Man

Album: Konnichiwa (2016)
Charted: 34
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This terse, paranoid track finds Skepta exploring the fall out of being one of UK's hottest acts, as he lashes out at clingers on. The rapper only socializes with his immediate circle.

    I don't know why man's callin' me family all of a sudden
    Like hmm, my mum don't know your mum
    Stop telling man you're my cousin
    I got day ones and I got new ones


    Skepta used a similar line on his Doin' It Again track, "Cross My Heart":

    Now man are calling me family all of a sudden
    And I'm like "Mum, how come you never told me that I had all these cousins?"
  • The intimidating beat samples the sinister opening from "Regular John," the intro track to Queens of the Stone Age's self-titled debut album.
  • This won Best Contemporary Song at the 2017 Ivor Novello Awards. Skepta also was given the Songwriter of the Year gong at the same ceremony. Speaking at the highly-esteemed event held at London's Grosvenor House Skepta commented that he believes the track is timeless because of its honesty.

    "This song 'Man' is about family and I think it will stand the test of time because it's from a true place so more power to true music."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Album Cover Inspirations

Album Cover InspirationsSong Writing

Some album art was at least "inspired" by others. A look at some very similar covers.

Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes

Chris Robinson of The Black CrowesSongwriter Interviews

"Great songwriters don't necessarily have hit songs," says Chris. He's written a bunch, but his fans are more interested in the intricate jams.

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The Kingdom

Gavin Rossdale On Lyric Inspirations and Bush's Album The KingdomSongwriter Interviews

The Bush frontman on where he finds inspiration for lyrics, if his "machine head" is a guitar tuner, and the stories behind songs from the album The Kingdom.

Art Alexakis of Everclear

Art Alexakis of EverclearSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer of Everclear, Art is also their primary songwriter.

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' Albums

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' AlbumsSong Writing

With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"