Skepta has kept people waiting on this album since New Year’s Day 2024, so when he finally showed what is on it, he drew it on Nigeria. On Sunday evening he posted the back of the vinyl for The Fork and Knife with the album hashtag and “NOVEMBER 6TH” as the caption. The 15 song titles sit inside a white cutout of the Nigerian map, and a diamond chain with a fork-and-knife pendant lies across them.
Count down to ten and there it is: “Aloe Vera,” the Asake collaboration Skepta first teased in December 2025, when he posted “SKEPTA – ASAKE – LEX LUGER – VANCO – JAE 5 #AloeVera.” The “out soon” posts came back in June, and on June 6 Skepta posted “We talk & do @asakemusik #AloeVera.” Now it has a slot, between “Melody” and “Chippie,” a title he shares with the record Aya Nakamura put out with him in June.
#TheForkAndKnife NOVEMBER 6TH
— Skepta View post
The map is the point. Skepta has said the record got more personal as he dug into being a child of immigrants, and then into the patriarchal systems he grew up around, according to Culted. The first title on the cutout is “Secrets of Patriarchy.”
Getting here took longer than he planned. He announced the album as Knife and Fork on January 1, 2024, said it was “loading this year,” and put out “Gas Me Up (Diligent)” on January 26 as the first single, the same song that rolls over the credits of Tribal Mark, his film about a Nigerian immigrant in London. That one survived. “Why Lie?” with Flo Milli and the Lex Luger-produced “Alpha Omega,” both released in late 2024, are nowhere on the back cover. He told Esquire in April that “seventeen tracks are chosen now.” Fifteen are printed, including September’s “Innocent Smile” and “Pandora’s Box,” which came out on Friday.
Asake joins a long line. Skepta is the Amuludun of Odo Aje, the chieftaincy title The Native notes he holds in Yoruba tradition. He headlined the first NATIVELAND in Lagos in 2016 with his parents in the crowd, put Wizkid on Ignorance Is Bliss in 2019, and gave Tiwa Savage a verse on “On The Low” last year.
Asake’s Verse on Skepta’s “Aloe Vera” Dropping Soon
— hypetribeng View post
The back cover prints titles only, but Skepta has named Asake on the song himself. Pre-orders from Skepta’s store unlock the presale for his UK and Europe shows on Tuesday at 10 a.m., and the album is out November 6.