off walls to score incomprehensible bicycle kicks – to regular realistic Fifa. “If I’m gonna play a video game, I want to do some shit I can’t do in real life,” he says. He’s drawn to similarly miraculous footballers: Balotelli, Drogba in his Chelsea days, Ronaldinho and his dad’s favourite, Eric Cantona: “Oh God, with his collar popped, looking like Kanye West?” Kibo then recites Cantona’s 2019 Uefa president’s award speech – a mash-up of King Lear and philosophical musings on war and science – to near perfection.

Magic is at the heart of Kwengletarianism, “the idea of being in a place that’s very grey, and trying to find a prismatic iridescence in it”, that underpins Kibo’s sensational album Kwengletaria: Ragamyff. (Cantona? “He’s a Kwengletarian to the nth degree.”) During his long rise through London’s rap scene, canonised by co-signs from Skepta, JME and Dave, Kibo has become a rare MC from Harrow, the town that produced Kate Nash and Jai Paul but no rappers of note. “It’s awesome,” he says of its lack of rap tradition, “a complete blank slate” to be as imaginative as he wants. Kwengletaria finds the myth in the mundane: on the track Bakerloo Dragon, a normal tube journey becomes a cruising broken-beat roller aboard a fire-spitting Bakerloo line train. I tell him my train to Harrow was one of these flame-graffitied dragons. “But did you get any sparks?” he asks enthusiastically. “You get sparks after Stonebridge Park!”

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© Photograph: Swurla

© Photograph: Swurla

© Photograph: Swurla

Police received information nearly immediately after the killing. It took Las Vegas police 27 years to make an arrest

For years, US law enforcement officials blamed their failure to solve hip-hop star Tupac Shakur’s murder on the lack of cooperation from key witnesses, and on gang members’ “snitches get stitches” culture.

But testimony in a much-delayed murder trial, which concluded this week, almost 30 years after Shakur’s death, highlighted just how much law enforcement officials knew about the shooting, and how early.

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© Photograph: MediaNews Group/Bay Area News/Getty Images

© Photograph: MediaNews Group/Bay Area News/Getty Images

© Photograph: MediaNews Group/Bay Area News/Getty Images

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Even though Beyoncé rumours prove unfounded, there are plenty of guests, from Idris Elba to Lauryn Hill – but this show doesn’t need cameos to lift it

Jay-Z’s first solo tour in nine years bills itself as a celebration: it marks the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt. But it feels less concerned with nostalgic reverie than a show of strength in the present day. Hip-hop is a genre predicated on constant forward motion, in which careers tend to burn brightly, then dim as the music moves on. Jay-Z may not be the only fiftysomething rapper out on a career retrospective tour in 2026, but he is, unequivocally, the only one who’s capable of doing it at this level: packing out the biggest stadiums in the world nearly a decade after he last released an album, his standing impressively undiminished by a retreat into semi-retirement.

Moreover, he’s doing it in considerable style. The show’s musical approach can clearly trace its origins back to 2001, the year Jay-Z solved the problem of how on earth a rapper was supposed to appear on MTV Unplugged by eschewing hip-hop’s standard DJ-and-backing-tapes approach and employing a live band: the Roots were apparently astonished to be asked, but the end result was pretty jaw-dropping. Back in May, his first solo gig in five years essentially recreated it – he headlined the Roots’ annual Picnic festival with Questlove and co in tow once more – but the Jay-Z 30 tour supersizes it, featuring not just a 10-piece band, but an 18-piece string section. The resulting sound can, very occasionally, feel a little de trop – the squealing metal guitar solo appended to Can I Live definitely seems surplus to requirements – but for the most part, it works extraordinarily well, amping up the cinematic sweep of Empire State of Mind and the lush 70s-soul inflections of Izzo (H.O.V.A), adding a thunderous heft to Public Service Announcement and 99 Problems. It also serves to underline Jay-Z’s technical skill: a lesser rapper would be swallowed up by the density of the sound, but the precision of his delivery consistently cuts through.

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© Photograph: ROC NATION

© Photograph: ROC NATION

© Photograph: ROC NATION

Der Mord an Tupac Shakur hat knapp 30 Jahre lang Stoff für Spekulationen geliefert. Nun wurde Gang-Anführer Duane Davis dessen schuldig gesprochen. Fragen bleiben trotzdem.

Las Vegas jury returns verdict against ex-South Side Compton Crips gang leader in killing of US rap legend

• Thirty years of waiting, a memoir and a trial: conviction in Tupac Shakur killing brings closure

A Las Vegas jury has found former South Side Compton Crips gang leader Duane Keith Davis guilty of the murder of Tupac Shakur, bringing the case to a close nearly 30 years after the famous rapper was gunned down.

The jury took about three hours to reach a guilty verdict in a case that relied heavily on multiple confessions from Davis himself, including his description of the killing in the 2019 memoir Compton Street Legend.

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© Photograph: Caroline Brehman/Pool Reuters/AP

© Photograph: Caroline Brehman/Pool Reuters/AP

© Photograph: Caroline Brehman/Pool Reuters/AP

Irish noisemongers Gilla Band, shadowy producers Two Shell and lovable band the Big Moon have new records, and there are tours from Bob Dylan and Kelela – plus the best of jazz, global and classical

• ‘It’s easier when nobody’s watching’: inside the secretive and sublime freak-folk of @
• See all of our unmissable autumn arts recommendations here

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© Composite: Guardian Design/Kaio Cesar/Patrick McCormack

© Composite: Guardian Design/Kaio Cesar/Patrick McCormack

© Composite: Guardian Design/Kaio Cesar/Patrick McCormack

The controversial rapper now known as Ye was due to play two huge shows at St Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena, which now states it cannot host performances for contractual reasons

The St Petersburg stadium that was set to host two concerts by Ye – making the rapper formerly known as Kanye West the biggest western act to play in Russia since start of the Ukraine war – has now said that the concerts will not take place at the venue, although the promoter has stressed that they have not been cancelled.

Gazprom Arena had previously posted on social media saying that “the most influential musical artist of our time” would perform there on 10 and 11 October. “This is no joke!” the post stated. The event sold out immediately, including tickets priced at £1390 ($1896).

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© Photograph: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

© Photograph: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

© Photograph: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images