The Brit rapper is looking forward to ‘dropping some music and letting the world know, this is why I'm here’.
Stormzy came in to speak to Tom and Daisy on KISS Breakfast this morning about his brand new single, Vossi Bop, admitting that despite the nature of his new track he considers himself a terrible dancer.
The South London rapper chatted about his 2019 summer of festivals – he’s received advice from Glastonbury headline royalty Ed Sheeran, Chris Martin and Adele, plus is about to host the third year of his #MERKY Festival in Ibiza.
He also comments on how the rising level of knife crime, plus how his own mental health issues have helped him to become a mental health ambassador.
On his personal mental health experience
“I’m not going to speak entirely on it now, but the album …you’ll hundred percent hear like my side of the story.
… Me speaking out about it would have given someone strength somewhere in whatever capacity. But also it was crazy … I was just like, talking about my experience. Like the ambassador for all things mental health. I was like I ain’t got a clue.
… It’s all of these weird little things that I’m learning to deal with as a man and I’m growing and that’s what this next chapter in my life is as well as delivering incredible music.”
On headlining Glastonbury
“I’ve been given this opportunity and this stage where it’s like time to prove myself again… the Glasto stage is like the world stage. That is like the biggest festival in the world. … This is the biggest stage of my career. But also about me saying I’m Stormzy, I do this, I’m the Glastonbury headline. I’ll give you a flipping headline show.”
On who has given him advice for the performance
“This is like a real name drop, like I have spoken to Ed about it, and Chris Martin… And Adele, right. … I think like that’s a massive blessing, even to mention those people and these are my friends now… and they’re all of course former Glastonbury headliners. So yeah, they’ve given me the tips and the powers.”
On keeping his ‘new’ single, Vossi Bop, under wraps
“Yeah, in 2016… It just didn’t happen around the time for whatever reason and it’s been a song that I’ve always, always known that I’ve really loved and I really want to release it … To this day I get people saying, where’s Vossi Bop? … You're getting the same. The same dish. The same thing, just put in the microwave and all be nice and warmed up and come back piping hot.”
Featuring Idris Elba in the video
“So he is just there like Idris and I’m just next to him like… just Idris-ing out.
… He's a bit too talented for my land. A little DJ, little rapper like yes, it’s all, yeah, he's starting to take all the pie… Overachieving Idris, there we go.”
Promising his second album
“It's definitely coming, and I’m so excited … you need to take it to a new level and all of these things was about balancing new and old. … So I'm looking forward to actually, do you know what I mean? Shutting up and dropping some music and letting the world know, yeah this is why I'm here.”
On his own festival #Merky Festival
“Merky Festival is like, that’s like a proper proud moment mostly because when I see the line-up, it's like, yo this is all British artists. … We are all playing very, very important parts of building that black British music and selling it to the masses.”
Discussing the level of knife crime in the UK
“Yeah, I think, the knife crime conversation is a very, very, very a very big conversation … I grew up in the hood, but growing up where we grew up, you understand that it’s a bigger problem than like a big rapper saying, oh kids put the knives down.”
On addressing the root of the cause
“There are so many different dynamics to the problem that need to be dealt with on a deeper level than a song … So that’s why I always try and focus my energy into the actual.”
