Skepta has stunned music fans by taking out the Mercury Music Prize, beating favourites David Bowie and Radiohead.
The Grime MC, who will perform a sold out show in Auckland next Friday night, thanked those who had helped him through "depressed times" at the star-studded crowd at the London event, The Guardian reported.
He won the award for his album Konnichiwa, which was released earlier this year.
Bowie was hotly tipped to claim the prestigious Mercury Prize for Blackstar, an album infused with jazz and a dark lyricism that foreshadowed his death in January just two days after the album's release, following an undisclosed cancer battle.
