Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has declared his support for the grime scene, stating that it is “here to stay”.
Khan made the statements at the VO5 NME Awards 2017, where he presented the Best British Male award to Skepta.
In an interview with NME, the Mayor said, “My girls are 15 and 17 and big grime fans. Skepta’s one of their heroes, Stormzy, Wiley, it’s great. We went to Drake last week and he had Section Boyz on stage – they’re a big grime act from London.” He continued, “Grime is here to stay.”
Sure he might have not fully understood the genre and bannered Section Boyz as grime artists, but it’s still sick to see the love from high places.
Whilst introducing Skepta as the winner of the award, Khan applauded him, saying, “Can I tell you what an honour this is? This guy is cool, this guy is talented, this guy is a role model, this guy is a Londoner and it’s Skepta!”
Skepta returned the comments in a further interview, saying, “I’m a fan of Sadiq, we do the same thing, go against the grain.”
If you want more footage from the NME Awards 2017, check out this video of Wiley’s performance here.