Skepta

“Bullying is bullying, man. Even the biggest of the bullies got bullied. And what was happening in school comes from the media, innit? It comes from TV and society.”

“There would be weeks when I'd just go to Paris on a cheap ticket, sleep on my friend's floor, and just do a show because I knew I was going to do a show. Do it, get home, see it on my timeline, and be happy that I was just working.”

“They respect rappers in the U.S., but in England, it's the Queen's country. She'll forever be putting out the message on these BBC networks that there's no hood: it's tea and red phoneboxes.”

“I don't think grime has ever been respected; it's not seen as a nice sound.”

“England is so black and white, so plain, like a burger with nothing on it. No salad, nothing. That's why it's so real.”

“For a long time, men weren't respecting women. They weren't understanding Mother Earth, Mother Nature, the Motherland, all the motherly stuff. And now we are.”

“When I was a kid, I used to stop bullies. I'd get so angry when I saw people being bullied. I'd be like, 'Stop doing that to him!'”

“I'm winning even if I have zero pence in my bank account, because my mind's free.”

“'That's Not Me' video cost me 80 English pounds.”

“Songwriting has really allowed me to enjoy life and look at it from an objective place.”

“Songs like 'One Love' by Bob Marley - they stand the test of time - it doesn't matter - so anytime I write music, I try to write in tune with an emotion, and I hope there are more times like that for everyone.”

“Basically, a lot of people have asked to jump on 'Shutdown' remix, I'm not gonna front. But 'cause of quality control, we wanted to make it really big: it's all about spreading the British sound and culture.”

“I hear all the big department stores like Macy's and Bloomingdale's in the U.S. playing hard hip-hop records to the shoppers, like Rick Ross at his gnarliest. That's amazing. It makes me think grime can do a similar thing.”

“Every year, I always go abroad with dark music, and I'm going to these places, and I feel like I want a party rep - I want something that everyone is going to go crazy to and enjoy and have a good feeling.”

“I'm paranoid of people hating on me.”

“I suppose when I was growing up, it was all about fitting into a box or fitting into a category. You know, looking like I listened to hip-hop, or looking like I listened to grime. You'd see someone and go, 'Oh, look at that person. He's wearing that or that; he listens to punk rock.'”

“If you don't put your crew on your album, you're a snake.”

“Even though I played this role in 'Anti-Social,' you can see by the poster it's not concentrating on some black rudeboy thing. This is a smash-and-grab movie!”

“Everyone knows their wrong from right, so when people are being racist, they know they're being ignorant.”

“Boy Better Know, when we die, people are going to realise that we are just seven guys who just, like, try to have fun.”