Skepta admits he 'hates being famous' and 'dreams of going back to his normal life' as he teases his next album will be 'best he's ever made'
Skepta has admitted that despite his incredible global success, millions of fans and award wins, he 'hates being famous'.
Since bursting on the scene with his debut album in 2007, the grime star, 42, has gone on to win the prestigious Mercury Prize and conquered the worlds of music, fashion, modelling and film.
However, in a rare new interview with Dazed, the rapper has confessed to disliking the trappings of stardom and dreams 'of going back to my normal life'.
Skepta, real name Joseph Junior Adenuga, told the publication: 'I don't care about fame. Really. I care about art. I care about making the best song. I care about people selecting my poetry as theirs. I hate being famous.
'I just feel like, whatever fame has brought me is what I've always had already, you know what I mean? The eyes, the judgment – I've always had that. In the early days it helped to toughen me up and prepare me for now. But I don't need it any more.'
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The Boy Better Know star admitted that he doesn't want to live the so-called celebrity lifestyle and instead wants to be able to go out with his daughter without being asked for a selfie.
He explained: 'Whenever people push me to be that kind of red carpet It-boy, I shy away from it every time. Even when I won the Mercury, I can see in my face that I didn't want to be that guy, because you only fall down from there, innit?
'I forever have my dream of going back to my normal life. When everything's said and done, I just want to be painting in my house and occasionally DJing, going to the shop for limes and breads.'
Reflecting on what he wants his legacy to be if that time comes, Skepta said he believes that the 'true meaning of life' was being a conduit to create opportunities for those coming after him.
He explained: 'I hope I've left as much as I took, and opened as many doors and left as many codes behind for people on the way after me.
'I think that's the true meaning of life. I used to struggle with that, but I know now that it's not really about me. I'm just passing through.'
The hitmaker will be back hosting the Big Smoke Festival in August for the second year, with a star-studded line-up including the likes of his brother Jme, Central Cee, Skyla Tyla and BXK.
And he explained that his desire to open doors is part of what inspired him to create a stage to showcase the talents of other artists, saying he wanted 'to move to the side' and not be 'getting in the way'.
While he also talked his upcoming album, which he first announced in January last year, explaining the delayed release is because he's constantly coming up with new hit tracks and teasing that he predicts the final result will be 'the best record I've made'.
The DJ said: 'Every day, I'm trying to wrap it up, but then every day I make something fresh and have to rejig the tracklist.
'People keep coming to the studio, so I keep making one song and then another one, and it's hard to put a dam in the flow when it's all so good.'
It comes after Skepta insisted that he never thinks he's made it, because there's 'always more to do' in an exclusive interview with MailOnline in January last year.
When asked if he'd had a 'pinch me' moment or realised 'I've made it', he said: 'No [I haven't], I used to think that I would have it but I don't. I've done too many things to believe in that notion that I've made it because there's always more to do...
'I remember when I used to think there was a made it, but now I don't really have that. I don't really have that in my mind.'
On a moment he's been starstruck, he quipped: 'Sometimes when I walk past, if I walk past the mirror, I see myself and like right around.'
Skepta is not the only famous face in his family, with his rapper brother JME, real name Jamie Adenuga, also being in the Boy Better Know collective while their sister Julie Adenuga is a broadcaster and radio host.
He kicked off music his career in 2003 as a DJ for the Tottenham-based grime collective Meridian Crew, going on to MC shortly before they disbanded in 2005.
Skepta and JME then joined Roll Deep for a short period of time before becoming founding members of Boy Better Know in 2005.
His debut studio album, Greatest Hits, was released to much acclaim in 2007, while he followed up in 2009 with Microphone Champion and also released studio album Doin' It Again in 2011.
The three-time Brit Award nominee's critically lauded fourth record, Konnichiwa, featured the hit singles That's Not Me and Shutdown, and won him the Mercury Prize in 2016.
Amid a host of hit mixtapes and singles, Skepta also ventured in acting, making his movie debut in the 2015 crime drama Anti-Social, alongside Meghan Markle.
While last year saw him make his directorial debut with Tribal Mark, a short film telling the story of a Nigerian-born hitman, played in part by Skepta and in part by Jude Carmichael.
His last solo album was 2019's Ignorance Is Bliss, while he joined Chip and D Block Europe rapper Young Adz for a collaborative album called Insomnia in 2020.
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