Hip Hop Trio Young Fathers win Mercury Prize 2014

Edinburgh-based trio Young Fathers have won the 2014 Mercury Prize for the best British or Irish record, beating out acts like Bombay Bicycle Club, Royal Blood and FKA Twigs.

The group, made up of lloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole, and Graham “G” Hastings, defied bleak bookmakers odds and walked away with the £20,000 prize for their genre straddling album, Dead. Their humble beginnings at an under 16s hip-hop event led them to start off as an R&B boy band and now, as Young Fathers, they make psychedelic anthems that fuse hip-hop, rock and African music.

DJ Nick Grimshaw presented the group their award and after a brief acceptance speech, Massaquoi later told reporters, “We go out and do what we do.”

Simon Firth, Chair of this year’s judging panel said, “Young Fathers have a unique take on urban British music, brimming with ideas – forceful, unexpected and moving.”

The band’s success comes after Time Out rated them in the “best new acts to watch out for in 2012” and performances at T in the Park, Creamfields, Wakestock and Belladrum festivals, as well as being the main support on tours with Esser and Simian Mobile Disco.

Previous winners of The Mercury Prize include PJ Harvey, the xx, Pulp, Portishead, Arctic Monkeys, Antony and the Johnsons and Franz Ferdinand.