The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2019 - Issue 26

Y ou can’t really blame grime rapper Stormzy for claiming he was the first black British artist to headline this year’s Glastonbury before he was corrected by Skunk Anansie’s lead singer Skin in an Instagram post that said they beat him to it in 1999. After all, he was around six years old at the time. It was a momentum occasion for the rapper, and he performed an amazing and explosive show on the Pyramid Stage. Thankfully, all was forgiven when Skin added, “You’re amazing and we’re all very proud.” There was nothing but praise for the artist who experienced phenomenal rise to fame following the release of his song ‘Shut Up’ in 2015 and debut album Gang Signs & Prayer in 2017. Singer Adele remarked on Instagram, “I’m so proud of him, Stormzy just monu- mentally headlined Glastonbury in his own right with one album! The first grime artist ever to do so, you respected everyone that opened the door for you while opening a huge one yourself.” MP David Lammy thanked Stormzy on Twitter for using his headline spot to broadcast his speech on “the injustice of young black kids being criminalised in a biased and misappropriate justice system”. Even Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn praised the artist on his achievement and said, “The performance was polit- ical, iconic, and the ballet was beautifully powerful. It won’t just go down in Glastonbury history - it’ll go down in our country’s cultural history.” More comments from fellow artists followed includ- ing Wiley who said he’d “never seen anyone reach these heights as quick as Stormzy has done” and Ed Sheeran who posted, “First black British solo artist to headline Glastonbury, second youngest to ever headline, and just an inspiration to so many.” Game of Thrones actor Jacob Anderson who is also a musician and made a surprise appearance remarked, “You won at life tonight brother! Proud isn’t the word. It was an honour to be a part of such a special moment.” Stormzy may have only released one album so far but he had enough tracks to go the whole mile and put on a mind-blowing show. Wearing his black and white Union Jack stab-proof vest, the artist performed Shanks and Bigfoot’s UK garage track ‘Sweet Like Chocolate’ and a remix of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ as well as his own tracks. He also had a ballet inter- lude, a vast gospel choir, dancers including a little kid busting some moves, and children on bikes popping wheelies as he performed ‘Vossi Bop’. If you’re wondering where he got his bullet-proof vest from, the source was revealed soon after his performance at the legendary festival. “Last night I headlined Glastonbury in a stab-proof vest custom made by the greatest, most iconic living artist on planet Earth, the one and only Banksy,” the artist said in an Instagram post. He wore the vest to symbolise the growing knife-crime issue in the UK and the racial inequality in the criminal justice system, something he often references both publicly and in his music. Earlier this year, he told Kiss Breakfast, “I think the knife crime conversation is 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.’” Believing there are multiple factors to the recent spike of violence, he added, “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 on the actual.” The reason this issue is so close to his heart is that Stormzy was a victim of knife crime when he was younger and even suffered a head wound. When attending a project management course in the bite music celeb