“I can honestly understand how my single piece of art can be viewed as offensive without context, especially at a time like this,” the 41-year-old wrote on the online platform X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday. “I promise to be more careful in the future.”
According to the BBC, the cover photo initially used showed a group of men with shaved heads, one of whom had “Gas Me Up” tattooed on him. In social networks, parallels were immediately drawn to the Holocaust with shaved-headed concentration camp prisoners.
In “Gas Me Up (Diligent)” Skepta brags regarding his successes. The colloquial term means to cheer or praise someone. The musician, whose real name is Joseph Adenuga, grew up in Tottenham, North London, as the son of Nigerian migrants and is considered one of the most successful British rappers.
In another X post, the musician emphasized that he worked hard on the right design for his song. It’s regarding “how my parents came to Britain in the 1980s, skinheads, football culture and so on.” To show the intended context, Skepta published a “moodboard” with potential cover photos showing, among other things, skinheads, a prison canteen and the logo of the music label 2 Tone Records, known for ska productions. Skepta announced that the song will be released as planned on January 26th.
