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South London rapper Speech Debelle was the surprise winner of this year’s Mercury Music Prize. Yet her album, Speech Therapy, sold poorly. Speech Debelle tells Tony Clayton-Leathat reports of her demise have been exaggerated – she hasn’t fired her label and she’s got the next two albums planned. Just wait for her song about Jade Goody ...

WHAT a fuss, what a bother, what a mess. The way this year’s Mercury Music Prize winner, Speech Debelle, tells it, she didn’t “sack” her record company (Big Dada, offspring of the Ninja Tune label) for failing to capitalise fully on her debut album, Speech Therapy, winning the prestigious award. Despite reports to the contrary (on BBC 6 Music News and in newspapers as diverse as the Sunand the Guardian), Debelle – real name Coryanne Elliot – tells The Ticketthat “things get taken out of context.”