Grime artist Skepta has been awarded the 25th Mercury Prize, beating off competition from favourite David Bowie.
The north London-born singer collected the award and the £25,000 (€29,400) prize for his fourth studio album Konnichiwa at a prize-giving ceremony at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London.
The album was released on Skepta’s Boy Better Know record label which he set up with his brother JME in 2005.
Accepting the award on stage on Thursday, he said: “I’m just so thankful. I’ve been trying to do this music stuff and work it out for so long. I was like ‘let’s do it for ourselves’. All these songs, we’ve travelled the world – no record label, nothing. We just did this for us but the love is very appreciated.”
Skepta is the second grime artist to win the Mercury prize, following Dizzee Rascal’s victory in 2003.
David Bowie, Laura Mvula, Radiohead, Michael Kiwanuka, and The 1975 also made the final shortlist of six out for 12 albums nominated for the 2016 award.
Bowie's final album Blackstar was released only two days before he died from cancer in January.
- Additional reporting: PA
