Seven years after Ignorance Is Bliss, Skepta is finally bringing something to the table with The Fork and Knife, his sixth studio album. The grime pioneer has little left to prove, yet plenty to look back on. Rather than revisiting his old sound, the artist reflects on the different versions of himself: the Tottenham kid, the artist who lost his way, and the father and businessman he is today.
Rooted in a lesson passed down by his Nigerian mother, the title represents the promise of a better life: work hard enough and one day you’ll be able to sit at the table with a fork and knife. For a family shaped by migration and hard work, the image carries more weight than a simple promise of financial comfort. It speaks to social mobility, dignity, and the desire to claim a place in a society that hasn’t always made room for you.
Opening track Secrets of Patriarchy sets the tone. Over buoyant, distinctly grime-inspired production, Skepta takes us through an almost hour-by-hour account of his day: arriving home from the studio, getting his children ready for school, squeezing in gym sessions, business meetings and fashion commitments before heading straight back to the studio. The track picks apart the blueprint of traditional masculinity: be a man, get rich, buy a house, get married, have children, and whatever you do, boys don’t cry, especially gangsters.
Currency plays with the idea of value in a more personal way. Skepta recalls taking his mother to a lavish GQ dinner, only for her to be unimpressed by the portions. The anecdote captures the distance between the abundance he can now afford and the practical values she carried with her. Pandora’s Box takes a darker turn, portraying a friend whose drug dependency has left him almost unrecognisable. Melody shifts the perspective from the demands of everyday life to the relationship struggling to survive around them. Framed as a love song, it finds Skepta addressing a woman who wants more of his time and attention, while he struggles to explain a life spent constantly in survival mode. “I feel like I’m overworked and underappreciated,” he admits, capturing the frustration of someone who has become so consumed by keeping everything together that he has little left to give emotionally.
Perhaps one of the album’s most revealing moments is Revenge. The artist revisits the years when his career lost direction, from the commercial detour of Rolex Sweep to the frustration documented in his Underdog Psychosis videos. His eventual return to grime with That’s Not Me becomes less a comeback story than a reclamation of his artistic identity. “I wish that I knew what I know now when I was younger” captures the bittersweet nature of hindsight: some lessons, it seems, can only be learned the hard way.
Skepta’s table is a crowded one, inviting artists from different generations and scenes to take a seat. From grime’s younger generation with Novelist and Finessekid to Memphis rap veteran Project Pat, he creates a dialogue between different musical eras. Aya Nakamura brings a more playful, melodic dimension to Chippie, while Central Cee and Jorja Smith add a smoother UK rap and R&B touch to Broken Hearts. Meanwhile, Fred again.. and PlaqueBoyMax push things towards a more electronic, internet-driven sound on Victory Lap. The most politically charged contribution comes with Innocent Smile, featuring Chase & Status and Suggs of Madness. Over restless drum ’n’ bass breakbeats, Skepta confronts Britain’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and the racism that has shaped his experience growing up in the country.
Ultimately, The Fork and Knife is at its best when Skepta looks beyond the image of the untouchable icon and takes stock of the person behind it. Looking back on the journey that brought him here, he reflects on the choices, sacrifices and expectations that have shaped his life. Yet, despite everything he has achieved, his hunger to create remains: whether revisiting his past, experimenting with new sounds or making room for a new generation of artists. He has finally made it to the table. Now, he has a story worth telling.
