Leading the nominations this year is rapper Dave with six nominations. He is nominated for track of the year twice for his hits ‘Starlight’ and ‘Clash’ featuring Stormzy. Both singles also received nominations for Video of the Year. After recently headlining Reading and Leeds, the 24-year-old is also nominated for Male Artist of the Year alongside Central Cee, Digga D and 2021’s Track of the Year winner, Tion Wayne.

Dave has met widespread critical acclaim since his debut album Psychodrama which debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart back in 2019. It had the biggest first week of streams for a UK rap album and subsequently took home the 2020 Brit Award for Album of the Year and went on to win the Mercury Prize. His latest album, We’re All Alone in This Together is nominated for the GRM Rated Award for Album of the Year and faces competition from Little Simz, Fredo, Tion Wayne, M Huncho, Knucks and Kojey Radical. The Evening Standard described the album as a ‘masterpiece’ saying Dave is ‘the greatest rapper working in Britain today.”

Also leading the nominations is Little Simz who is featured in three categories. She’s up for Album of the Year with her Mercury Prize Nominated Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. AllMusic described the album as a “master class in modern songwriting with heaps of poise and a beating, soulful heart,” and Stereogum said the release was “cinematic and surreal and overwhelming”. Simz is also nominated for Female Artist of the Year alongside Mahalia, Ms Banks, Stefflon Don and FLO. Her single ‘Point and Kill’ features on the list for Track of the Year with fellow contenders Aitch, ArrDee and Central Cee.

You can see a full list of nominations here. Voting is now open and fans can place their votes for each category until the 21st of September. The hosts, performances and date of the ceremony are yet to be announced.

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The new release features various collaborations with established and uprising UK artists such as, Stormzy, Sainte, Youngs Teflon, SL, Shaé Universe, Ragz Originale, M1llionz and Lex Amor. The 13-track album follows the success of previously released hit singles that feature on the album; “Leon the Professional”, “Nice & Good”, “Alpha House”, “Hide & Seek” as well as previously beloved “Los Pollos Hermanos” released in March 2021.  

The rapper initially made his mark on the UK rap and Hip-Hop scene in 2016 with his debut single “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. Since then, Knucks has continued to rise amongst the most successful UK Rap and Hip-Hop artists, with GQ Magazine deeming him one of  “the most progressive British rappers of our time”. Besides his latest musical output of Alpha House, he has appeared on Kojey Radical’s new album Reason to Smile released on March 4th, 2022, and is set to headline at the Wireless festival in July 2022. His ability to imbue the traditional forms of Rap and Hip-Hop music making, alongside a piano and jazz infused melodic twang, sets his music apart from the rest of the current UK music scene. Fans have been eagerly waiting on the arrival of Alpha Place for weeks since the initial announcement on March 18th, and without a full 24 hours passing since its release, they have taken to Twitter to unpack their thoughts and opinions.

the Knucks album is everything you think it will be and more by the way — tiffany calver (@tiffanycalver) May 5, 2022

*manifests*

Knucks getting
Top 3 in the
UK Official Charts

— Mimi The Music Blogger (@mdaixo) May 5, 2022

 

It is no wonder that Knucks has established an extremely supportive and loyal fanbase over the last 6 years of his exponential career, that have so far, evidently been overwhelmingly stimulated and satisfied by the melodic craftsmanship and masterful lyricism of Alpha Place. It seems that the entirety of his UK fans will wait anxiously over the coming weeks to see if Alpha Place will indeed make the official UK charts.

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The video sees the pair performing in a large manor with Ghanaian and Nigerian flags draped over chairs as the pair roam around the house. The video also featured a number of black entertainers from the UK scene all dressed in suits and dresses with individuals such as entertainer Poet, Youtuber Niko Omilana, Rappers  Wretch 32 and Cash and around 6 other individuals.  

Following the release of the track, Kojey took to his Instagram to announce himself and Knucks would be rolling around London to a number of different locations and invited his fans to join them for “Some champagne and a payback playback party”. The artists went to 3 locations, Shoreditch High Street Station, Regents Park Road and bridge approach, and outside Brixton academy. The pair were met by a number of fans as they toured around London draped in fitted suits and riding in a Rolls Royce.

 

 

 

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This track is one of the lead singles for Kojey’s upcoming debut album Reason to smile which is available to preorder here and will be released on the 4th of March. 

As well as announcing his album, Kojey also shared he will be doing a tour of record shops following the release of the project with a number of in store performances across the country in London, Kingston, Bournemouth, Brighton, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.

Knucks is the feature on the track and has started 2022 with a bang. The rapper was picked as BBC 1xtra’s Hot For 2022 at the end of last year, and is proving why with the 27-year-old making an appearance on the highly respected music platform Colors as well as featuring as an artist at Tiffany Calver’s Abbey Road Studio cypher, only 3 weeks into the new year.

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 Kojey Radical and Knucks new track “Payback” is available to watch here: