"Mel Made Me Do It"

25 September 2022

10 mins 52s

Mel Made Me Do It

Stormzy celebrates Black British excellence on latest track 'Mel Made Me Do It'. Named after his stylist and visual tastemaker Melissa Holdbrook-Akpose, the accompanying visuals from director KLVDR feature pioneering Black artists, athletes, and more top flight talent from all areas.

Usain Bolt, Little Simz, and other familiar faces appear throughout the almost eleven minute promo, with Louis Theroux (who made his rap debut earlier this year to mixed acclaim with 'Jiggle Jiggle') and Jose Mourinho also popping in for a cameo. It's a star studded affair, but constructed with a purpose rather than a 'throwing the kitchen sink at it' mentality.

A highlight of the piece is an emotive spoken word monologue, delivered by actor Michaela Coel and written by rap wordsmith extraordinaire Wretch 32. "Brothers and sisters, families in business/ Flipping the scripts, screaming from the rooftops, echo in the unheard voices and writers/ This time will be timeless," the piece insists, before ending with a decisive "We're here now."

It's the sort of work which solidifies Stormzy's place at the heart of not only the UK rap scene, but in music beyond the bounds of genre. Uninterested in shaking off his past, the artist continues to build on solid foundations to throw out banger after banger while his peers flit between genres in an effort to stay relevant. As he succinctly puts it: "I've been the GOAT for so long I guess it's not exciting when I win/ Boo hoo, someone grab the violins."

UK

Promos