Stormzy- Cold

From the moment I heard this song I could feel the energy that was about to hit me. At the beginning there is the moment where you hear these sounds that seem like they could be in a ringtone and you just know something big is coming. The song is full of energy and is personally one of my favourite songs on the album (apart from “100 bags” which is my favourite by far) The song itself is nothing complex, it contains various references to things like Stormzy drawing attention to his car ( A blacked-out audi A5) which he featured in the music video for “Scary” this he believes brought to much attention to it resulting in it being stolen.

“I baited my whip in the vid like a prick
Now I’m carless (Cold)”

The song can be interpreted that Stormzy is becoming a much colder person. However I believe that its more about showing the more bubblier side of grime. Its about showing: yes the streets are hard for a lot of people but their is life in parts. It breaks the album up nicely because its fast and isn’t as sad as some of the other songs.

In the song there is one powerful message though:

“All my young black kings rise up/ Man this is our year/ And my young black queens right there/ It’s been a long time coming I swear.”

This message shows that not only is grime becoming bigger but also that eventually everyone  around the world will catch a lucky break at some point in their lives. Stormzy has shown that this is his lucky  year as he has grown massively. He recently performed with Ed Sheeran at the Brit Awards and this is amazing because again grime is in the spotlight. Ed Sheeran is one of the most mainstream performers out there and Stormzy has performed with him. The biggest collection of celebrities were congratulating him on his album e.g Adele who has shown support for him on numerous occasions. He even appeared on numerous shows like “Sunday Brunch” which is a daytime cooking show which is crazy considering people used to consider grime artists street thugs.

Overall the song effectively puts forward the message: We will all receive good things in life if we’re patient and for many of us 2017 might be that year…

Bugzy Malone- Aggy Wid It

Bugzy Malone recently dropped the song  “Aggy Wid It”. I have a big respect for him as an artist and I felt “Facing Time” was one of his best work. However this song has many thoughts conflicting in my head. The song at first listen to me felt like the kind of song you would use for the gym or any sort of motivation. After some analysation of the lyrics it has show that this song may actually be a diss track to Stormzy. Although Bugzy has not confirmed it. It definitely  does seem he is referencing Stormzy’s new album “Gang Signs and Prayers” :

“His new CD’s so dry that I hope that he hands out some lip balm wid it”

This line is probably the best diss he provides throughout the single. This makes the song seem more disappointing to me, if he is going to diss an artist he needs to go in hard. It feels like he is grasping at straws thought the song with his disses. He even mentions his style being copied on Instagram. This is a man who has a dog that looks like it could hunt down bears and he himself is built like a mountain. Yet he is saying someone is copying his style on Instagram. Thats just the internet their are thousands of people doing the same poses in photos e.g the girls doing the duck face and boys doing the awkward pointing at each other in group photos. He does not have copyright for wearing black clothes and posting gym photos. It just seems to weak a diss for a man of his stature.

Overall the song is great but I would personally say this song is to weak to even call it a diss. I still think he is a great rapper but this song just causes to many conflicting thoughts in my head for me to enjoy it fully. At the back of my mind I’m always thinking “Is this the best he can do?”

Stormzy- Big for your boots

The hype for Stormzy’s new album begins as he releases “big for your boots”. As a person living in the UK it’s hard for me not to be filled with pride, its amazing to see songs like this sounding so good and reaching a wide audience. This song instantly reached the top 10 in the UK charts at number 8. This is quite an achievement as it has only been out a week. The song itself has a chorus that is so catchy I have caught my parents singing along.

Hook-

“You’re getting way too big for your boots
You’re never too big for the boot
I’ve got the big size twelves on my feet
Your face ain’t big for my boot”

This in itself is an achievement but it also shows it’s a song that people can’t help but sing along too. Stormzy’s message is that he will basically bring anyone who gets too big an ego back down to size. This makes sense as Stormzy is one of the biggest grime artists at the moment and he has the backing of most of the community. His UK tour (16 shows) sold out, this shows this huge popularity. Although this song seems threatening I see it more as Stormzy defending grime. He has worked hard to get to where he is and he wants to protect the art. Grime is finally becoming bigger than Hip-Hop and he is doing his part to help put Grime on the map. And for that I’m grateful