Stormzy: A grime change-maker

Ever since his viral 2015 freestyle Shut Up, in that striking red tracksuit, Stormzy has demanded attention.

Boosted by a historic headline show at Glastonbury in 2019, he hauled grime music back into the mainstream.

On the biggest stages possible, he’s called out politicians and highlighted the inequalities experienced by people from ethnic minority and working class backgrounds.

He’s also done plenty to address those problems – starting a Cambridge scholarship, a football careers pathway and a publishing imprint for underrepresented writers.

Stormzy – full name Michael Ebenazer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr – was born in 1993.

He grew up in Norbury, in the south London borough of Croydon with his mother, two sisters and brother. His family has Ghanaian heritage, and he visited the African country many times growing up. “We’ve got an aura about us, south Londoners,” Stormzy said in 2015. “We’ve got a pride about us”.

Stormzy studied at Harris Federation School, and earned six A* GCSEs. He did a residential engineering apprenticeship in Leamington Spa and later worked at an oil refinery in Southampton.

Grime music was born in east London, but south London was also full of MCs and producers while Stormzy was growing up. “I’m a child of grime,” Stormzy said in 2015. “I love it.”

Big Mike, as he’s also known, began MCing when he was 11, clashing in youth clubs and putting his freestyles online. In 2014, his Wicked Skengman freestyles, uploaded to YouTube, brought him underground attention.

Shut Up, Stormzy’s freestyle over XTC’s classic Functions on the Low instrumental, was his big break – getting to number eight in the charts. It was his humour, his mischievous grin, as well as his intensity, slick delivery and wordplay that stood out.

His debut album, Gang Signs & Prayer, became the first grime album to reach number one on the UK’s Official Albums Chart, and won British Album of the Year at the 2018 Brit awards.

Heavy is the Head and This is what I Mean – his next two albums – featured Stormzy singing more, and an increasingly soulful sound.

Stormzy has often publicly voiced his opinions on politics and social issues, helping to bring attention to them.

At the Brit awards in 2018, he rapped: “Theresa May, where’s the money for Grenfell?”, referencing the 2017 fire in a west-London tower block which killed 72 people. On a charity single raising money for those affected by the fire, Stormzy promised: “I refuse to forget you, I refuse to neglect you… that could have been my mum’s house, that could have been my nephew.”

In 2019, aged 25, Stormzy performed a historic set at Glastonbury – becoming the first Black British solo act to headline the world-famous festival.

It was a long-awaited moment for Black British culture – stepping into the spotlight so often reserved for Black American artists. “I’m so proud of London,” said Stormzy in 2015. “The Americans have their culture, but we’ve got London. I’m one of the proudest Londoners.”

Stormzy took to the stage in a stab-proof vest designed by the artist Banksy, painted with a black-and-white Union Jack – a comment on the knife crime which disproportionately affects Black people in the UK.

The performance celebrated Black British culture, but it also highlighted that Britain was divided – working for some, not all. During the track Vossi Bop, thousands of people shouted back the lyric: “Fuck the government and fuck Boris!”

Through his #Merky foundation, Stormzy has used his influence to strive for racial equality, investing millions of pounds to provide opportunities to Black people in the UK.

On the foundation’s website, Stormzy declares that “The uncomfortable truth that our country continuously fails to recognise and admit is that Black people in the UK have been at a constant disadvantage in every aspect of life”.

Launched in 2018, #Merky Books publishes authors from underrepresented backgrounds – including Jade LB, Malorie Blackman and Olympic champion Caster Semenya.

Stormzy has also collaborated with the University of Cambridge to offer scholarships to dozens of Black students – paying for their tuition fees and maintenance grants.

And in 2022, Stormzy launched Merky FC. This careers scheme, headquartered in Croydon, addresses the tiny number of Black backroom and managerial staff working in football – a stark contrast to the number of Black players in the Premier League.