Over the past 12 months, Stormzy has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the upper echelons - or, at least, the echelons that matter - of British music
Yesterday, the grime musician joined an acclaimed list of people who have served as guest speakers at the Oxford University union. According to Abbas Kazmi, Chairman of the Oxford Guild, 1,200 students balloted for a ticket for Stormzy's speech.
If you got a place, congrats. If you didn't, here are some of the issues the 22-year-old 'Shut Up' rapper discussed in a Q&A following the speech.
DRAKE
The MC discussed the rapper reportedly signing to Skepta and Jme's label, BBK.
"I think it would be a very organic thing. I don't think it would be as soon as people think. It should be a case of artists respecting each other. Drake really respects Skepta and what he's done for the culture. It shouldn't be a thing of we need that person or we need that person... We've got a lot of growing to do as a culture but that's got to happen organically."
GRIME AND SEXISM
One female member in the crowd said that if she heard someone in the street talking about a woman like some grime songs do she would "go mad."
He was then asked how he feels about how rappers refer to women, to which he replied that he finds it "embarrassing" when friends or family quiz him on certain lyrics about women.
"We're not as bad as the Americans," he added.
HAS FAME CHANGED HIM?
Not really, no. Although he thinks he's become a little more "awkward."
"I'll be brutally honest; it's made me a lot more impatient. I get nervous quicker. After this, if you wanted pictures, I'd be a bit awkward."
With regards to everyday life though, he's not so sure. "But in terms of my day-to-day life, it seriously hasn't in the slightest. I haven't experienced people saying I've changed. I would be embarrassed to change."
ON THE #BRITSSOWHITE CAMPAIGN
The 22-year-old offered up an opinion on the BRIT Awards' apparent failure to acknowledge non-white artists:
"I'm not too sure of how much of a race issue it was... I think it's more a discussion about the voting panel. We came to an agreement that most of the panel was middle-aged white guys. If you have a load of middle-aged white guys on the panel, they might not know about little Stormzy in south London. In terms of what the youth are listening to, it wasn't well represented."
THE N-WORD
With regards to the N-word, he pulled no punches or skewered his words on why it's used so much:
"It's disgusting, but I know I'm the worst. I'm trying to stop. It's not cool. I pledge to stop. It's lazy and it's bad because it's become good in a lyric, it flows well. Which sounds horrible. If you can't think of something, you throw in the N-word and it's way too horrible to be used like that."
After the chat was over, he cemented himself as an Oxford hero with a big #ShutUpCambridge moment.
"It was my dream to come to Oxford and study political science.
"I always thought Oxford is better anyway, it's got a ring to it."
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You can watch the stream in its entirety here.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Stormzy
