Stormzy

Black History Month 

Stormzy

Quick Fact File:

Born: 26th July 1993

Years Active: 2010 - present

Full name: Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr.

Occupation: Singer, Song

Genres: British Hip Hop, Grime, R&B, Gospel

Range: F#3 - C#5

Website: https://www.stormzy.com/

Childhood:

Stormzy did not come from a particularly musical household with the exception of his cousin, Nadia Rose, who is also a rapper. He began rapping at the age of 11 and would often clash with older rappers at his local youth club.

As a school child, Stormzy was a naughty child and was on the verge of getting expelled. He did well in his exams with results of six A*s, three As and five Bs in his GCSEs. He also received ABCDE in his A Levels. He followed school by studying for an apprenticeship in Warwickshire before working in quality assurance for two years.

Stormzy’s Music:

Stormzy began making videos on his Youtube channel in 2011 which is how he originally rose to fame. When he began sharing his Wicken Skengman freestyles, he attracted much more attention and plaudits.

Stormzy started off as a Road Rap MC with his raps resembling closer to hip hop than grime. But overall his true favourite style is Grime Music. He signed a major record label deal with Atlantic Records following the huge independent success of Stormzy's debut album "Gang Signs and Prayer". He headlined Glastonbury Festival in 2019 wearing a Union Jack vest. He was joined on stage with Christ Martin (Coldplay) for a duet. Stormzy has won 3 BRIT awards - Best British Album and British Solo Male twice. He was the first artist to win the MOBO's newly introduced award - Best Grime Act.

Stormzy’s influence ranges for the different styles of his music. For his Grime, he was influenced by Lethal Bizzle, D Double E, Flirta D and Bruza. However he was also influenced by R&B singers Frank Ocean and Lauryn Hill.

Stormzy’s music is also influenced by his religious upbringing as Christian. He read a passage from Luke’s Gospel on the BBC’s Christmas Day lineup, 2019, and his Christian lifestyle can be seen in some of his music such as ‘Blinded by your Grace’.

Other Work:

As well as his music being highly influential and loved by many today, Stormzy has made himself a name through other acts of service. This includes funding the “Stormzy Scholarship for Black UK Students” at Cambridge University in order to help cover tuition costs for two students and their maintenance grants for up to four years. 

Stormzy has also been involved in literature where he partnered with Penguin Random House to launch a new imprint called #Merky Books. With this, Stromzy published his first book, Rise Up, in 2018 and two more books followed in 2019 - ‘Taking Up Space: The Black Girl’s Manifesto for Change’ and ‘That Reminds Me’.

Stormzy made his debut in acting during 'Brotherhood' when he played the character Yards. Brotherhood is the last film in the Kidulthood trilogy.

Albums:

Stormzy has released two studio albums, one mixtape, fourteen singles and two extended plays as a lead artist. His debut studio album “Gang Signs & Prayer”, released in 2017, reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. The album led to four top 40 singles with the most known song being “Big for Your Boots”, peaking at number six on the UK Singles Chart.

His second album “Heavy Is the Head” was released two years later in 2019. Again, this album peaked at number one on the UK Albums Charts and had four top 40 singles as well with the most known song being “Vossi Bop”. In fact, “Vossi Bop” peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart, making it his first number one single in the UK.

Stormzy’s career is only just beginning and being explored. Hopefully, we’ll continue to hear the work of Stormzy for years to come and many other younger artists who Stormzy would have been a strong influence to. 

Stormzy has collaborated alongside a range of other successful artists including Ed Sheeran, Chip and Shalo, Little Mix and Linkin Park.