Stormzy. What does that name mean to you? It could be a feeling, an attitude, that track that hypes you up or even finding the courage to stand up for the people around you. Whatever the artist means to you, I think we can all agree that he has brought us on one hell of a journey. As we roll towards the end of 2019, Stormzy has released details about his latest project. Heavy Is The Head which drops on December 13th, and while we get ready for what is gearing up to be an iconic release, it’s only right that we take a trip down memory lane to revisit some of his best moments.
The “Shut Up” Freestyle
To not mention “Shut Up” in this line up would be a crime. This freestyle really set the tone with it’s no frills, raw footage and just solid bars. Bringing us back to our youth, the video encapsulated what grime is all about: music, vibes and the mandem spitting bars together in the park. In it’s year of release this riddim racked up 17 million views, and was even in the running to take the Christmas number one spot. Oh, and just before we forget to mention it… This was also the first freestyle ever to enter the UK charts. Let’s leave that to sink in for a minute. “Fire in the park.”
Gang Signs And Prayer
This body of work entered the UK charts at the golden number one spot and even achieved the same rank in the Irish and Australian Urban album charts. 16 tracks featuring a sound for every mood and with captivating features from Wretch 32, Raleigh Ritchie and J Hus to name a few, it was only going to go one way. 2017 saw Gang Signs And Prayer become the first grime album in history to reach number one, and if that wasn’t enough, all 16 tracks appeared in the UK chart at the same time, with seven reaching the top 40. #MERKY.
The GRM Daily Rated Awards 2017
Continuing his reign, the south London artist took the 2017 GRM Daily Rated Awards by storm. Not only did “Big For Your Boots” take home the award for ‘Best Video’, Stormzy also beat and all star list of nominees including the likes of Giggs, J Hus and Ghetts for the title of ‘Artist of the year’. The artists acceptance speech for ‘Artist Of The Year’ dedicated the award to the UK scene in true humble fashion – “Oi listen, UK music we are f****** up the world right now”. I can’t repeat the rest of the speech as it includes some comical, but NSFW language, but you can view the rest below. To top the night off we were also gifted with a surprise performance of “Big For Your Boots” and the banger that is “Cold”.
The Unforgettable Brit Awards 2018
The 38th Brit Awards was a monumental evening for both Stormzy and UK culture. 2018 carried a ton of talent and the competition for all categories was more than formidable. Nominated amongst the likes of pop giants Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa and Oasis’ Liam Gallagher. Despite stiff competition, Stormzy collected awards for ‘British Album Of The Year’ and ‘British Male Solo Artist’.
For a usual artist, this would have probably been where the night ended, but as we are all aware Stormzy never stops. Taking the stage for a breathtaking performance, the 24 year old artist went on to give a show that would go down as one of his greatest. The stage production depicted rain as we heard the emotional “Blinded By Your Grace Pt.2”. Half way through the performance Stormzy erupts into his freestyle, pointing a middle finger to the government and the Daily Mail. “Yo Theresa May where’s the money for Grenfell”. This was in response to the tragic events of Grenfell Tower in 2017.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn even reacted to the freestyle, praising it on Twitter. With the reach of the Brits spotlight, this undeniably took true courage to perform. The last segment of the show picked up the energy as we say a lively showcase of “Big For Your Boots”. The night was definitely his.
The Stormzy Scholarship
If shelling the whole UK music industry isn’t enough to invoke your attention, Stormzy debuted a widely respected initiative in 2018. The Stormzy Scholarship offers two students of black ethnicity full tuition payment for the prestigious Cambridge University. “There are so many young black kids all over the country who have the level of academic excellence to study at a university such as Cambridge – however we are still under represented at leading universities.”
Identifying the issue is one part of the process, but taking action to raise awareness and to give these students the support to achieve success is astonishingly respectable.
The First Number One Single
Firstly, demolishing so many boundaries and hitting so many milestones without getting a number one single makes very little sense. However, this changed with the release of “Vossi Bop”. This track hit a colossal 12.7 million streams in the week of release and even topped Drake’s “In My Feelings” by two million streams. “Words don’t really do it justice.” “I’m genuinely, for once in my life, speechless. My supporters have had my back like crazy – this is all you guys, thank you so much.” The song anchored in the charts for 30 weeks.
The Glastonbury Performance
Where do we even start with Glastonbury 2019? A moment that will echo in UK music forever. The festival is arguably the most famous UK based festival and has been previously headlined by hip hop royalty like Jay Z and Kanye West.
The theme continues with Stormzy becoming the first ever black British solo artist to headline the event. Another of his many firsts. The hour long set kicked off with “Know me from” and featured a wide variety of tracks from his back catalogue. The thought and effort that went into the show was outstanding and referenced many themes including a historic grime throwback to the ‘Ask Carlos’ moment shared between Ghetts and Bashy.
Stormzy also brought out Raleigh Ritchie, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Dave and Fredo to join the show. If for strange some reason you haven’t watched this performance yet, get involved. It’s inspirational.
Stormzy has recently announced that he is embarking on a world tour, which is surely set to be another epic moment in the Stormzy storyline.
It’s hard to say what hurdles Stormzy will clear next, but one thing we can count on is that he’s not stopping anytime soon. Let’s all look forward to the things to come and the further success of this British icon.
For more info on Stormzy’s forthcoming release Heavy Is the Head click Here