by Niko Skinner

Stormzy, October 2022 (Jenn, AllHipHop)

Going back to the U.K., I’m going to talk about Stormzy this week. Stormzy is a British rapper, singer, and songwriter from London, England. He always had a particular love for music and started rapping at an early age. Starting his career in 2010, he is well-known for his popular song, “Shut Up”, which was originally released as a freestyle on YouTube.

In late November, Stormzy came out with a new album called This Is What I Mean. When it comes to This Is What I Mean, the first three general words that come to mind for me are mellow, slow, and soulful because it has a lot of soul and R&B elements. This is a far cry from his earlier music that is more energetic. If you listen to this album, it is probably not what you would expect to hear from a U.K. rapper. I mean this in a good way. A striking similarity between “Please”, “Sampha’s Plea”, “Holy Spirit”, and “Give It To The Water” is that they all consist of a calm tone and mood along with a slow tempo, soothing vocals and very minimal percussion. Hip-hop albums usually consist of about 1 or 2 songs with these elements, if any. I like how this album is unconventional when it comes to how the music is arranged because I feel a different sense of intimacy from this. “This Is What I Mean”, the title song of this album is also unique in that it starts off with a classical piano intro before transitioning into a modern hip-hop track that includes a fast and steady drumbeat, choir vocals, and Stormzy alongside Ms. Banks, Black Sherif, and Amaarae. Another highlight track from this album is “Hide & Seek”, which is the lead single. This song blends a synth-heavy lofi instrumental with typical U.K. hip-hop/R&B vocals. The beat reminds me of a lot fo the music I would listen to while I’m reading and working. I feel like it’s very fitting that This Is What I Mean generally has an eloquent sound with a greater weight to it is because this album is about some taboo topics such as the importance of Stormzy’s faith and how Black people are portrayed in the media (Keith). If topics like these are brought up, it would make sense for the album to not be crunk and wild.

I have found that Stormzy is among the trend of artists with the ability to paint a big picture using a small brush. By that, I mean that even though he is a rapper, he doesn’t need his music to be loud, energetic, aggressive, or any other stereotypical trait associated with rap music to get his point across. This Is What I Mean is simplistic yet poetic and deep. In other words, he is calm before the storm (see what I did there?). I think that concepts like this will lead listeners to actually ponder on what story is being told in songs while listening to them. Like I said in my last post, story-telling is an integral part of music. It serves as the building blocks to a meaningful piece of art.

References

Jenn, London. “Stormzy Reflects On His Rise To Fame & Desire To Start A Family”. AllHipHop, 27 October 2022. https://allhiphop.com/news/stormzy-reflects-on-his-rise-to-fame-desire-to-start-a-family/

Keith, J. (2022, November 25). Stormzy Calls On Sampha, Black Sherif, India Arie & More For Third Studio Album ‘This Is What I Mean’. Complex. https://www.complex.com/music/stormzy-this-is-what-i-mean