Gangs Signs and Prayers asserts Stormzy as king
“I come to your team and I fuck shit up I’m David Moyes” — Love him or loathe him, Stormzy has certainly made an impact so far in 2017.
Since his debut album Gang Signs and Prayers was released in February of this year, the Croydon MC has gone from strength to strength. The album has received critical praise both in the UK and across the Atlantic. So who is Stormzy and how has Gang Signs and Prayers become the first pure Grime album to become a mainstream number one album in the UK?
Michael Omari or Stormzy first broke onto the mainstream in winning 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. This success coming after the release of his first independent mixtape Dreamers Disease.
The videos for Know Me From and Shut Up were two huge stepping stones for the MC on his road to success. Know Me From was released in 2015 and became a huge success. The video which depicts Stormzy walking around his neighbourhood rapping also features cameos from Inch of Section Boyz and of course his mother who has had a huge influence on him as we will see later.
However Shut Up was the video which opened the world up to Stormzy. I just went to the park with my friends, and I charted, which is pretty much what happened. The freestyle has accumulated 56 million views. The song gained even further publicity when Stormzy performed the song during British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua’s ring-walk for his fight versus Dillian Whyte.
Gang Signs and Prayers is an album which has made grime popular within the mainstream. For many years artists like Wiley and Wretch 32 were the spear heads of this genre, but with Gangs Signs and Prayers, Stormzy is taking the genre to a whole new level in 2017.
The album opens in typical grime fashion with three hard hitting battle tracks one after another, First things First, Cold and Bad Boys. Stormzy shows that he is first and foremost a MC and he is ready for anyone who comes at him. Someone tell ’em that I’m back, I don’t never ever slack, grab my gun and go to war (Boy). These opening tracks explain that Stormzy sees this as his time, his moment to shine and also that it’s the genres time to gain some recognition, All my young black kings rise up/ Man this is our year/ And my young black queens right there/ It’s been a long time coming I swear. For the rest of the album we see Stormzy go back and fourth between his MC routes and his softer side.
He goes full-on gospel on Blinded by Your Grace, Pt. 1. It is clear that Stormzy has been influenced by the work of Chance The Rapper who included heavy Gospel influences on his ablum Colouring Book. Blinded by Your Grace Pt2 — which features the powerful voice of singer MNEK — sounds like the UK version of Chance with the perfect mix gospel, singing and rapping.
Kayne West is another artist who has had an impact on Stormzy in Velvet and Cigarettes & Cush, a tender recollection of a doomed relationship featuring Kehlani and Lily Allen. He draws inspiration for the Chicago native’s song Only One, as he just like Kanye ditches his rapping skills and instead sings for majority of both songs.
However just when we have experienced softer side of Stormzy, we get hit with the full force of the 6 foot 5 of the MC on Mr Skeng and Big for your Boots, the lead single of the album. He is asserting himself at the top of the game and in an interview he claims that with Mr Skeng is a track where ‘I’ve got a bone to pick with any person who feels like I’m not in my rightful spot’.
Stormzy has clearly a very strong relationship with his mother and as he wanted his debut album to be as personal as possible he dedicates the song 100 bags to his mother. Ghanaian queen, let ’em know that you’re back
’Cause mummy ain’t never seen a hundred bags. Now I’m like ‘Mum, buy a hundred bags.
The album is clearly a well thought out, well produced piece of work. As the title suggests Gang Signs and Prayers it is a combination of everything. It contains moments of beautiful singing, gospel harmony, deep powerful thought rap songs such as 21 Gun Salute. However Stormzy is not shying away from his roots, in fact he is picking them up and taking them with him on his journey. The album is packed hit hard hitting party bangers for any grime lover.
As we can see from recent releases like Drake’s More Life which features grime heavyweights such as Skepta, Giggs, and Nana Rogues, grime is coming out of the shadows and into mainstream music playlists and Stormzy is leading the revolution.
