--- title: "Skepta's Más Tiempo: Why Grime's Biggest Innovator Moved Into House Music" description: "Skepta (Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr, 44) plays house as Más Tiempo: Saturdays at Hï Ibiza to 3 October 2026, plus b2bs with Prospa and East End Dubs." author: "MNEEMO (Yaroslav Gorovoy)" section: "The World" published: "2026-06-05T09:00:12Z" modified: "2026-09-25T21:13:21Z" canonical: "https://www.mneemo.com/blog/skepta-mas-tiempo-house-music-2026/" --- # Skepta's Más Tiempo: Why Grime's Biggest Innovator Moved Into House Music _Skepta (Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr, 44) plays house as Más Tiempo: Saturdays at Hï Ibiza to 3 October 2026, plus b2bs with Prospa and East End Dubs._ ![Skepta's Más Tiempo: Why Grime's Biggest Innovator Moved Into House Music](https://www.mneemo.com/assets/blog/skepta-mas-tiempo-house-music-2026/hero.jpg?v=0b671624) **Skepta, real name Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr, is a 44-year-old grime MC and producer from north London (born 19 September 1982) who now plays house as Más Tiempo, the label and party he runs with Jammer, and his 23-week Saturday residency in the Club Room at Hï Ibiza ends on 3 October 2026.** This summer he also played one-off back-to-backs with Prospa at Reading Festival on 28 August and with East End Dubs at Leeds on 29 August and again at Hï on 19 September, and he hosts the Club Room at the Hï Closing Party on 9 October. The easy headline is "rapper becomes DJ." It's also wrong. Skepta's Más Tiempo isn't a celebrity dabble. It's one of grime's defining figures using house music as a full cultural platform: a record label, an event brand, a season-long Ibiza residency and a second identity built on the same instincts that made him a generational MC. In 2026 the project hit a new gear, with a Saturday residency in the Club Room at Hï Ibiza and a fresh EP built for the floor. This is a working DJ and producer's look at what Más Tiempo actually is, why it's more credible than the cynics assumed, and what it says about where UK club culture is heading. Facts below were rechecked against current sources on 26 September 2026. ![Skepta in front of the Mas Tiempo Saturdays backdrop at Hi Ibiza Club Room](https://www.mneemo.com/assets/blog/skepta-mas-tiempo-house-music-2026/img-01.jpg?v=6b51aad4) *FIG. 02 · Skepta at Hï's Más Tiempo.* ## Más Tiempo at a glance - **Who:** Skepta, born Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr on 19 September 1982, grew up in north London, started out as a DJ for the Tottenham grime crew Meridian Crew, and co-founded Boy Better Know with his brother JME. - **What it is:** a house and tech-house label and event brand run by Skepta and Jammer. The name surfaced around his DC-10 debut in August 2022, and the label launched in April 2023. "Más Tiempo" means "more time" in Spanish. - **2026 residency:** Skepta presents Más Tiempo every Saturday in the Club Room at Hï Ibiza, 2 May to 3 October (23 weeks), the same night Black Coffee holds the main Theatre. Más Tiempo also hosts the Club Room at the Hï Closing Party on Friday 9 October. - **The back-to-backs:** Skepta b2b Prospa closed The Warehouse at Reading on Friday 28 August (21:40), Skepta b2b East End Dubs closed it at Leeds on Saturday 29 August (21:05), and he went b2b with East End Dubs again in the Hï Club Room on 19 September. - **New music:** the Más Tiempo Vol. 2 EP landed on 24 April 2026 (three club tracks: Do It SK, The Whistle Tune, Play Me Right), ahead of a long-promised album, Fork And Knife, his first in seven years, which he previewed at Reading in August and which is still unreleased at the time of writing. - **The credentials:** Skepta is a Mercury Prize winner (Konnichiwa, 2016) and a founding member of Boy Better Know, one of the strongest names UK music can point a new audience with. - **The roots:** Skepta started mixing at 16 and DJed before he was known as an MC. The dance turn is a return, not a pivot. ## Why Skepta moving into house actually matters When a major rapper steps behind the decks, the default reaction is suspicion: another celebrity renting credibility from a scene. Más Tiempo earns a different read for one reason. Skepta isn't borrowing house culture, he's building inside it. There's a label with a catalogue, an event brand with its own identity, a residency he has to fill every week for five months, and original productions with his name on the writing credits. That's not a guest spot; it's a second career with overheads. It matters because of who is doing it. This is not a minor artist chasing relevance. Skepta won the 2016 Mercury Prize with Konnichiwa, beating David Bowie, Radiohead and Kano, then spent the next decade as a fashion-world fixture and one of UK music's biggest global names. When someone with that reach commits to house, it drags a new audience across the line: UK rap fans, fashion crowds and casual listeners who'd never otherwise book a tech-house night. For a genre that constantly worries about its audience ageing, that's not a gimmick. It's a pipeline. ## What is Más Tiempo? Más Tiempo, Spanish for "more time", is a house and tech-house imprint and event series from Skepta and his Boy Better Know partner Jammer. Skepta was already talking about it in 2022, framing it as "a movement, from Africa to London, to Ibiza," spanning production, DJs and events rather than just releases, and the label launched in April 2023. The debut release, the Mas Murder EP, paired the Skepta and Jammer title track with Touch Me, a Jammer, J Kolo and Ossie cut: a statement that this was a real label giving fellow house producers a platform, not a one-off. ![Skepta in sunglasses and a patterned hooded jacket, the Boy Better Know artist behind Mas Tiempo](https://www.mneemo.com/assets/blog/skepta-mas-tiempo-house-music-2026/img-02.jpg?v=6a9e518e) *FIG. 03 · Skepta.* The brand launched in the most London way possible. After a collaboration with The Martinez Brothers and Cuttin Headz at The Beams in December 2022, the first standalone Más Tiempo show was at [KOKO](https://www.koko.co.uk/) on 30 April 2023, with Benji B and DJ Maximum alongside Skepta and Jammer, his first time back at the venue since 2016. It went on to sell out a show at [Drumsheds](https://www.mneemo.com/blog/drumsheds-2026-london-tottenham-mega-club/), which DJ Mag's 2024 Top 100 Clubs entry for the venue lists alongside The Hydra and False Idols. That trajectory, from a Camden club show to a warehouse-scale London sell-out to a 23-week Ibiza residency, is the tell. Más Tiempo operates like a proper dance brand, with a Bandcamp catalogue, a roster beyond its founders and a curatorial identity. The "event brand" part is the clever bit. Instead of Skepta simply being booked as a name, Más Tiempo gives him a platform he controls, the way a label boss curates a stage. It's the difference between being a headliner and being a host. ## From grime authority to club authority Here's the context the "rapper turned DJ" framing always misses: Skepta and Jammer were DJs first. Skepta started mixing at 16 and was originally the DJ for Meridian Crew, the Tottenham grime collective, before he was known as an MC. He has told the story of breaking into a north London community centre to throw a garage rave, the same UK lineage that runs through the garage and bassline revival happening right now. Grime itself was always assembled by people who understood the dancefloor. The move into house is less a U-turn than a return to a starting point. The catalyst was a single, audacious booking: Skepta's Circoloco debut at DC-10 in August 2022. He walked to the decks in a white cap echoing his Mercury-winning album cover and played a set of tech house and UK sounds, from Jamie Jones' Vault Mix of Cajmere's "Percolator" to a snippet of Drake reworking the opener of his own "Shutdown". Choosing to test the idea there, in front of one of the most credibility-conscious crowds on the island rather than on a safe pop stage, told you how seriously it was meant. The reaction settled the question. He told Mixmag he chatted with The Martinez Brothers after the show and felt he had got the story across. When the gatekeepers of the room welcome you in, it isn't a novelty booking anymore. That night also carried a personal charge. The modern Más Tiempo project is tied to the late Virgil Abloh, Skepta's friend and an Ibiza DJ-culture fixture, who encouraged him to rediscover his DJing roots, and Skepta has described feeling Abloh's energy in the booth during that DC-10 debut. He has put the mindset plainly, telling [Mixmag](https://mixmag.net/feature/skepta-dc10-circoloco-ibiza-set-exclusive-interview-virgil-abloh) in September 2022: "I've always known I'm more than a rapper... Going forward I want to show my attention to detail and relentless hard work ethic in different ways and DJing is one of them." That's the tell: the same obsessive craft that built his grime catalogue, pointed at a new room. ## Hï Ibiza 2026: why the Club Room residency changes the scale A one-off festival booking proves nothing. A 23-week Ibiza residency is a different commitment entirely, and that's what Más Tiempo took on for 2026, running every Saturday in the Club Room at [Hï Ibiza](https://www.hiibiza.com/artists/2026/skepta) from 2 May to 3 October. Hï frames the night as a creative platform to explore new textures in contemporary house, built on warm grooves and uplifting energy. The Club Room lineup across the season has included Dennis Ferrer, East End Dubs, Loco Dice, DJ EZ, Luuk van Dijk, Olive F, Adam Ten and Arielle Free, with Skepta himself a recurring presence rather than an occasional name on the poster. ![Skepta working on a laptop on a leather sofa, the producer behind the Mas Tiempo Club Room residency](https://www.mneemo.com/assets/blog/skepta-mas-tiempo-house-music-2026/img-03.jpg?v=8bcc8b11) *FIG. 04 · Skepta at work.* The scale point is the room next door. On the same Saturdays, Black Coffee holds Hï's main Theatre, the deeply emotional, spiritual end of big-room house, with a guest list running through Dixon, Kerri Chandler, Kabza De Small, Guy Gerber, Damian Lazarus, Marco Carola and CamelPhat. Putting Más Tiempo in the Club Room on a Black Coffee Saturday is a deliberate piece of positioning: it places Skepta's project inside the most respected house night on the island, on the busiest night of the week, in front of a crowd that came for serious house. You don't get that slot on novelty. For the full map of where this sits among the island's nights, see our guide to the [best Ibiza parties for house music](https://www.mneemo.com/blog/best-ibiza-parties-for-house-music-in-2026/) in 2026. ## Does the music actually work as house? This is the question that decides whether Más Tiempo is a cultural story or a real one, and 2026 gave it an answer. The Más Tiempo Vol. 2 EP, released 24 April 2026 on Más Tiempo, is three tracks of tech house and piano house (Do It SK, The Whistle Tune and Play Me Right), credited to Skepta and built for the dancefloor ahead of the Hï season. They're not rap records with a four-to-the-floor kick bolted on; they're club tools, designed to function in a room. That's the honest test for any crossover artist: would a DJ who'd never heard of you still play the record? On the evidence of the Vol. 2 material, which is rolling, hook-driven, piano-led house aimed squarely at peak-time, the answer is increasingly yes. Skepta is also finishing Fork And Knife, billed as a celebratory album and his first in seven years, and played songs from it on the main stage at Reading in August, which suggests the rap and the house aren't replacing each other so much as running in parallel. A practitioner's view: the productions don't reinvent house, and they don't need to. They're competent, floor-functional and improving, which is more than most celebrity dance turns ever manage, and the reason DJs outside his own circle have started reaching for them. ## What Más Tiempo says about UK club culture in 2026 Step back and Más Tiempo is part of a bigger pattern. UK underground sound has spent the last few years crossing over in every direction at once: garage and bassline back in the charts, grime figures moving into house, club culture and rap audiences blending in a way that would have seemed unlikely a decade ago. Skepta carrying a grime audience into a Hï Club Room residency is the most visible version of a wider truth. In 2026, the walls between UK rap, garage and house are thinner than they've ever been. It also reflects where the longevity is. A touring rap career has a ceiling; a credible DJ and label brand can run for decades and travel globally with far lower overheads. For an artist as strategic as Skepta, independent since the Boy Better Know days and vocal about owning his work, Más Tiempo isn't a hobby. It's infrastructure for the next twenty years. Whether or not the sets convert every purist, the project is doing something genuinely useful: proving a UK rap icon can build inside dance music rather than just visiting it. ![Hi Ibiza opening party screen announcing Skepta on Saturday 25 April](https://www.mneemo.com/assets/blog/skepta-mas-tiempo-house-music-2026/img-04.jpg?v=04d89517) *FIG. 05 · Más Tiempo, opening night.* ## FAQ **What is Skepta's Más Tiempo?** A house and tech-house record label and event brand run by Skepta and Jammer. The name surfaced around Skepta's DC-10 debut in 2022 and the label launched in April 2023. "Más Tiempo" means "more time" in Spanish. It releases music, runs club nights (its first standalone show was at KOKO on 30 April 2023, and it has sold out Drumsheds), and in 2026 holds a season-long residency at Hï Ibiza. **Where and when is Skepta's Más Tiempo Ibiza residency in 2026?** Every Saturday in the Club Room at Hï Ibiza, from 2 May to 3 October 2026 (23 weeks), on the same night Black Coffee plays the main Theatre. Más Tiempo also hosts the Club Room at the Hï Closing Party on Friday 9 October. **Is Skepta actually a DJ, or just a rapper DJing?** Skepta started mixing at 16 and was originally the DJ for the Tottenham grime crew Meridian Crew, before he was known as an MC. He now releases his own house records and made an acclaimed Circoloco debut at DC-10 in 2022, so it's a return to DJing rather than a pure pivot. **What is the Más Tiempo Vol. 2 EP?** A three-track house EP released on 24 April 2026 (Do It SK, The Whistle Tune and Play Me Right), credited to Skepta and released on Más Tiempo ahead of his Hï Ibiza residency. **Is Skepta releasing a new album?** Yes. Fork And Knife, described as a celebratory album and his first studio LP in seven years, is still forthcoming at the time of writing. He played songs from it at Reading Festival in August 2026. **What was Skepta b2b Prospa?** A one-off back-to-back set, meaning the two acts took turns on the same decks, that closed The Warehouse dance stage at Reading Festival on Friday 28 August 2026 at 21:40. At Leeds on Saturday 29 August he went back to back with East End Dubs instead, and the pair repeated it in the Hï Ibiza Club Room on 19 September. **Why did Skepta move into house music?** He has said he's always known he's "more than a rapper" and wants to channel his work ethic into new forms. The modern Más Tiempo project was also inspired by his late friend Virgil Abloh, who encouraged him to rediscover DJing. ## Sources - Mixmag, 1 September 2022, interview with Skepta after his Circoloco and DC-10 debut (Más Tiempo, Virgil Abloh, the set). - Más Tiempo on Bandcamp: label launch text, Mas Murder / Touch Me (28 April 2023) and the KOKO show on 30 April 2023. - Hï Ibiza official residency and events pages (Más Tiempo and Black Coffee, Saturdays, 2 May to 3 October 2026; Closing Party, 9 October 2026); Ibiza Spotlight's Black Coffee at Hï Ibiza 2026 page for the Club Room line-ups, including Skepta b2b East End Dubs on 19 September. - NME, Reading and Leeds 2026 full stage times, 19 August 2026 (Skepta b2b Prospa and Skepta b2b East End Dubs), and the Warehouse stage announcement. - DJ Mag Top 100 Clubs 2024, Drumsheds entry (sold-out Más Tiempo show). - Deezer and Apple Music release listings for Más Tiempo Vol. 2 (24 April 2026); NME, DORK and TRENCH coverage of the EP and Fork And Knife. - Wikipedia for biography basics (birth name and date, Meridian Crew, Boy Better Know, Konnichiwa and the 2016 Mercury Prize, Reading 2026 preview of Fork And Knife). This guide is part of House of MNEEMO's ongoing coverage of the electronic and club music scene, written by London-based DJ and producer MNEEMO, with millions of streams to his name and a party series running through some of London's best clubs. For where Más Tiempo sits among the island's nights, read the best Ibiza parties for house music in 2026; for the UK roots Skepta came up on, see why [UK garage](https://www.mneemo.com/blog/mneemo-uk-garage-2026-never-left-just-faster/) never really left. --- Source: https://www.mneemo.com/blog/skepta-mas-tiempo-house-music-2026/ · © HOUSE OF MNEEMO. Written by MNEEMO (Yaroslav Gorovoy).