Adele and Drake congratulate Skepta on Mercury Prize 2016 amid grime scene celebrations

Skepta beat the likes of David Bowie, The 1975 and Radiohead to take the £25,000 prize.

Adele and Drake could not be happier over Skepta's triumph at the Mercury Prize awards on 15 September. The Shutdown rapper won the £25,000 award cash for his critically-acclaimed album Konnichiwa, resulting in an historic night for UK grime music.

Skepta, real name Joseph Junior Adenuga, trumped hot contenders such as David Bowie's Blackstar, Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool and The 1975's I Like It When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It. Adele, currently busy performing on the North American leg of her world tour, found a moment to congratulate her fellow Tottenham-raised artiste.

In an Instagram photo, the smiling When We Were Young singer holds up her mobile phone with an article announcing Skepta as the winner displayed, with the caption: "Wow." The musicians are known to have a mutual respect for each other and Skepta, 33, admitted he was shocked when Adele acknowledged him on Twitter.

The MC previously told IBTimes UK at the Mercury Prize nominations launch: "One day I was just chilling and she [tweeted] a picture that said 'Tottenham boy' and she's from Tottenham as well. I was actually going to quit music that day, that was one of the sickest things ever. She's like the lady of Tottenham and she called me 'Tottenham boy', so I might as well quit."

Skepta Mercury Prize — Skepta won the 2016 Mercury Prize for his critically-acclaimed fourth album Konnichiwa JMEnternational

Also sending their congratulations from Stateside was One Dance hitmaker Drake, who shared a picture of the MC reacting to being announced the winner alongside a champion cup emoji and "BBK", in reference to Skepta's grime collective Boy Better Know. In February, Drake revealed that he had signed to BBK becoming one of the first international artistes to truly align themselves with the grime scene.

Veteran grime MC Lethal Bizzle also expressed his joy at Skepta's win, tweeting: "Jus no Skepta winning the Mercury shines a light on all of us. UK artist its our time now! We all gonna b millionaires I swear. Get to work!" while Wiley added: "My brudda. We do not talk everyday but we generally have always wanted the same thing #ToWin."

In his acceptance speech, Skepta said: "Thank you to everybody who was there for me when I was going through depressed times. I don't know man, I'm so thankful ... With no record label we just travelled the world." He added in reference to his fellow Mercury Prize nominee Kano: "Kano did this for us and the love is there. Kano, love you for life man."

Skepta Konnichiwa album — Skepta released his fourth album Konnichiwa in May 2016 Boy Better Know

During the awards ceremony, which was held at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London, Skepta performed his hit single Shutdown and gave a nod to the Black Lives Matter protest.