Stormzy made a triumphant appearance on LBC Radio on Wednesday (1 March) to make an impassioned defence of grime music, three months after he tweeted the station to disagree with one of their callers, who claimed the genre was partly responsible for knife crime.
The incident clearly stayed with him, as he went on to namecheck LBC in the opening track of his recently-released debut album ‘Gang Signs & Prayer’, with the lines: “LBC’s tryna’ black ball me, / And tryna’ blame your boy for knife crime, / I don’t use a shank, I got money in the bank.”
With the record inching its way towards the number one spot, Stormzy stopped by Shelagh Fogarty’s show, discussing what it’s like being a black man who grew up in South London, as well as defending grime.
He began the interview by contesting the fact caller claimed in October to have heard Stormzy’s album, even though it wasn’t actually released until last week, explaining: “It’s clear that he was very misinformed and has probably had one glance at grime, listened to one song, watched one set and made his mind up.”
Turning his attention to the question of why knife crime is mentioned in his tracks, he continued: “The reason why we speak about these things is because they are things that go on in our community so we’re just being social commentators.
“I feel like that [the caller’s claim] is such a far-fetched statement. You see, for someone to say that grime music is the reason for the country’s knife crime epidemic - that is wild. How do you even get there?”
Shelagh then questioned whether Stormzy feels a duty of care to his young fans, and considers the way they could interpret his talk of criminal acts, to which he replied: “Every time I write a lyric or I make music, firstly, I have the responsibility and the duty to tell my own truth - whatever that is, whether it’s positive or negative.
“Secondly, now that I’ve progressed to a certain stage, I try to be more careful, but I don’t like to just put some censor. Everything I talk about is truth.
“It’s things I’ve done in the past, or things that my friends have done, or things that we were immersed in.”
Afterwards, the pair ended on a handshake, as numerous fans took to Twitter to praise the rapper:
It’s been a big few weeks for Stormzy and losing out on the Brit Award for Best Breakthrough hasn’t stopped him in his stride.
At present, his album is on track to land the number one spot, and he celebrated its release by performing a series of impromptu gigs in London.
See his full appearance on LBC below:
