Africa-Press – Gambia. Stormzy has said he has made a conscious decision to promote his black peers and predecessors, to combat prejudice in the music industry.
“I’ve always understood I’m the black act. Maybe the token black act,” the superstar British rapper told DJ Trevor Nelson in a one-off BBC special.
“I want to kill that where it stands.”
That’s why, the star explained, he paused his historic Glastonbury Festival set to read a list of 52 rappers who influenced him.
It also prompted him to populate the video for his recent single, Mel Made Me Do It, with musicians Little Simz, Dave and Gabrielle; sports legends Usain Bolt, Ian Wright and Dina Asher-Smith; and the author Malorie Blackman.
“There’s always been this stigma of, ‘let one through’,” he said. “There’s one black [man], one black woman at a time. That needs to die.
“So that’s why when I get Glasto, when I do Mel Made Me Do It, it’s like, ‘This is us… We stand on your shoulders.’
“I didn’t just pop out of the blue and break the matrix.”
Stormzy is also supporting new generations of black talent through his Merky foundation, which offers scholarships to Cambridge University; and Merky FC, which aims to improve diversity among football managers, coaches and other behind-the-scenes roles.
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