Stormzy drops his new fire single ‘Mel Made Me Do It’
(Credits: Alamy)

News

Stormzy drops his new fire single 'Mel Made Me Do It'

Stormzy has been the UK’s golden boy for some time now. Straight out of Thornton Heath in 2014 and 2015, the young man made it big time with his songs ‘Not That Deep’, ‘Where Do You Know Me From?’ and his ‘Wicked Skengman’ YouTube freestyle videos. Ever since he has been one of the hottest artists in the UK, and whether it’s grime or UK drill, the young rapper (real name Michael Owuo jr.) has been front and centre of the UK urban music scene.

Stormzy’s latest release comes in the form of ‘Mel Made Me Do It’ an experimental hip hop song that has the aggressiveness of a drill track but without the copy and paste hi-hat pattern that drill productions all follow nowadays. 

‘Mel Made Me Do It’ has a ten-minute video that features an abundance of cameos. The music video seems to feature everyone from Usain Bolt, Zeze Mills and Jonathan Ross to Louis Theroux, Dina Asher-Smith and Jazzie B. The video also features other celebrities, including Ian Wright, Trevor Nelson, Wale Adeyemi, Clint419 (aka Corteiz) and others. 

Dave and Little Simz also make an appearance, during the video, a reflective segment sees I May Destroy You creator Michaela Cole recite a monologue as the most prominent Black-British figures slowly appear in the video. The monologue hears Cole speak the following.

“Today we speak about foundation. Many great, black influential giants have touched people, from Soul II Soul throughout many generations. It’s often the word greatness comes to mind but footballing legends like Ian Wright make greatness come to sight. Our DNA empowers us. We can make a song and dance out of anything. Our genes are enriched it seems there is not a seam out of place in our fabric. And although sometimes we may be introvert, we’re all alone in this together. Brothers and sisters, families and businesses flipping the scripts screaming from the rooftops, echoing the unheard voices and writers, this time will be timeless.”

She continues, “So with or without signal, we are major, Gabriel once told us dreams can come true, and that sentence emancipated the minds of our pioneers. Brick by brick, a safe house and garage was opened in each community, self-sustainable and vulture resistant. Self-belief meant that the culture was left in the hands of the culture, and the revolution was re-energised the moment it was televised. I need to remind you this is not a phase, this is phase one. Almost lights, camera, action after take one. This isn’t divide and conquer, this is provide and prosper. This isn’t destroy and rebuild, this is I love my future more than I hate parts of my history. You’ve seen what we put together when we come together. You’re living in it. So let us reign in honour of the wind rushing through our veins, leaving suffering and pain. Will we ever be the same? Not any storms could have weathered the storm. But when you are who you are, you can’t run from the journey, the expectations or the destination we’re here now.”

It is a video and a song of black empowerment. Perhaps it will be controversial, but it is certainly a change from the mundane violence of drill and is highly optimistic. You can watch the full video below.