Skepta has already released one of the songs of the summer in ‘Shutdown’ and now he’s got his mitts all over another. This one-and-a-half minute interpretation of Jamie xx’s deckchair banger ‘…(Good Times)’ barely qualifies as a remix – the Tottenham MC only raps over half of what’s nothing more than a slightly sped up scrap of the xx man’s tune. Inevitably, the increased BPM suits Skepta and his verse replaces the sun-kissed, hands-in-the-air quality of the original with something much more dangerous. It’s a fraction of the length of the extended dancehall version of the song Jamie xx recently unveiled in Los Angeles, but Skepta’s mere presence means it’s a hell of a lot more exciting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en2XsZ538O4
Even though it sounds like he’s rapping about his ascent beyond the grime scene that spawned him (“I’ve got a first class ticket to the top/ And no you can’t stop that plane”), the hardness of Skepta’s tone lends his bars razor-sharp edge. Then, he crowbars in a mention of his Boy Better Know crew, as if to underline their crusade towards the mainstream. “It’s the Boy Better Know campaign”, he spits, “Everyday we pop champagne/ Celebrate life like Christmas Day/ Don’t care what a man say”. He sounds unstoppable.
