Since releasing his debut album Gang Signs & Prayer back in February, Stormzy has been extremely busy, between live shows, festival appearances, and making short films to accompany his music. But don’t let that allow you to forget that above everything else, he’s a lyrical marvel: a new freestyle, “4PM in London,” (yeah, as in “4PM in Calabasas”) released last night, proves as much.
The track has Stormzy freestyling over the Drake beat, alternately joking around with punchlines (he’s been “doing shows from Serbia to Kettering”), shouting out his mum, sending for the UK justice system (“dumb judge took a look at me and threw the book at me / told me what I couldn’t be and what I wouldn’t be”), and throwing some shine to fellow Mercury Prize nominee J Hus, whose track “Friendly” he quotes. It’s a four minute and twenty two second masterclass, and we’d expect nothing less from one of 2017’s most large-scale success stories.
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Hear it – and see its accompanying stripped-back visual – above. If you’ve already heard it, then hear it again.
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