Stormzy: the righteous rage of a grime star
Back in 1998, a member of the socialist-anarchist pop group Chumbawamba made headlines by pouring a bucket of water over John Prescott at the Brit Awards. Twenty years on, another leftwinger – the rapper Stormzy – has used the event to get even more angrily political, said Guy Adams in the Daily Mail. In what Jeremy Corbyn was quick to describe as a “powerful performance”, the 24-year-old grime star monstered the Prime Minister, accusing her of starving the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire of cash. “You criminals, and you got the cheek to call us savages,” he rapped, “you should do some jail time, you should pay some damages.”
If ever a person had proved that this country offers opportunities, it is Stormzy, said Amanda Platell in the same paper. Born in London in 1993 and raised in relative poverty, he did well at a notoriously tough school, but was expelled in sixth form. Yet thanks to hard work and talent, he managed to rebuild his life. Now, he is an inspirational figure for many youngsters. So it’s a shame that he should spout such drivel (when did Theresa May call anyone “savages”?), and show such little gratitude to the country that raised him. Gratitude? Really? asked Edward Adoo in The Independent. When was the last time a white Briton who criticised the Government was asked to shut up and be thankful? You may not agree with Stormzy’s opinions, but do not question his right to voice them.
In any case, he was only doing what May has urged us to do, said Kimberly Mcintosh in The Guardian: he was holding up a mirror to our society by rapping about neglect and the persecution of young black men – some of the “burning injustices” that May promised to tackle, but seems to have forgotten. And it resonated with the young, said Simon Jenkins in the London Evening Standard. Anger is an important ingredient in politics, and his is visceral. Forget Grenfell? “Not while Stormzy’s around.” But where does it lead? The fire has become more than a tragedy, more than a scandal: it is now a receptacle for bitterness, alienation and a craving for revenge. Is everyone just spoiling for a fight, or can we find a “dialogue behind the anger”? “The peace of London depends on it.”