Skepta and Biffy Clyro top NME Awards in London

Rappers Skepta and M.I.A. and rockers Biffy Clyro were the big winners at the 2017 NME Awards in London on Wednesday night (15Feb17).

Shutdown hitmaker Skepta beat the likes of former One Direction star Zayn Malik and singer Jamie T to land the Best British Male prize, while M.I.A. overcame competition from artists including Adele and Charlie XCX to be named Best British Female.

Biffy Clyro were crowned Best British Band, while The 1975 earned the Best Live Band distinction, and Best New Artist went to Dua Lipa.

It was also a good night for Christine and The Queens - the French singer/songwriter beat the likes of Beyonce and Lady Gaga to Best International Female, and earned Best Track for Tilted.

Frank Ocean was named Best International Male and Metallica picked up the Best International Band trophy, while Bastille's Wild World was awarded Best Album, Best Video was won by Slaves for Consume Or Be Consumed, and Oasis: Supersonic was crowned Best Music Film.

Grammy winner Beyonce was hailed as Hero of the Year, and Adele claimed Best Festival Headliner for her performance at Glastonbury last summer (16).

Meanwhile, the Pet Shop Boys collected the biggest honor of the night, the Godlike Genius Award, which was presented to bandmates Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant by former The Smiths star Johnny Marr, who took home the same accolade in 2013.

Accepting the prize, Tennant told the crowd at the O2 Academy Brixton, "Our career has been such a huge collaboration with producers, programmers, remixers and I would just like to thank every one of them - and accept this on behalf of electronic music, dance music and shiny pop music. Thank you very much."

5 Seconds of Summer were handed the dishonor of Worst Band, and right-wing politician Nigel Farage was named Villain of the Year.