Joseph Junior Adenuga (born 19 September 1982), better known by his stage name Skepta, is an English rapper, grime artist, MC, songwriter, record producer and recording artist with African roots from Nigeria. Adenuga began rapping while co-founding the independent grime collective Boy Better Know in 2006. His main style of music consists of grime while fused with British hip hop. Skepta released his debut studio album Greatest Hits in late 2007 independently, followed by Microphone Champion in 2009. The album produced the popular top 100 singles "Rolex Sweep" and "Sunglasses at Night". Skepta produced the majority of the album and was also released independently.

Skepta signed the AATW in 2010 and entered into commercial success with his first top 40 single "Bad Boy", which peaked at number 26. His highest-charting single to date, "Rescue Me" peaked at number 14 in the same year. Skepta gained his third top 40 entry with "Cross My Heart". In January 2011, Skepta's third and first non-independent studio release Doin' It Again was released and charted at number 19 on the UK Albums Chart.