One time Mercury winners Klaxons have hailed this year’s trophy winner London rapper Speech Debelle.
Well that was unexpected. Going up against acts such as Kasabian, Florence And The Machine, Little Boots and more this year’s Mercury Music Prize was hoisted aloft by none other than Speech Debelle.
The little known London rapper released her debut album ‘Speech Therapy’ through Big Dada records earlier this year. A slow burner, its mixture of jazz samples and laid back rhymes made her an acclaimed figure on the UK hip hop scene.
Fighting off some tough competition Speech Debelle scooped the Mercury Music Prize in memorable scenes on Tuesday night (September 8th). ClashMusic interviewed her just after the album came out, giving a unique insight into this hot new talent.
Praised by many other acts on the nominations list, former winners Klaxons have come out in support of the London MC. Talking to the Daily Star, vocalist James Righton said “We couldn’t be happier that Speech won this year”.
“To have a rank outsider like her win, it’s reminiscent of us because nobody was expecting it. She totally deserves it.”
Which isn’t exactly true. Klaxons were widely tipped to take the award back in 2007, with their nu rave inciting debut LP ‘Myths Of The Near Future’. More presciently, bassist Jamie Reynolds claimed it was a blow to major labels.
“It’s a massive fuck off to big labels and I mean that from the heart” he said. Klaxons, of course, were sent straight back to the studio after delivering their second album to label bosses.
The group were told material was “too psychedelic” with the release date being flung back by a year.
