Braving the storm

Stormzy’s debut album ‘Gang Signs & Prayer’ is the most talked-about of the year. Andrew Trendell looks at how the Croydon grime star used his sky-rocketing profile to shine a light on mental health

IF STORMZY started the year poised to become the most in-demand name in grime, the past few weeks have made the 23-year-old – real name Michael Omari – the voice of his generation.

Having dropped one of the best-selling albums of the year in debut ‘Gang Signs & Prayer’, a No. 1, Stormzy’s talent, fire, humour and worldview have seen him take the underground into the mainstream.

Stormzy arrived on the scene in 2014 with a series of raw but real free styles. He became the first unsigned rapper to play on Later... With Jools Holland and won the first of two consecutive MoBo Awards for ‘Best British Grime Act’ the same year. Then came the game changing ‘Shut Up’, which hit the Top 10. Two years later, after some heavy touring and a string of singles gate crashing the charts, the young lad from Thornton Heath, whoonce called himself a ‘child of grime’, is now very much the daddy.

That was never more apparent than during the promotional whirlwind around the release of the debut album on February 24. In the space of a week, Stormzy collaborated with Ed Sheeran at the BrIT Awards, sent his native London into a frenzy with three guerilla gigs on the day of release, hung out with the Manchester United footie squad and even won over the viewers of hangover telly show Sunday Brunch.