Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. (born 26 July 1993), known professionally asStormzy, is an English-Ghanaian rapper, singer, and songwriter.[4] In 2014, he gained attention on the UK underground music scene through hisWicked Skengman series of freestyles over classicgrime beats.[5][6] Stormzy's song "Shut Up", which was initially released as a freestyle onYouTube, became popular and peaked at number eight on theUK Singles Chart after he launched a campaign to reachChristmas number one.[7]
Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr.[15][16] was born on 26 July 1993[17] inThornton Heath, a subdivision ofCroydon, at the south ofLondon.[18] His mother isGhanaian,[19] his father was a taxi driver[20] and he is a cousin of rapperNadia Rose.[21][22] He grew up inSouth Norwood, London, with his mother, brother, and two sisters.[18] Stormzy did not come from a particularly musical household, although he liked music.[23] He attendedStanley Tech South Norwood.[24] He began rapping at the age of 11 and would clash with older rappers at his local youth club.[25]
Stormzy has said about his school years: "I was a very naughty child, on the verge of getting expelled, but I wasn't a bad child; everything I did was for my own entertainment. But when I went into an exam I did really well."[26] He said he got six A*s, three As, and five Bs on hisGCSEs, but then only achieved a "humbling" ABCDE on hisA Levels: "For someone who would cuss in class and was on the verge of being expelled, it was A Levels that showed me that in life you need work ethic."[26] He studied for an apprenticeship inLeamington Spa, Warwickshire, and worked inquality assurance for two years at an oil refinery inSouthampton, Hampshire.[27][26]
Music career
2014–2017:Dreamers Disease andGang Signs & Prayer
After garnering attention on the UK underground music scene via hisWicked Skengman series of freestyles over classic grime beats,[5][6] Stormzy released his debut EPDreamers Disease independently in July 2014.[28] On 22 October 2014, Stormzy won Best Grime Act at theMOBO Awards. Later that month he became the first unsigned rapper to appear onLater... with Jools Holland, performing the song "Not That Deep" fromDreamers Disease.[5] In November 2014, Stormzy collaborated with rapperChip and Shalo on the track "I'm Fine", also appearing in a video for the song.[29]
On 7 January 2015, Stormzy was number 3 in the "BBC Introducing top 5" onRadio 1.[30] In March 2015 he released the single "Know Me From", which entered theUK Singles Chart at number 49. In September 2015, he released a final instalment to his "WickedSkengMan" freestyle series, "WickedSkengMan 4", ontoiTunes, along with a studio version of his "Shut Up" freestyle overXTC'sFunctions on the Low instrumental.[31] 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.[32]
On 12 December 2015, Stormzy performed "Shut Up" during British heavyweight boxerAnthony Joshua's ring-walk for his fight versusDillian Whyte.[33] 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 aChristmas number 1 campaign to get the song to number 1.[7][34][35] It generated a large amount of support, which made it enter the top 10 of theUK 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".
In April 2016, Stormzy released the non-album song "Scary" before he went into hiatus.[36][37] After a year's hiatus from social media, Stormzy returned in early February 2017 via a series of billboard campaigns across London displaying the hashtag#GSAP 24.02. The album title was announced to beGang Signs & Prayer.[38] The album was released on 24 February 2017[39][40][41] and debuted at number one on theUK Albums Chart on 3 March 2017.[42]
2018–2021: Glastonbury andHeavy Is the Head
Stormzy on stage in 2018
Stormzy's headline appearance on the Pyramid Stage at the2019 Glastonbury Festival was widely praised.[10][43][44] His set made him the first black British rapper to headline the Glastonbury Festival.[45] The performance featured a speech by the politicianDavid Lammy that discussed the proportion of black and minority ethnic people in the British criminal justice system[46] and, during "Vossi Bop", Stormzy encouraged the audience to join him in chanting "Fuck the Government and fuck Boris" - the latter a reference to formerLondon MayorBoris Johnson'sConservative Party leadership campaign.[47] The show included guest appearances by dance group Black Ballet and pop singerChris Martin.[46] Stormzy wore aUnion Jackstab vest designed by the artistBanksy, which was widely perceived as a comment on therise in knife crime in London.[10][48]
In the 2020 action-adventure gameWatch Dogs: Legion, Stormzy appears as a fictionalized version of himself, offering a mission in which his character plays the track "Rainfall" fromHeavy is the Head.[50] The video forRainfall appears in the mission, showing Stormzy's motion capture performance over locations, graphics, and the fictionalized future London setting of the game.[51] Stormzy was recognised for both his contributions to music and his activism, landing him at number 5 in the Top 10 of the annualPowerlist in 2020,[52] with an estimated net worth of £20 million in 2020.[53]Heavy is the Head was shortlisted for theMercury Prize 2020. This was the second nomination in his career. In thePowerlist 2021 he ranked as the third most influential Black Briton, for his advocacy against racial injustice and philanthropy, pledging £10 million to charities[54][55]
2022–present:This Is What I Mean
Stormzy released the single "Mel Made Me Do It" on 23 September 2022, his first solo single since 2020. Its music video included a variety of cameos fromUsain Bolt andLouis Theroux, among others.[56] He returned to social media on 12 October 2022 to announce his third albumThis Is What I Mean, which was recorded onOsea Island in England. It was released on 25 November 2022.[14] The first single was titled "Hide & Seek" on 14 October 2022.[57]
On 22 June 2023, Stormzy released the single "Toxic Trait" featuringFredo.[58] A month later, Stormzy andRaye released "The Weekend", having previously collaborated on the latter artist's 2016 track "Ambition".[59]
In May 2016, Stormzy endorsedLabour Party leaderJeremy Corbyn. In an interview with the newspaperThe Guardian, he spoke of his admiration for Corbyn's activism.[61]
On 24 June 2017, Stormzy performed a chant of "Oh, Jeremy Corbyn" to the tune ofThe White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" on the Other Stage at theGlastonbury Festival.[62] He also performed a rap he had written for the victims of theGrenfell Tower fire, telling the festivalgoers to demand that the authorities "tell the... truth" and for the "Government to be held accountable".[63] In September of that year, after being presented with the Solo Artist of the Year award by Corbyn at theGQ Men of the Year Awards,[64] Stormzy calledPrime MinisterTheresa May apaigon, aJamaican Patois word used to describe an untrustworthy person.[65]
On 21 February 2018, Stormzy performed a freestyle at theBrit Awards, calling out May for her inaction in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire the previous year.[66] The following day,10 Downing Street issued a statement defending the Prime Minister.[67]
In November 2019, along with other musicians, Stormzy endorsed Corbyn in the2019 UK general election with a call to end austerity. He also said "people-led change can be possible under a Jeremy Corbyn Labour government".[68][69] He described the Labour leader as "the first man in a position of power who is committed to giving the power back to the people" and brandedBoris Johnson "a sinister man".[70] In the aftermath of theGeorge Floyd protests, Stormzy issued a statement via his label, stating that he plans to donate £1 million a year for 10 years to charities, organisations and movements that are committed to fightracial inequality,justice reform andblack empowerment in theUnited Kingdom.[71][72] In an interview with theBBC, he said: "Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it".[72]
In November 2017, it was revealed that Stormzy had posted a series of messages onTwitter in 2011 that were deemed to be homophobic. These included a tweet in which he referred to a gay character on the soap operaEastEnders as a "fucking fag". He also asked another user who was discussing using hair straighteners if they were a "fag" and urged his followers to "put onBBC1 this little black boy is a fucking fag".[75] He later posted a series of tweets, stating:
I said some foul and offensive things whilst tweeting years ago at a time when I was young and proudly ignorant. Very hurtful and discriminative views that I've unlearned as I've grown up and become a man. The comments I made were unacceptable and disgusting, full stop. Comments that I regret and to everyone I've offended, I am sorry, these are attitudes I've left in the past... I take responsibility for my mistakes and hope you can understand that my younger self doesn't reflect who I am today. Again, I'm sorry to everyone I've offended. To the LGBQT community and my supporters and friends, my deepest apologies.[76][77]
He also attracted controversy on 7 October 2020, when grime artistChip released a video of Stormzy and several others at Chip's house in June of that year. The video was posted on Twitter andInstagram captioned: "June... When you get sent a video of Stormzy & friends tryna run up on your house."[78][79] The event resulted in the police being called. Chip deleted the video within a few hours, but Stormzy was criticized for causing a heated argument with Chip's family and refusing to leave the building. The altercation was allegedly in response to a perceiveddiss by Chip on the track "Waze".[79]
In February of 2025 Stormzy received heavy backlash onsocial media for posting an advert forMcDonald’s[80] and deleting previous posts in support ofPalestine.[81]
Scholarships
Stormzy has funded the "Stormzy Scholarship for Black UK Students" at theUniversity of Cambridge, covering tuition costs for two students and maintenance grants for up to four years.[82][83] He had previously approached theUniversity of Oxford who "didn't want to get involved", according to him.[84] In 2022 he was awarded anhonorary doctorate from theUniversity of Exeter for his work to promote education and fighting racial inequality.[85][86]
In November 2022, Stormzy announced apartnership withAdidas and ten other brands, includingfootball clubsManchester United andFulham, as well asSky Sports andGoal.com, for a programme called "#Merky FC", set to launch in January 2023 and aiming to increase the representation ofBlack andmixed-Black British people in the football industry, by providing long-term, paid professional placements at the brands involved in the initiative.[87][88][89][90] The programme was available to all UK-based, young people of Black heritage, aged from 18 to 24.[87][91]
Publishing imprint
In July 2018, it was announced that thePenguin Random House division William Heinemann was to launch a new publishing imprint in partnership with Stormzy, called #Merky Books.[92] The imprint launched with Stormzy's first book,Rise Up, in autumn 2018, followed byTaking Up Space: The Black Girl's Manifesto for Change by Chelsea Kwakye and Ore Ogunbiyi in summer 2019.That Reminds Me, a novel in verse byDerek Owusu, was released in November 2019.[93][94] In October 2021, #Merky Books releasedKeisha the Sket, a viral serialised novel from the mid-2000s written by a Black London teenager in text-speak slang; the print publication includes both the original and a rewrite in standard English.[95] An annual #Merky Books New Writers' Prize is awarded to "young, underrepresented, and unpublished writers from across the UK and ROI" who are "telling the stories that are not being heard, and the stories that deserve to be read, across fiction, non-fiction or poetry."[96] An inaugural winner[97] of the prize, Hafsa Zayyan'sWe Are All Birds of Uganda was published in 2021 by #Merky Books,[98][99] and was shortlisted for the 2022 Glass Bell Award.[100]
^Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (21 February 2018)."Stormzy asks 'Theresa May, where's the money for Grenfell?' at Brit awards".The Guardian.Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved23 February 2018.Theresa May, where's the money for Grenfell?" he asked the prime minister, adding that the government "just forgot about Grenfell, you criminals, and you got the cheek to call us savages, you should do some jail time, you should pay some damages, we should burn your house down and see if you can manage this.
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