The Mercury prize-winning British rapper Skepta has apologised after artwork for his single Gas Me Up (Diligent) was criticised on social media for having unintentional but palpable allusions to the Holocaust.
The artwork features a group of people in matching overcoats with shaved heads, and the words “gas me up” tattooed on the head of one of them, perceived as reminiscent of the head-shaving, tattooing and gas chambers used in Nazi death camps. “Gas me up” is slang for hyping someone up or praising them.
The image caused offence on social media, and Skepta soon removed it. He wrote on X: “I’ve been waiting to drop Gas Me Up (Diligent) since teasing it April last year, worked hard getting the artwork right for my album rollout which is about my parents coming to the UK in the 80’s, Skinhead, Football culture and it has been taken offensively by many and I can promise you that was definitely not our plan so I have removed it and I vow to be more mindful going forward.”
In another tweet, he added: “I can honestly see how my single artwork without context can be deemed offensive, especially in a time like this but again that was not my intention. But after some thought I don’t feel like I could continue being the artist you all know and love if my art is policed, I have to quit if I can’t express my art as I see it.” He said Gas Me Up (Diligent) would be released on 26 January as planned, though hasn’t said if it will carry the offending artwork.
He shared a mood board of images that informed the artwork and the broader “1980’s UK story” for forthcoming album Knife and Fork, featuring a number of images of British skinheads as well as multiracial fans of the 2 Tone movement. The skinhead images carry with them their own provocation, given the sizable racist and far-right contingent to the movement in the 1980s. One person also wears a tattoo that resembles an eagle insignia used by the Nazi party.
I can honestly see how my single artwork without context can be deemed offensive, especially in a time like this but again that was not my intention. But after some thought I don’t feel like I could continue being the artist you all know and love if my art is policed, I have to… pic.twitter.com/59oUOPe8Hp
— Big Smoke - (@Skepta) January 10, 2024
Born to Nigerian immigrant parents and raised in Tottenham in London, Skepta, real name Joseph Adenuga, is one of Britain’s most commercially successful and critically acclaimed rappers, celebrated for helping to pioneer grime music and for a remarkable second flush of success from the mid-2010s onwards. Last month he was named the greatest British rapper of all time by the British arm of pop culture website Complex.
His last two albums, Konnichiwa and Ignorance Is Bliss, both reached No 2 in the UK charts, with Konnichiwa winning the Mercury prize. In 2018 he had a global hit Praise the Lord (Da Shine), an A$AP Rocky track he produced and rapped on. More recently he has exhibited his paintings at Sotheby’s and also made a foray into DJing and producing house music – he had a club hit in 2023 with the Amy Winehouse-sampling Can’t Play Myself (A Tribute to Amy).
As well as the long-awaited Knife and Fork, Skepta is preparing to release Tribal Mark, a short film he co-directed with Dwight Okechukwu. Promotional materials describe it as “an origin story, signalling a wider cinematic universe which will centre on our anti-hero character, Tribal Mark, and his role within the undercover Black Secret Service – with more to be revealed later this year”. The film features a 90% global majority cast and crew.
