This programme contains strong language from the start
Let's look at some of your trophies. I've won a few awards - not making this about me -
but I like it when they weigh, like, they look expensive.
They're heavy. You want some weight, that's heavy, isn't it?
Heavy-duty. You could do someone an injury with that.
This, on the other hand... That wouldn't do. ..wouldn't do.
To be fair, I don't know, if you get, you know,
a bit of weight behind it. LOUIS LAUGHS
My game section - games mean a lot to me.
Quite a lot of Monopoly.
There's a Stormzy edition. There is a Stormzy edition.
The properties are normal, I think it's all the community -
Look, "You have won..."
"You have won a Mobo Award, collect 25."
"Jay Z rates you, receive 100..."
STORMZY LAUGHS That's hard.
Over here. The Time cover.
Being on the cover of Time is almost like the gold standard
of what achievement is supposed to look like.
Like, it's the pinnacle. Yeah.
In terms of things I'm most proud of, this is up there
with the best of them, that.
As much as I was proud of it, I feel like there was a period
after it where I was probably not in the best mind space,
and it used to, like...
It was a bit overbearing, in terms of "Yo, you're..."
Fuck, what was it, fucking "next generation leader"?
"British rapper Stormzy and nine other young trailblazers
"who are shaping the world." Yeah, that's a lot.
That's a lot. "Shaping the world"? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know.
The world's big. That's a lot there.
I might've cried about that.
Not, like, as in... Bawling?
.."bro, I'm the next generation leader, man".
Not like that, innit, like, but as in, there was a time
where I was going through this and going through that,
and then, there's just an overwhelmingness that would've
made me come to tears, or whatever.
Apologies for taking over your front room, by the way.
It's all right. It's all right, man.
It's all right.
Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr -
better known as Stormzy -
is the most successful rapper the UK has ever produced.
It's the first interview you've given in quite a while.
A long time, yeah, yeah. Is it two years? Is it?
He'd agreed to let me in and experience his life on the road
and in the studio, and to sit down for a no-holds-barred
conversation at his home.
It's quite new to me.
What, all this? Yeah. Oh, is it? Yeah.
Yeah, it's probably a bit new to me, as well.
But it's all right.
THEY LAUGH
I was in Glasgow, at the OVO Hydro Arena,
with an appointment to meet Stormzy.
If I could just find him.
Hello. Hi.
Is it this way to Stormzy?
To the dressing room? Yeah.
Yeah, if you go out there, and then, just straight up the stairs.
OK, thank you.
Hello. How are you doing?
Pleasure to meet you, Louis. Likewise. How are you?
Yeah, I'm good. You're good? A little hug? Yeah, a big hug!
STORMZY LAUGHS Big hug! Big fan.
I wanted to meet you for so long. Yeah, me too.
Being in front of you feels a bit like...you know what I mean?
Like I've just popped out of the TV? Or just, like...?
No, like, even when you walked in, it's like, "OK, be normal.
"Be normal. Hello, Louis. Nice to meet you."
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But do you know what I mean?
Truly, I would've been like, "Oh, shit! Louis Theroux!"
LAUGHTER
I mean, it was the final night of Stormzy's tour.
15 sold-out dates in arenas around the UK and Ireland,
reaching an audience whose size was unprecedented
for a British rap artist.
All right, you lead the way, Stormz, if that's all right. Yeah, cool.
Am I all right, calling you Stormz? Yeah, yeah, no, whatever you want.
Stormz, Mike, whatever.
This feels like one of the bigger ones, to be fair.
Do you know the capacity?
I think it's - what's the capacity?
Er, 16. 16,000.
This one looks big. Does it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Goes through your head when you look around?
Erm...let's be havin' ya.
Yeah? Yeah. Let's do this.
Yeah. Nerves?
Nah, you know?
Nah.
Nah, nah. Really? Nah.
You're taking your diet quite seriously. Super seriously.
Like what? In what way?
Before a tour, I stay away from white rice.
Stay away from potatoes.
Anything bad - I won't even have a single crisp, like...
Seriously? Like, nothing.
Not nuts?
I'm allowed nuts to a degree.
Like, if I'm having yoghurt, I could have nuts with it.
I don't have nuts with it.
But, yeah, no, I take... That's rock-n-roll. Yeah, yeah.
Having nuts with your yoghurt? With my yoghurt.
But that's, like... You're getting wild.
If I'm - and a little bit of pomegranate, that's like a wild,
like, I'm ballin' out of control, like, yeah, literally.
But, yeah.
Your, sort of, high-knee dance... Yeah. ..has gone viral on TikTok.
I've heard, I've heard. Did you know that?
Yeah, Deezer told me. Did you invent that?
I think I did.
So, this is, like, you do the high knees all the way down there.
Yeah. Boom, boom, boom, high knee, boom, boom, boom.
Pyro, boom, straight off the gate.
Pow, pow, pow - that's when the high knees -
pow, pow, pow, pow.
Come here, I give it to them.
You gotta come back here, give them a little bit of it.
Then you go back up there, turn around, and go back there,
and you come back down again.
Give them the high knees again. Is it? Pow!
It's like you've got to charge up the high knees.
You can't just always do it. You gotta charge it up.
Charge it up? And then, that's when I'm charging it up.
It's like FIFA, when you sprint. Exactly!
And then, you gotta regain the energy, and then you, baahhhh,
and come back out.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's - yeah, yeah, yeah!
That's it! Yeah, yeah, sometimes I do that.
HE LAUGHS
I'm done. Sometimes I do that, yeah. Sometimes I do that.
That's the static one.
That's the, like, just between me and - you know what I mean?
Yeah, you got it. Oh, man, thank you.
# Stormzy, you know I'm bringing bookin' back for good.
# And they say he's a cocky little sod
# But the kid's got bars, so you gotta give him props... #
Stormzy's journey to arenas had started 11 years earlier when,
as a teenager, he'd begun sharing videos he'd filmed on his estate
in South London, building an underground fan base.
Follow me on Twitter @Stormzy1.
One fan on Facebook, Stormzy Omari.
State your name, cuz.
Stormzy, innit?
In 2015, he burst into the mainstream with the release
of the freestyle "Shut Up".
Let's go. Look.
# Man try say he's better than me
# Tell my man, shut up ALL: # Shut up
# Mention my name in your tweets
# Oi, rude boy, shut up # Shut up
# How can you be better than me... #
Two number-one albums followed - and along with them,
celebrity status and a platform for his uncompromising views.
# That you're Theresa May, Where's the money for Grenfell?
# What, you thought we just forgot about Grenfell... #
Shut Up by Stormzy
AUDIENCE HUMS ALONG
At his show in Glasgow, I was struck by his enormous achievement
and his impressive physique
as I reflected on his ability to connect with the audience.
# Man try say he's better than me
# Tell my man, shut up
# Mention my name in your tweets
# Oi, rude boy, shut up
# Better than me? Shut up!
# Best in the scene... #
I was also aware that his success had been hard won with bumps
in the road, his share of haters, and moments of vulnerability -
all of which I was hoping to talk to him about.
So, thank you for doing this. Nah, thank you.
And just to say, I think it's been at least three years,
I've been trying to set this up. Oh, that's mad.
The read I've got a view, based on talking to you, and then,
seeing your bit in Glasgow - you seem to be in a really good
place, like, as far as your outlook on life, your sense of
where you are artistically.
Would you agree with that, more or less?
Yeah, 100%. Yeah.
In reading up on you - and I'm aware that your artistic process
takes a lot out of you... Yeah, a lot. ..would that be fair?
Mm-hm. And that when you did your first album, there was a period
when you went more or less AWOL from the studio, it sounded like?
Is that right? Mm-hm.
What's that about?
You come into music - and I came to music when I was about 19, 20,
whatever - and I'm becoming a man.
I'm growing, and I'm going on my journey as a man.
And then, I'm also trying to figure out how to be the greatest artist.
And then, also in that, as well, I'm in a relationship,
which is, like, an amazing relationship, there was ups,
and there was downs.
And then, I'm also being a family man, I'm being a son,
I'm being a provider.
And I'm also trying to provide and lead in my community,
and for, like, my people, it was very overwhelming
and difficult to... handle all those things.
While I was making an album, I would often, like, just crash out
and just, like, get super depressed or, like, in a super withdrawn
and super reclusive, like...
And disappear? ..and disappear.
What was your routine in those moments?
Just stay at home.
I'll just stay at home, smoke a lot of weed.
Would you be conscious of being in crisis?
Because some people describe depression as a blankness,
like, as a nothing. Yeah.
No, mine was definitely a feeling of just overwhelmingness of, like,
I actually can't handle this - which also, in a mad way,
was super new to me, because I was always a very able
and capable child.
I would break down and, like, yeah, it was just super heavy for me.
And then, the album came out, and then, you have that period of,
like, all your hard work paying off, the album done amazingly,
and then, you go on that journey with it.
And then...2019 comes.
# Yo...
CROWD CHEERS
Hey, Glasto!
# I don't know what to say... #
One, two, three, four!
In Stormzy's banner year of 2019,
he headlined Glastonbury to wild acclaim and released
his genre-breaking second album.
This is the greatest night of my entire life.
CHEERING
Please welcome Stormzy!
It's Stormzy!
But his status as a national figure drew increased scrutiny
when his relationship with the DJ and TV presenter
Maya Jama broke down.
In early 2020, he came off social media.
When I think about that year and what I went through,
and what I had to deal with,
it was fucking overwhelming.
Where was the stress coming from?
Was it internal? Was it - specifically, was it criticisms
on social media?
The narrative with me and social media has been, like,
maybe I was getting, like, a lot of negativity directed towards me,
and it made me come off - because someone at my gym
came up to me and was like,
"Yeah, I heard you came off social media because..."
And I was like, "Everyone's missed the point".
Listen, if fucking Tommy from fucking Plymouth wakes up and says,
"Stormzy, you're shit" - that's fine.
That's the most bearable thing.
I mean, that's very bearable.
But it was just becoming super distracting.
I said, "I can't".
I'm so overwhelmed in my reality that I can't be coming on
this place, and I'll be consuming everyone else's fucking reality.
I can't hear my thoughts, like I always say,
when I came off social media, the deepest thing about it is
I always felt like I could hear God speak.
That's what I thought, yeah, I felt like I could hear God speak,
I could hear myself speak, and I had clarity.
The past two years for me, especially...
..after my break-up and Glastonbury,
and the second album coming out, and the pandemic -
between those, like, four or five factors,
it just allowed a lot of time of growth and self-reflection.
My break-up, that was probably the biggest catalyst
for growth as a man.
It was like, "OK, you made a mistake,
"and you lose someone you love, someone you cared for,
"someone who's special to you".
That's probably the biggest loss a man can have, innit?
Like, away from someone passing away. Right, exactly.
Away from actual, like, death... Bereavement, sure.
..that's the biggest loss you can have.
When you talk about mistakes, what do you mean?
I mean, like, the whole fucking...
..palaver that surrounded that situation, y'know what I mean, like?
It was assumed that you'd been unfaithful, and then,
you put that to bed and said, "No, I wasn't unfaithful,
"but I disrespecting her" - but that was after you'd broken up,
as I understand it. Yeah, but it was still, like -
and there was other things, like, in terms of, like...
There was, like...
There was mistakes that I'd made, like, do you get what I mean?
In the relationship? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You weren't making her breakfast often enough.
No, listen, that was probably a good thing, cos I'm a fucking shit...
I'm a shit cook.
I just - do you know what? This is the best way to put it.
Did you snore in bed? HE LAUGHS
Sorry. No, what I did is, I didn't do what a man should do to...
..to fully appreciate, love, and care for his woman.
Long story short, I learnt from that, it's like, OK, if I don't ever
want to feel like that again,
and if I believe that God will bless me with, like,
an amazing woman and a family, and marriage and all of that thing,
it's like, I have to do all the necessary work to never be
in that situation again.
Do you get what I mean? Mm.
Do you want a drink, Louis? No, no, I'm all right.
Last night, I was working YouTube.
I wonder if I've heard all the music.
And, of course, one of them is Little Mix, right?
Yes. Called Power. Called Power.
I'm not going to sing it.
The little... I can't do it justice.
What is it?
# Na, na, na-ah, na
# I got the, I got the, I got the power... #
STORMZY LAUGHS
# La, la, la-la, la
# I got the, I got the, I got the... #
# I got the power... #
THEY BOTH SING
That's got the most views, from what I can tell.
That's, like, at 400 million.
Oh, is it? Fucking... I didn't know that.
Yeah. I didn't know that. Big tune. Does that surprise you?
No. It's Little Mix.
They're fucking... They're amazing.
And I'm so proud of that song as well,
because, at the time,
as you could expect, it was like,
"Whoa, why is he doing a fucking song..."
I remember hearing it and being surprised.
That sounds like Stormzy on a Little Mix track.
I knew that, coming from my background
of being an emcee, a rapper,
that I would get some sort of...
I'll get some sort of,
"Hey, you shouldn't be doing that, or, "Why...?
"Why are you working with that artist?"
Or, "Why are you doing that?"
Specifically, the idea that you're no longer keeping it real?
You're no longer staying true to your community
and where you came from? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
If I love Little Mix,
and then Little Mix approach me to do a song,
and then I say no, because man's got to keep it real... Mm.
Surely that's... Surely that's
the fakest thing I can do in that moment.
"Little Mix. I love you. You've sent me this song.
"I think this tune is cold.
"Can't do it because I need to keep it real."
I've never made an artistic decision
without it being solely off the basis of music, ever in my life.
And I've said, "If I stick to that, I'll have a career."
There was an interview where you talked about,
"Oh, do you get stick for this or that
"for like having openly Christian lyrics?"
And you said, "No, no. To be fair, that's not what I get grief about.
"If I get grief, it's for being unapologetically black."
Yeah. Do you remember saying that? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And I was really struck by that.
And I just wondered what being unapologetically black means to you.
It just means, like...
It's just... It's just some, like,
it's funny, but it's just like, I'm black, innit?
Like, sometimes it's like, not a lot of people,
but there are some people who don't realise,
it's like I'm definitely black in terms of, like,
my issues are going to be black.
The things I care about are mostly going to be about black people.
The classic one was the scholarship,
where I'm doing a scholarship for black kids and it's like...
Right, right. For people who don't know,
there is a scholarship established with your money.
Yeah. And it was for black kids to go to Cambridge. Yeah.
And they'd be... It was like, "What?!"
and it was like... And I was like,
"Yeah, I fully understand. everyone's surprised.
"I'm black, innit?"
Well, there was some dissent,
like, a few people had issues with that, did they? Yeah.
Yeah, like, there was a lot of a lot of backlash around it,
a lot of the time I could tell
people weren't actually being horrible.
There were some people with genuine,
"Hey, Stormz, like, I'm from a working class background," like...
White people, this was? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
White people, Asian people. Can I apply for your scholarship?
That's what I used to feel, like I had a duty to explain to them.
Whereas now I'm like, "Well, I'm kind of tired of explaining this,"
it's just like that's dearest to my heart, like,
and coming from where I come from,
that's like a pressing matter on my heart. So...
And I think cos there's obviously been black people
in the public eye going back decades, you know,
maybe what's changed is this sort of sense that,
maybe, before, to be black in the public space,
there was some part of you that you had to surrender. Right?
And now you've shown that that need not be the case.
Yeah. At all. At all, like...
Shall we talk about where you came from?
Yeah. Which is where? Where is it?
Um, Croydon.
In terms of your own story,
you've been quite open about talking about challenges
that you had growing up and specifically
being studious, doing well in school,
getting really good results.
And then, at a certain point, kind of like the call of the road, right?
The reality for me and a lot of my brethren is like
a lot of us weren't coming from two-parent households.
It was usually just your mum.
At the time, you don't even see nothing in that,
like, until you grow up.
And it's like, "OK, that might have meant something
"that my dad weren't around."
Me and my family are tight, but it was like,
we never sat down and had dinner together.
You said somewhere that growing up,
your home was really just individuals
all operating under the same roof. Yeah, 100%. 100%.
You got to understand, like,
even without sounding too fucking poetic,
like, you're raised by...
You're raised by the streets or you're raised
by your friends, or you're raised by the oldest.
Was it rough?
Yeah, like, but as anywhere else was rough.
You know what I mean, like?
At one point, you call it "horrifying", I think,
in a lyric or "terrifying"? Um... Crown.
Don't comment on my culture, you ain't qualified
Stab us in the back and then apologise
If you knew my story, you'd be horrified. Yeah.
"If you knew my story, you'd be horrified." Yeah.
What did you mean by that?
Like, I've been...
I've been stabbed a few times, but, like, to...
To some people, that's going to be horrifying.
Badly, like, did you go to hospital? Yeah.
Really?! Yeah.
How happy are you talking about this stuff?
Because some of it... No, I'm fine with it.
Are you sure? Yeah, yeah.
You got... How deep into it did you get, like...?
I think you had some court time. Did you?
You never actually got a custodial sentence.
I never... No, I never went to jail.
What was it, possession of a weapon, was it?
Yeah, it was possession of a weapon.
So if you'd have had a weapon, what would it have been for?
For protection, for...
I don't know. To feel, like, more in control. Mm-hm.
Do you know what I mean?
To feel more in control of, like, any situation
that I may come across that...
Even... Even how deep I got into it,
I know people who got way deeper.
Of course. I've got friends who got way deeper, way, way, way deeper.
You go on that journey and it can lead you anywhere.
It's a random box of prison, death.
Become an entrepreneur because you learned to be streetwise
and now you applied that.
Becoming a musician.
Becoming a footballer.
But, of course, the most likely ones is harmed, dead or in jail,
do you know what I mean? That's the most likely ones.
You've said, like, you had this period of working,
was it on an oil rig?
Yeah, it was an oil refinery.
I was working in quality assurance.
What does that really mean? I couldn't fucking tell you.
I was so bad at it.
That was quite a big thing for you. Yeah, it was massive.
In what way?
I was on the ends, like, with my,
with my brethrens.
And then I applied for this apprenticeship
and then I had to go to Leamington Spa.
And then I was living with 17 other kids,
and they were all white kids.
They were all from Scotland, Yorkshire, Newcastle.
I had no idea about banter or that, being...
Just not taking myself seriously.
I think that's the biggest thing I would say. I didn't...
I came out of that and I didn't take myself...
Like, I knew how to take a joke. I knew how to crack a joke.
It helped me see people and see life
and see there's a culture outside of my culture,
do you know what I mean? Mm.
Which is just always enlightening for anyone from anywhere, like,
to come out of where they're from and to see the world.
And, for me, it was close, because the world was just
an hour and a half up the road.
I think the key thing, the key thing was that time we was in Tipton
and we was welding.
I remember I took off my hard hat and this was probably close
to the times where I got stabbed.
So I took off my hard hat and someone walked past
and was like, "Oh, what's the...?"
..and I used to have, it was like a long scar.
It was like a T, like a long...
I don't know if it's still there now, but...
And they were, "Oh, what happened?"
And I was like, "Oh, I got stabbed."
Bruv, I just remember the look on all their faces
and I remember feeling like a fucking artefact in a museum
because I was stood... I was sat like this
and they were all like, "What?!"
And I remember thinking, like,
"Bruv, this ain't that deep at all, like..."
And they were like... And I was like, "And here..."
and they were like, "What?!"
And I remember... And it was kind of like a realisation,
OK, yeah, that's not the most normal thing, innit?
Like, as much as it's normal in our community. And it's like...
Did you lose any friends over it?
Over the violence, stabbing?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you? Yeah. Loads. Loads? Died?
Yeah. For real? Yeah.
Becomes normal, like, do you know what I mean?
It's one of the things that happens.
People pass away.
People get harmed.
Even, even one that we didn't always realise that.
And we've realised that now as grown men,
is that a lot of people lose their mental health badly as well.
Like, as in, I've got friends that I grew up with
where it's like, if they saw me today, they wouldn't recognise...
As in they've, like... They've got serious mental illness?
Yeah. Yeah. Serious mental-health issues.
Do you think it's over trauma?
It could be trauma.
Sometimes people get involved in, like, the drugs that they sell.
So even the whole idea of, like, breaking it down
and that dissecting it for that, it's...
That's only something that I've started doing now, as an adult,
because it was just, like, it is what it is, isn't it?
Like... That's amazing.
To me, that... That is amazing.
As much as it seemed normal then, you know, the idea
of having multiple friends,
you know, who you've lost to violence.
Yeah, And I'm always...
I think I'm just always wary and careful when I speak about it
because it's, like, things are easy to discuss
from the fucking suburbs, do you know what I mean? On my sofa.
And as much as I've lived there and I've come from it,
but it's like it's still people's lives
and people's realities, innit? So...
GOSPEL CHOIR SINGS
# Hallelujah You have won...
# You have won the victory
# Hallelujah
# You've won it all for me
# You have won it all for me
# Death could not hold you...
# Death could not hold you down... #
In Camberwell, South London,
Stormzy was at a Christian worship meeting
he attends monthly with his Ghanaian-born mum, Abigail.
# You are the risen King... You're seated... #
The evenings are organised by his sister,
the DJ, Rachael Anson.
# You are the risen...
# You are the risen King
# Death could not hold you down
# You are, you are the risen King
# You are the risen King... #
Stormzy told me his faith is the bedrock
of everything he does.
He also hosts weekly Bible study groups at his house
and attends Sunday services in Brixton.
# I will be content
# In very circumstance... #
APPLAUSE
That was amazing, right?
You want to share a testimony.
If you want to just let us know how you've been feeling,
what life's been like for you.
Oh, that's very kind. Thank you.
I'm breaking, like, I'm breaking down.
Due to so much things attached to me being a mum, do you understand?
And I've seen a lot of prayer...
I need people to pray for me, I need all the mums
just to come out for me, please.
Amen.
I rate mothers more than anyone in this world,
and especially single mothers.
What? What you lot have to endure.
And then you've got this whole big head that you've got to look after
on top of yourself.
I promise you, it gets easier.
APPLAUSE
Thank you for having us. No, all good, man.
That was extraordinary. Oh, thank you, man.
That was so lovely.
The emotion was off the charts and the music was amazing.
It was a real privilege to be part of that. Amen.
I want to say a proper hello to Mike's mum, Abigail.
So nice to meet you. Nice to meet you.
Shed a little bit of light
on what it was like raising Michael as a young...
As a young man, as a boy growing up.
Was he...? Was he always a bit special?
Yes, he was a miracle.
I got pregnant with him.
I was on the pill.
Wow! Oh, I didn't even know that.
Of course, I never tell you.
Really? Yes!
We've got a world exclusive right here.
That's a world exclusive.
She was on the pill when she had me.
He's so clever and talented. Mm.
You can tell from when he was growing up.
He was so talented.
I remember being young and hearing my mum talk to my uncles
and my aunties and say, "Oh, Junior, Junior's..."
I remember a time my mum would be doing a puzzle
in the front room.
She says, "So, Junior, do you know,
"will complete a puzzle in five minutes.
"Give him any puzzle." No, no, no.
So, you know, just subconsciously,
I'm probably growing up thinking, "Oh, I'm lit, like."
Do you know what I mean? So, yeah.
That's good for your spirit, isn't it?
That's good for your soul.
How important is it to you to be here?
Has this always been part of your life?
Is this something you've discovered later in life?
We grew up in church, so I've had faith all my life
and I've loved God all my life.
But I feel like you've got to come to your own realisation, innit?
As much as you raised me in church, I've got to...
I've got to... Know God for yourself.
I've got to know God for myself.
And I think during pandemic, there was a grown-man realisation,
there was an adult realisation, innit, of that?
"Oh, wow. This is what it means to pray.
"This is what this scripture means."
Literally, I was in my house by myself, with my dogs,
out of my relationship.
I'm... I'm not... I wasn't touring.
I wasn't even recording at the time.
I was just sat down. I was still.
And even the Bible talks about stillness, I was still,
this is where I'm meant to be around people who don't care
about whatever it is that the world thinks I am.
The man who I want to be is this man.
It's funny because I've got a place down the road,
about 20 minutes. What, another house?
Yeah, but, like, that's where I'm going to, like, proper...
Proper stay, and... Proper stay, as in what? Start a family?
Yeah. Is it, is it bigger than this one?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Why don't you live there now?
Because I'm totally renovating it.
So you're doing a reno?
Doing a reno. My first. My first proper reno.
Is it mad? Is it fabulous?
God willing, it will be, yeah.
Is it huge?
It's...it's... How many bedrooms?
It's...
It's nice, isn't it? Seven? Is it more than seven bedrooms?
No, no, it's not more than seven.
Shall we look at some of the ones through here?
This is artwork... Platinum records. Yeah. Artwork.
I thought... I don't know.
It's funny cos, like...
I don't know, if I'm being totally honest...
I don't know, how do I explain that?
Do you feel disconnected from it?
I'm so proud of myself in terms of... I'm not even trying
to denounce that, the plaques and the awards,
but it's, like, this is very, like,
"Yo, this is my fucking crib." Yeah.
Like, you're... You know what I mean? Like, yeah.
Your bachelor pad. Exactly, yeah, bachelor pad.
Cos the home I'm building, I always say to the man, them,
that I'm building it on family and love and God.
CREW SPEAK INDISTINCTLY
You're a single man. Yeah.
You're... How old are you? 28? I'm 28, yeah.
You're probably one of the most eligible people in the UK.
Just talented, successful, attractive.
You're the total package, right? Cheers, Louis. Thank you, man.
You tick all the boxes. It's like... Thank you, man.
Can I ask you about dating? Yeah.
How do you do that? I don't.
I don't really do it.
Would you do Tinder? Like...like...the young people do?
No, I wouldn't do fucking Tinder.
Would you do Raya? Like, the Raya is the celebrity one, is it?
No, I wouldn't do Raya either.
No.
Even the idea of, like, meeting a girl,
and then, "Let's just go on a date.
"Let's just go...
"..to get some food."
Yeah? That's, like...that's alarm bells.
Like, any time I've had a date, we've got to go through a back door.
You know what I mean? Through a back door...
At the restaurant? Yeah, the restaurant.
Not to sound naive, but what happens if you don't do that?
Because people are going to blow up the flippin' poor girl's life.
Do you know what I mean?
Not in like a... Because everyone in the restaurant will clock you.
Yeah, it's just... Do you mean they'll come over,
or they'll hit the socials? Yeah.
Or, like, people in the restaurant want to try and film, like.
And I always say, that's not fair on, like, the person I'm with
because they don't want to fucking be in the fucking tabloid tomorrow.
Maybe they do, which is also a problem.
That's also a fucking problem. You know what I mean, like?
So what's the solution?
I'm...I'm still trying to figure it out.
I always say I just wait for God, innit?
I'll just wait for God to, like, present me
with my situation and my woman.
That's a bit passive.
Yeah, yeah, it is a bit passive, but it's like...
Do you know what it is? I'm all out of ideas, Louis.
If I'm honest, like, I swear to you, like, I'm out of ideas.
Why don't you just work Tinder, and then just have a night in
and just do it...you know, do Deliveroo and watch Netflix
or iPlayer, or whatever. I don't know.
Even the idea of dating, for me...
..it's a new thing.
It is a new thing. Like, I didn't date before I met my...my ex.
I didn't date before. I wasn't out here dating.
Right. But you would have been 20 then.
So, what about 17, 18, 19?
17, 18, 19, I was just a...I was just a boy,
and dating weren't even a thing, like, we was just...
Wasn't that a thing? No, man weren't taking no girl on no fucking...
Really? What was man doing?
It weren't like, "Hey, baby, let's go to the fucking..." Movies?
No, it weren't that. Cinema, maybe.
Cinema, may... I was a boy.
I was a boy.
I'm just not well versed in...in the realms of love,
relationships and dating.
All right. How is your energy? Yeah, yeah, it's good.
I know we're taking a lot of time. Is it good? Yeah, yeah.
I've got a couple more questions. Are we all right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cos I don't I don't always get to, like,
talk about...talk in detail.
I mean, what's striking is that, actually, your whole story
is really in the lyrics. Yeah.
And I was really struck in Lay Me Bare... Yeah.
..how much you go into the anger that you have at your dad.
Yeah.
And talking about him coming to you, having not been in your life
in any significant way growing up, when you first had success.
He was a cab driver, right?
Yeah. Doing his own thing.
And he came and asked you to give him money for a car?
Yeah. But what was the actual lyric?
Because there's a repeated lyric. It's... It's a very powerful lyric.
It's, um...
Lay Me... I can't remember Lay Me Bare, sorry.
I've got it. Have you got it? Yeah.
Yeah, it's along the lines of, like, "Fuck you, Dad."
Here we go. Here we go. The hidden lyrics.
Listen. Here we go.
I'm going to do it.
"Like, bro, I can't believe I saw my dad
"Still up in the ends, still driving cabs
"He said, 'Yo, son, I need a car'
"I kiss my teeth and turned my back
"Like, you ain't seen my face for years
"You ain't seen my face for time
"And the first thing you're asking for is that?
"Fuck you! That's where I draw the line.
"Should have dashed through a rack like, 'Keep the change'
"And fuck letting go, I'll keep the pain
"23 years I'm still the same
"When you hear this I hope you feel ashamed
"Cah' we were broke, like, what the fuck?
"Mum did well to hold us up
"And yet she still forgave your arse
"But Mumsy's cool, I'm cold as fuck
"Fuck that! I'm still not over this
"Fuck that! No, I'm still not over this."
Yeah, fucking hell, that's...
..that's angry.
I think the funniest lyric in that is, um...
"Fuck letting go, I'll keep the pain."
And it's so funny because I've always felt like that.
like, I'm...like, I've always felt, like, this pain is mine.
And, like, it's very right that I hold this
because of what you've done.
Like, as in, I have every right to hold this pain...
Of him just not being there? Yeah. With him not being there.
Like, I got...
I've got a song on this album called Please,
and it's like, "Please, Lord, give me the strength
"To forgive my dad, for he is flawed and so am I
"So, who am I to not
"To not forgive a man who tries?
"I see us so I know it cries,
"But with this pain, I'd rather..."
And I literally sat in the studio and I wrote,
"But with this pain, I'd rather die."
And then...
..something in me felt like I don't feel like that any more.
Even on the track, I don't say "die".
I say, "But with this pain, I'd rather...
HE INHALES SHARPLY "With this pain,
"I'd rather paint, and try and turn this broken picture
"into something that ain't
"This pain I'd rather hold because it made me who I am
"It's probably time I let it go."
Like, so even just that journey of, like, five years
between me writing that and me writing Please,
where I'm super understanding.
Like, I'm like...
My...as much as it's my dad, he's a flawed man, innit?
I've kind of got give him the same grace that I want from the world.
The same grace that I wanted from Maya.
Really and truly,
you're just a flawed man.
And your mistake was a big one.
You fucked up bad, like, as in you left your kids, like.
Did he start another family?
Yeah. I know he's really sorry.
And, like... I was going to ask. Yeah, yeah, he's really sorry.
He's reached out through my mum, through my sisters
about being sorry, and he's spoken to people.
Have you repaired the relationship?
Not yet. Not properly.
Like, as in my... Well, I'm going to speak out of...
Everyone's been...
We're going to...I'm going to speak to him, yeah.
That's something you've been thinking about? Yeah, 100%.
I have the power to, like, say, "I forgive you and free you
"of all these things that you probably feel
"because of this massive mistake you made."
# It's probably best for you if
# It's probably best for you for
# A fire from this perfect match to burn us to the ground
# And even though it's cold outside
# It's probably best we pray
# To lead us from this draw... #
In West London, Stormzy and his team were playing me some tracks
they said were unfinished from his upcoming third album,,
including the opener Fire And Water.
Fire And Water By Stormzy
Yeah. That's the... Yeah.
Ah. Yeah. That's the beginning to... APPLAUSE
I think that one might be finished.
LAUGHTER
That was amazing.
The mission for this album was so clear.
Let's just make the most beautiful al...
..an album that makes you feel.
Like, we've just got to hit them in the heartstring.
Like, you just want to...
We just want to make people feel, like.
Literally, the first time I got in the studio with Kassa,
the first chord he played was this song.
And I'll grab this mic, and just start singing,
or start rapping.
And whatever comes out of me would have been...
I would say all this album would have just been
whatever came out straight away.
A lot of it wouldn't have been premeditated.
You know, obviously, people know you as having come out
of the grime scene originally. Yeah.
It's fair to say this album feels quite a long way from that,
would you say? I don't think it's really a rap album, is it?
Sonically... Not really.
Do you know what I call it? I say it's a soul album.
A soul album. Yeah. That's what I would think, as well.
And even... And when I say soul album, I don't mean...
..I don't mean soul music.
It's just something that's come from my soul.
I couldn't tell you whether it's a rap album, a grime album,
a soul album, a gospel album.
It's just...it's...it's just a Stormz album.
There's energies and there's attitudes
that ain't on this album because I don't feel like that.
I don't want to run up and smash your face.
I don't feel like that right now.
Obviously you do brilliant smash-your-face type lyrics,
as well... Yeah, of course. ..on tracks.
In fact, that's what many of your fans probably like best
about what you do. Yeah.
Do you ever worry that they're going to listen to this and think,
"Hey, where's the smash-your-face-in track? I have not...
That the... If I had the list of worries,
that wouldn't even be on there. It wouldn't even be my last worry.
It wouldn't be on there.
With all this music, it's nothing to do with the listener.
All I can do is feel what I feel and document that.
And whatever that is, is what it's going to be.
And I can't manipulate that in the name of anything.
This time around, I'm like...
..I am the artist I've always wanted to be.
I'm like... This is... I've made the music I've always wanted to make.
Like, I've never been prouder of anything in my life.
It feels like I've arrived.
SCREAMING AND CHEERING
In Glasgow, after his show, Stormzy came off stage
to spend some time meeting his fans.
He told me, in the past, he'd had a tendency to be critical
of his performances,
but more recently had learned
to be less hard on himself.
Mwah. See you, man.
In my time with him, I'd got to know someone launched
from the swaggering world of grime,
achieving the highest echelons of success
while still remaining true to where he'd come from.
Wey! Ey!
Whoa! Oh, my days!
Someone still healing from aspects of his upbringing
and on a mission to build a new life for himself.
INDISTINCT CHATTER AND LAUGHTER
So, what does the future hold?
Like, do you...? Is it a plan to be kind of like...
..just a bit like Jay-Z,
like a UK artist who keeps growing and...or have an empire?
Or do you not think like that?
The idea of a successful future for me...
Before, I think, if you asked me this a few years ago,
it would have been so different,
would have been, like, man's trying to build... And it's like, no, man.
I don't want to put that pressure on myself to build what...
I don't even want to know what I would fucking build.
But I know, like, I want to...I want to...
..I always want to be the greatest musician I can be.
And I want to make great art, and art that moves people
and makes people feel.
And away from that,
I just want to be with my family and my friends and, like...
And I do want...I do want a family of my own,
and I want to get married, and I want to, like, settle.
So, my...my idea of an amazing future is, like, having my home
and kids running around it, and my missus being there.
The home that you're building at the moment, the reno. Yeah.
A big thing about it is the dinner table
because all the man, them, are going to come,
and they're going to bring their missus, and they're going
to bring their kids, and we're going to eat dinner on the dinner table.
And Christmas, I've always got this thing when Christmas comes,
I'm going to fucking...my house is going to be the Christmas house.
You know, like, the lights,
and everyone comes here Christmas Eve, and we've got
a fake Santa... Yeah. ..and all the kids get presents, like.
And at Easter, we're going to do a big fucking Easter egg hunt
with all the kids. You know what I mean? Can I come?
Of course you can come, Louis. Of course you can.
I'm ready to be, like... Just like some grown man.
Because I've been a kid for long, I think. Mm.
Like, I've been like a kid for long.
How are we doing? Shall we call it good?
Is there anything else you wanted to say?
Um, no, I don't think so.
You know, I'm going viral on TikTok. I've heard.
Did you know that?
# My money don't jiggle jiggle It folds. #
Did you write that? Oh, no.
I thought you didn't.
I'm not even joking.
I've been approached by a...like, a record label or something.
Oh, is it? They might drop it as a single.
Is it. Are you going to do it? I don't know.
Do you think I'd get a guest on it?
No, I don't know. No, I think it's just you.
If only I knew a rapper.