Skepta

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.

Being in an industry where money talks, everybody involved in the 'Dare To Dream' project came to a conclusion to sign it to Interscope.

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

Air Max is from when we were running the streets. It was comfortable to wear in London, whether you were going out to a club or kicking a ball in the streets. Those kinds of things stick in my mind from the young, magical, fantasy years of my life.

I have been wearing Air Max for so long, since I was seven playing around in the estate; I feel like I know my Air Max well.

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

I've been into clothes since I was a kid, going to garage raves and seeing all the Tottenham gangsters wearing Moschino and Versace; I just always had a passion for it.

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!

When I finally got there, to where I thought was the top, I wasn't doing what I was doing in the beginning. I was not happy.

I feel like I'm the chosen one, but I chose myself.

We've been ahead for so long in the U.K., we're so multicultural, and that's the beauty. That's why grime was formed, from this mix, this understanding of different people.

I want to show the young generation that success is not something you search for externally: it is from within.

It took a long time for hip-hop to become commercial. Now there's all these big black icons that came from nowhere to somewhere. Look at Jay-Z! People stopped being threatened by the music and just started to appreciate that it's good.

It's almost a blessing for a new generation to say somebody like myself went to their school. It helps kids dream, and now they're getting into acting, football, whatever.

I can't make hard street music for the rest of my life. Your references change.

I'm paranoid of people hating on me.

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.

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

I go to award ceremonies, but I always like to be in my world. That's the only place I can control where I won't get upset.

There is so much good music from our scene in the U.K., and I'm happy I'm part of that movement. For a long time, we were trying to do what the Americans were doing, we were trying to do what the pop stars from England were doing, and we just didn't understand.

I know that I'm in grime, but I had to separate myself and do things myself.

I was working so hard at music and trying to do this whole 'industry' thing and realised that it wasn't for me.

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.

There are people who take on different objectives and missions in life. When you grow older, there's a a void - and right now, I'm filling a space where a lot of old rock, grime, hip-hop, punk artists left a vacant space.

I feel like the Earth is a re-print of a re-print of a print of a re-print.

I think the grime scene is one of the sickest, most diverse scenes ever.

Beyonce's 'Bow Down,' to me, that could be a grime tune. If it's electronic and 140-ish bpm, and people go crazy to it, to me, that's grime.

I'm happy that grime remains underground. A lot of people talk like it's some underrated or ignored genre, but to me, that's the beauty of it.

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.

When I was younger, I was an aggressive fighter but I'm growing into someone who understands we don't have to answer things with violence.

Everything makes sense to me in Lagos; I even understand myself.

To be able to come back to Nigeria and get so much love for my work is my biggest life blessing. I've always hoped to never get lost in translation with me being British-born.

Some artists are like ready-salted crisps and just do what they are supposed to do. But I'm every flavour in one. I'm one of those variety packs.

The worst thing that happened to me at a gig was when the microphone wasn't on one time, and for the three lines of the verse with Chipmunk, you couldn't hear me.

After touring so much, I was looking for some peace. I found Morocco, and it was perfect. Everything I wanted to feel about peace, I found it there.

I am blessed to have been able to travel the world doing what I do.

'Konnichiwa' was made because I don't like the industry. I really had to remove myself from it to understand myself.

Don't compare me to Stormzy. Me and Stormzy are both legends in our own right.

I was like, 'I can't do grime. That's for kids.' - I was 20 at the time, and I thought I was a gangsta, a proper rude boy.

Thank you to everybody who was there for me when I was going through depressed times.

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.

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!'

At every stage of my life, I've always wanted to do good for Earth.

That's all that life is really about - setting up the party, talking to people who are like-minded, making something happen and keeping it moving, you know.

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

When I was younger, I was very wild, and I didn't really have my head screwed on properly.

When I got 'forever' tattooed on my throat, it meant that my legacy was going to live forever. So anything that I create, I do it because I believe it will live on, forever.

I put three productions of my youngest brother Jason on my album, on 'Konnichiwa,' and that made me happy, to be able to do that for him.

It's important for anybody who finds success to show other people where to find it.

There's a lot of oppressed people in Tottenham, but people in Tottenham also know how to turn pain into triumph.