Stormzy: ‘It’s important for me to express my opinion because I’m a black man’

The grime icon says 'I'm ready to be a soldier'

Stormzy has revealed why it’s important for him to be politically active and outspoken as an artist, claiming that he’s “ready to be a solider”.

The ever-rising grime hero has often made headlines for being opinionated, speaking out on institutionalised racism and police brutality, online racial slurs, as well as the BRIT Awards excluding grime. Earlier this year, there was a Twitter campaign to make him Prime Minister.

“It’s important to me to express my opinion cos I’m a black boy. I’m a black man,” Stormzy told i-D in a new interivew. “If I see a situation and I ignore it, I’m very fake. Because if I’ve seen a situation and I’ve felt outrage, and I don’t voice it, then I’m a part of the problem. So I have to stand up. I’m not going to wait until something happens to me or my loved ones before I speak out about it, cos that’s not cool. Do I wait before it becomes a trend here until I speak up? Until it’s my sisters that don’t get let into DSTRKT? Until our government start smoking black people – ‘oh now I’m angry cos it happened here, to me.’ No, man’s angry now, bruv.”

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Opening up about his stance on the situation on Syria, he added: “I don’t know my role in this. I don’t know if I’m going to write a song that sparks crazy change. I don’t know how I’m going to contribute to the solving of this problem. But I do know that I’m ready. I’m ready to be used. I’m ready to be active. I see myself as soldier.

“People need to realise, that’s cool too. You don’t always have to be the General leading everyone to the Promised Land. There’s a flippin’ don somewhere who’s got the political knowhow and he’ll come with the plan and I’ll be ready. I don’t know where the answers are, but wherever they are, I’m ready to be a soldier. I’m ready to do my bit.”

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