Despite the London native’s 2023 single “Can’t Play Me (A Tribute To Amy),” which he made to honor the late Amy Winehouse, nearly three years have passed since he released a full-length music project. In 2021, he dropped All In, a five-track EP. Afterward, he announced he was retiring from music.

“All In is all the music I have to give. I have no unreleased music, feels good to clear the outbox,” he posted on his Instagram story at the time. “Sure you all know, I’m a producer at heart and I have so many ideas that I want to work on with other artists. Upcoming and established, young and OG. Skepta on production. It’s that time.”

He continued, “And I definitely want to make an all female album. So many fire female artists, rappers and singers. I gotta make a hard 13 track female only album FULL of classics.”

While speaking to Tiffany Calver of BBC Radio 1Xtra, he expanded on his decision to retire from music. “It was just a thought in my head where I was like, ‘I just wanna do more than just being a rapper,’ because that’s a waste of a talent,” he said at the time, HypeBeast reported. “I feel like right now I want to become more behind the production. I want to produce albums for people – I’d love to produce Rihanna’s album, that would be a dream. I’d probably make Rihanna’s hardest album.”

It seems Skepta entered the new year with a change of heart. On Jan. 1, he took to Instagram to reveal he would be coming out of the shadows to release new music. His first post of the year consisted of a slideshow, which started with a selfie accompanied by a short caption acknowledging all the messages from fans during his hibernation from rapping.

“It’s been years since I dropped my last album and I want to thank you for all the love during my hiatus. I’ve seen the messages, tweets and Tik Toks, I’m truly grateful that my music is still resonating with the world, even in my absence,” he wrote to his four million followers.

But that’s not all! The “Bullet From a Gun” artist then divulged that he has a new album on the horizon: “I’m happy to announce my next studio album #KnifeAndFork is loading this year, the first single #GasMeUp (Diligent) will be out January 26th.” ????????”

“Can’t wait to see you all @bigsmokefestival happy 2024,” his caption concluded.

Although Skepta didn’t share a release date for his new album, fans can look forward to his first live performance of 2024, which will be at the Big Smoke Festival in Crystal Palace Park on July 6 in South East London.