The grime genre is slowly, but surely taking over the rap game in the U.K. The big standout of the genre right now is Stormzy, whose debut record Gang Signs & Prayer recently topped the charts in the U.K. Even more impressive, the album set a record for the most first-week streams for a number 1 album in chart history, with 13.9 million streams, besting none other than Drake’s commercial juggernaut Views. To celebrate his tremendous success Stormzy took to Twitter and announced the early arrival of his new music video “Cold.”
In celebration of #GSAP going gold I present to you #COLD – https://t.co/J2lPxBe4Gy @ 10PM ❄️❄️❄️ pic.twitter.com/FrGx23E2Jz
— Stormzy (@stormzy) March 12, 2017
As you would expect, the feel of the visuals is decidedly chilly. Directed by Floyd Soriétu, the clip shows Stormzy rapping in a perennial state of Winter, with snow falling all around. In an interview with The Fader, Stormzy related how “Cold” changed the way he approached grime.
“My favourite line is: ‘All my young black kings rise up/ Man this is our year/ And my young black queens right there/ It’s been a long time coming I swear.’ I just love the fact that I can say that on the tune, and it can resonate. ‘Cold’ was a turning point for me, because I figured out how to approach grime differently. It isn’t a political ‘conscious rap’ song — it’s a bubbly, fun, vibrant grime track. But with that one message, it becomes bigger than a song, it becomes bigger than me.”
Check out “Cold” above.
