All of this commotion in the last two weeks has placed Skepta dead centre in the limelight of a Grime frenzy ahead of his peers, stealing headlines with news of both his studio work and live performance with Kanye. And whilst Grime has never looked so healthy on the international scene, East London pioneer Kano has popped up out of nowhere after an almost three year hiatus to announce a bolshie two-track release (Hail/New Banger) in conjunction with Record Store Day on 13th April.
Teaming up with Glasgow native Rustie, ‘Hail’ has Kano flexing those MC muscles that no-one else in the genre can, bringing a schizophrenic flow that chops and changes erratically, including a cheeky sample of Tempa T’s ‘Next Hype‘ and some ‘German Whip‘ wordplay. After everything that has happened in the last two weeks, Kano’s lyrics are strangely prophetic when considering the clatter of Kanye West at the Brits: “Crossing that pond and fishing for hits, we both gain from a little influence but how comes nobody credits us Brits?“
The video ends with a minute-long teaser of ‘New Banger’, the second track off his Record Store Day release. It sees Kano plotting in his car for a little private listening party with Grime counterparts Giggs and Ghetts. Fierce head-nodding is interspersed with ad-libs from Ghetts: “That’s mad. That’s mad.” It looks like Skeppy has a fight on his hands to maintain the current Grime crown after Kano brings this game-changer in April.
