'Gangsta Granddad' Raps Stormzy's 'Shut Up' On Britain's Got Talent

Britain's Got Talent turns up all sorts of weird and wonderful performances. In recent weeks we've seen magicians with amazing back stories, we've seen father and son country music duos, and now we've only gone and got a rapping granddad.

Yes, that's right. It was always going to happen eventually.

82-year-old Barry Newton took to the stage to show off his skillz and took Amanda Holden Simon Cowell, David Walliams, and Alesha Dixon completely by surprise.

In fact, they were all stunned into silence and looked incredibly baffled by the performance.

The audience were in fits of laughter, loving every minute of it.

Before he got on stage he just seemed like an ordinary granddad, he offered out mints to other hopefuls before going before the judges - classic lovely old man behaviour.

Then, once up on stage he burst into flow and rapped his way through Stormzy's 'Shut Up' whilst reading out the lyrics from a sheet of music that he had in his hand.

After his performance had concluded he got some helpful advice from some of the judges. David Walliams raised the concern that the song he chose had a bit of colourful language in it. Well, duh.

However, his concerns are that the swearing might not be suitable for a performance at the Royal Variety show, which is the overall prize that the winner receives.

Walliams said: "I did hear a rude word in there - it's not the sort of language you would expect the Royal Family to enjoy!"

That said, he did pay credit to Barry's work, dubbing him a 'gangsta granddad'.

Whilst that is sure to make anyone who actually likes grime or rap music cringe, who are we to say that there should be an age limit on hip hop credibility. After all, Dr. Dre is past 50 now, and Jay Z isn't too far away either.

However, it doesn't seem like Barry has got that much of an interest in it after all. He was pressed for some of his influences in the rap game by Alesha Dixon, and said: " I don't know any of them, I just heard that song and thought I'd copy it!"

Which is, of course, totally fine. You'd have to think it wouldn't be enough to see him through to the end though. You're gonna need to put in a bit more effort than that.

However, he impressed the judges enough to get through this round.

Yes, Barry LAD.

Featured Image Credit: Britain's Got Talent

Topics: David Walliams, hip hop, rap, TV and Film, Britain's Got Talent, Stormzy, Simon Cowell

Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a freelance journalist and LADbible contributor. He graduated from University of London with a BA in Philosophy before studying for a Masters in Journalism at the University of Salford. He has previously written for the M.E.N Group as well as working for several top professional sports clubs. Contact him on [email protected]

@TPWagwim