Biography
Hailing from Barry Town in South Wales and born in the capital Cardiff City, Skamma has been widely respected as a versatile lyricist and mc who has made notable moves across several genres.
Having obtained over 1.5 million internet hits, releasing a multi genre album ‘The best so far’ to wide acclaim and recently making a strong comeback after a 2 year hiatus, Skamma has maintained a considerable following and continues to make music that appeals to a wide variety of listeners.
Drum & Bass
Despite his affinity with hip-hop and grime music, skamma’s focus is now firmly fixed on the drum & bass scene, where he has been making his presence felt as a name to look out for. Skamma started out some years ago with Cardiff D&B collective Sticky Lemons, founded by Slim Teng, which has a reputation for breeding talents such as Mr.Traumatik.
He went on to perform with some major players in the scene before taking a two year break. After winning a competition to become a resident mc for drum & bass giants Random Concept, Skamma continued to gain attention after winning two competitions created by the heavyweight mc duo Azza & Grima, getting the chance to play sets at their birthday bash and eventually going on to feature on a drum n bass track alongside them.
One of Skamma’s biggest achievements in drum & bass , came when he was announced as the winner of the legendary MC Skibadee’s Autotrader competition to mark 25 years of Skibadee. As a result of the competition, he was able to perform alongside Skibadee, Harry Shotta and DJ Phantasy at London’s Ministry of Sound nightclub.
Appearing on flyers for big line up’s and performing at festivals such as Outlook, Boomtown, Reading, Nass Innovation in the Sun and Balter, Skamma is definitely one to watch out for in the future of drum & bass.
Grime/ 140
Forming a strong partnership with Cardiff dubstep/ 140 producer DJ Stagga in 2010, Skamma enjoyed success with some well received releases including the huge dubstep track sick as sin (which accumulated almost a million internet hits as a release on Rag and Bone Records), Genik Riddim (alongside veteran mc and long term sparring partner Joe Blow) which made it to the number 1 download spot on EDM platform Juno after a release on DJ Starkey’s Philadelphia label Slit Jockey Records and the widely popular track Bassline Flex which won the 2012 Fametube video competition after a release on Bass Equals Win Records. Skamma continued to make a name for himself after dropping grime freestyle videos on JDZ Media and Swagsounds Media. He also featured on Mr. Traumatiks album ‘don’t judge a cd by its cover’ with the grime track ‘Fuck Superman, ’whilst performing alongside Stagga at countless raves and festivals across the U.K.
He also performed alongside grime legend Devilman as a main act at Boombap festival and Nass festival as well as performing with grime heavyweight Westy and hotly tipped up and comer J3 at Reading Festival as part of the Sika Records collective.
With a grime album soon to be released and featuring contributions from Mr. Traumatik, Fernquest, Local, Skinzman, Mistakay, RSK and Hypho, Skamma’s involvement in grime music is not to be overlooked.
Hip-Hop
Skamma’s music journey began in hip hop, as the founding member of well-respected underground hip hop crew Quiet Poison which later went on to become Squid Ninjas who gained acclaim from artists such as UK hip hop giants Taskforce, Skinnyman and Children of the Damned amongst others. Skamma released his first album which was the self –produced Bedroom Beats Phase 1, gaining a solid fan base as a hard hitting rhyme spitter with his dark take on reality mixed with fiction. Skamma also made features on the Don’t Flop Rap Battle league with victories over Pike and Pedro. In 2014 Skamma featured on a mix CD released by UK Hip Hop legend Jehst, who used Skammas verse taken from the Mudmouth hit ‘Mad Tight’ produced by heavyweight producer Metabeats and featuring another UK hip-hop front runner Sonnyjim. After working with many more big names in the UK hip hop circle including Micall Parknsun, Hozay, Trellion, Figment, Sniff and many more, Skamma has definitely earned his respect as a formidable talent in hip-hop with many believing that this is his best genre.
Having recently released a 16 track hip hop album ‘The Wishing Chair’ to much acclaim, the future is looking bright for Skamma.
