The Bite Magazine - Autumn/Winter 2019 - Issue 26

and young adults, Malorie also wrote the Doctor Who episode about Rosa Parks. Whilst it’s his biggest TV role to date, Stormzy previously starred in Noel Clarke’s sequel to Kidulthood , Brotherhood, and E4 come- dy-drama Chewing Gum . Last year November the rapper released an autobiogra- phy Rise Up: The #Merky Story So Far , an oral history of his life with contribution from key members of his team as well as the voices in the music industry such as his manager Tobe Onwuka. In the book, Stormzy and Tobe share their memories of his big break-out in 2016. At the time he had just pushed 2015 single ‘Shut Up’ into the UK 10 and was gunning for Christmas number 1 but it peaked at number 8. “By 2016, we basically had the team in place,” Stormzy wrote in the book. “It was a sick time, but I didn’t really know what was going on. It wasn’t like I knew that we were about to create Gang Signs & Prayers , we were just moving forward.” While Tobe commented, “Stormzy has always been aware of perception, to how people see him. How people will take him wanting more. We always knew that there’s a truth in the world that isn’t represented in the world. We have our own concerns…” In another part, Stormzy describes his lifestyle as an artist. “It could have been Dublin, Australia, Denmark, anywhere in the world. Or there was a time when a firework went off at one of the shows and it almost hit me… Or the time we were late for our plane and had to run through the airport, with security chasing us. Or the time Fran, my agent, got dragged away by the police. He’d gone through customs at the airport and came back to say goodbye. And the police just said, “Excuse me, you can’t do that.” He finishes this particular chapter with, “there’s a real problem with our culture in the way that artists are pigeonholed. I was determined it would never happen with me. I’d come out guns blazing. I’ll go and spit [lyrics] in the park, then I’ll go on Live Lounge and sing something. I had a little trick. Whenever I’d go on Live Lounge, I always did a mad singing medley. My first one was tragic. My singing voice just wasn’t there… I love experimenting with music. That’s the artist I am, that’s my truth…” Having won an accolade of awards including Innovator Award and Most Played Independent Act and Independ- ent Album of the Year for Gang Signs & Prayers at the AIM Independent Music Awards in 2016 and 2017; Best International Act at the BET Awards in 2016 and 2018; Artist of the Year at the BBC Music Awards in 2017; British Male Solo Artist and British Album of the Year at the Brit Awards in 2018, Stormzy added another award for his philanthropic work in education at The Best of Africa Awards. Following the success of his second track ‘Vossi Bop’ from his upcoming album which gave him his first number 1, Stormzy released his hard-hitting new song ‘Sounds of the Skeng’ but we will still Vossi Bop for a long time yet. www.stormzy.com bite music celeb