Stormzy

Michael Omari (born 26 July 1993), better known by his stage name Stormzy, is an English grime and hip hop artist. He won Best Grime Act at the 2014 and 2015 MOBO Awards and was named as an artist to look out for in the BBC's influential Sound of 2015 list.^[4][5] His most successful song to date is the BPI gold-selling "Shut Up", initially released as a freestyle to YouTube and later reaching number eight on the UK Singles Chart after a campaign for it to reach Christmas number one.

Early life

Stormzy originates from Thornton Heath, London, and attended Harris Academy South Norwood.^[6] He began rapping at the age of 11 and would clash with older rappers at his local youth club.^[7] In school, he was excluded several times in Year 8 and was expelled in sixth form.^[8] Before focusing on his music full-time, he studied for an apprenticeship in Leamington Spa and worked in quality assurance for two years at an oil refinery in Southampton.^[8] Stormzy is the cousin of BBC Sound of 2017 nominee Nadia Rose.^[9][10]

Career

After garnering attention on the UK underground music scene via his Wicked Skengman series of freestyles over classic grime beats,^[5][11] Stormzy released his debut EP Dreamers Disease independently in July 2014.^[12] On 22 October, Stormzy won Best Grime Act at the MOBO awards. Later that month he became the first unsigned rapper to appear on Later with Jools Holland performing the song "Not That Deep" from Dreamers Disease.^[5]

In November 2014, Stormzy collaborated with rapper Chip and Shalo on the track "I'm Fine", also appearing in a video for the song. The track is part of Chip's upcoming Believe & Achieve project.^[13]

On 7 January 2015, Stormzy came number 3 in the BBC Introducing top 5 on Radio 1.^[14] In March 2015 he released the single "Know Me From", which entered the UK Singles Chart at number 49. In September 2015, he released a final instalment to his "WickedSkengMan" freestyle series, "WickedSkengMan 4", onto iTunes, along with a studio version of his "Shut Up" freestyle over XTC's Functions On The Low instrumental.^[15] The track debuted at number 18 on the UK chart dated 24 September, becoming Stormzy's first top 40 hit and the first ever freestyle to reach the top 40 in the United Kingdom.^[16]

On 12 December 2015, Stormzy performed "Shut Up" during British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua's ring-walk for his fight versus Dillian Whyte.^[17] Originally, "Shut Up", released as part of the "WickedSkengMan 4" single EP in September 2015, charted at number 59. Since the performance, it began climbing up the iTunes chart and into the top 40. As a result, Stormzy launched a Christmas number 1 campaign to get the song to number 1.^[18][19][20] It generated a large amount of support which made it enter the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart on 18 December 2015 at number 8, a week prior to the Christmas number 1 week, succeeding the chart position of "WickedSkengMan 4". It has become Stormzy's highest-charting single. In Apr 25, 2016 Stormzy dropped "Scary" freestyle which is also the first track of his new album. He has announced on his backstage interview with Tim Westwood that the new album will come out in around summer.

Style

Stormzy describes himself as "a child of grime" influenced by the likes of Wiley and Skepta,^[21] but also cites R&B singers such as Frank Ocean and Lauryn Hill as influences on his sound.^[11]

Awards and nominations

Discography

Mixtapes

EPs

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted songs

Other appearances

Remixes

References