Watch: Skepta's performance for COLORS is what being outstanding in your field looks like

A notification from the COLORS Youtube channel is not to be ignored.

The Berlin-based collective and studio have put their name and aesthetic to the very best urban artists around the world. Pitting an act, typically performing solo, alone in a studio setting against a striking colour scheme to perform a new song.

So it’s only fitting the collective got UK MC Skepta in to do ‘No Sleep’ from his new LP Ignorance Is Bliss.

Considering the Youtube channel’s focus on mostly Urban artists, Skepta’s omission would be glaring. The MC has long been at the top of the UK’s hip-hop & grime hierarchy. His new LP hears the artist comfortably evolve into the role of Godfather (personified most clearly in the superb ‘Bullet From A Gun‘.

The MC, suited and shot in thermal imagery (taken from the album art), is in fine form. It’s a lean, self-assured performance. The delivery is perfect, not surprising given the MC’s long since established technical brilliance.

The genius is in the thermal shot. Apart from the aesthetic value, it’s a telling sign that the MC is more than comfortable enough to distort himself in a visual medium – placing the focus solely on the performance and the lyrics. Ego doesn’t factor in here, this is pure confidence. An artist outstanding in his field, nothing left to prove.

Listen to Ignorance Is Bliss in full.

Luke Sharkey