Grime’s grip on the British music scene has been affirmed again with Kano nominated for four awards at this year’s Mobos.
Skepta, whose album Konnichiwa last week beat the likes of Radiohead to win the Mercury prize, is among his biggest competitors, and is up for best male, best album and best grime act.
Grime emerged in east London in the early 2000s, pioneered by artists such as Lethal Bizzle and Dizzee Rascal, and in the past few years has experienced a resurgence. In 2014 the Mobos introduced a best grime act category, which this year also includes Stormzy, Chip and AJ Tracey.
Laura Mvula, who like Kano was among this year’s Mercury nominees, is up for four Mobos, including best female act, up against Katy B, Nao, Lady Leshurr and Little Simz. Mvula will also compete with James Blake in the best R&B and soul category.
She is also nominated in the best album category, with The Dreaming Room, up against Michael Kiwanuka’s Love and Hate, and Giggs’ Landlord, as well as Skepta and Kano, and is up for best video.
Craig David, who 16 years ago was named best newcomer, marks his return with two nominations, for best male act and best song.
Michael Kiwanuka, whose soul-infused album was also nominated for the Mercury prize, said this year felt like “a good moment for black music being recognised in the mainstream”.
He pointed to the popularity of grime, not just in the UK mainstream but across the world. “You can’t really escape it,” said Kiwanuka. “Up till now grime has been pushed to one side, and not seen as relevant, but finally people are taking notice. It’s always been credible but people are finally sitting up and taking notice. So it’s a good year I think and good to be a part of it.”
Despite the success of his album and other black artists this year, Kiwanuka said it was still important to have a music ceremony that celebrated black artists.
“It shows people and artists the history of black music and where its come from,” he said. “When I look around now you can see a lot of notoriety of all kinds of music, it’s quite an even playing field I feel – especially this year with the rise of grime – but when I was growing up it wasn’t. So for young people to realise that it wasn’t always like this and that people have actually worked to get people like Skepta and Stormzy where they are. The Mobos really helped because there was a time when that was the only outlet for that music.”
Kiwanuka said he hoped that having his album, which fuses soul and funk, up alongside urban artists at the Mobos “will get a different demographic listening to my music. That’s what I wanted when I was making this album”.
Some of the biggest names in music were nominated in the best international category, which will pit Beyoncé, Drake, Frank Ocean, Justin Bieber and Rihanna against each other.
