Case Study 1 - Stormzy

Personal Background: Stormzy originates from Thornton Heath, London, and attended Harris Academy South Norwood. He is of Ghanaian descent. He began rapping at the age of 11.

Musical Industry Background and Context: Before focusing on his music full-time, he studied for an apprenticeship in Leamington Spa and worked in quality assurance  for two years at an oil refinery in Southampton. 
After garnering attention on the UK underground music scene via his Wicked Skengman series of freestyles over classic grime beats, Stormzy released his debut EP Dreamers Disease independently in July 2014. On 22 October 2014, Stormzy won Best Grime Act at the MOBO awards.
Record Labels: #Merky Records, Atlantic Records UK. Independent Label. 
Stormzy describes himself as "a child of grime" influenced by the likes of Wiley and Skepta, but also cites R&B singers such as Frank Ocean and Lauryn Hill as influences on his sound.

Industry Profile: Has won various awards including 3 BRIT Awards for 'British Male Solo Artist', 'British Breakthrough Act' and 'British Album of the Year' as well as two MOBO Awards for 'Best Grime Act'. 
Has a strong social media presence with over 1 Million followers on twitter and Instagram. 
He also has a strong political view in which he shares with his followers.
In May 2016, Stormzy endorsed Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

In September 2017, after being presented with the Solo Artist of the Year award by Corbyn at the GQ Men of the Year Awards, the conservative commentator Iain Dale placed Stormzy at Number 100 on his list of 'The 100 most influential people on the Left'.

On 21 February 2018, Stormzy performed a freestyle at the Brit Awards, calling out May for her perceived inaction in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire the previous year. The following day, 10 Downing Street issued a statement defending the Prime Minister.

Stormzy has also branched into the movie industry as well as the music industry. He played a character called 'Yardz' in the 2016 British drama film 'Brotherhood', directed by Noel Clarke.

Genre and Conventions: Follows the main conventions, themes and images found in grime as most of his music is very fast paced and lyrical links in with grime perfectly. However, he has recently branched out to various genres on his recent album 'Gang Signs and Prayer' with most songs fitting into the grime genre but also a few songs being predominantly R&B and some Gospel music as well making him seem more versatile than originally perceived to be. 

Lyrical Themes and Narrative: Music videos. 

'SHUT UP' - Lyrics and body language throughout the music video could be classed as aggressive which is often linked in with the grime genre so the music video definitely connotes the genre he was aiming to go into. Throughout the entire video there is mainly black males behind him which again connotes the genre of grime as there are hardly any women in grime that are successful compared to the males. The representation of the genre throughout this video shows that it is very fast paced and often talks on personal issues the artist has experienced, could also connote that grime is aggressive and violent at times too due to language, movement, etc. Could also show that grime is very independent due to the fact that the music video doesn't have high production value as it is just him and a group of people in a park.  

'BIG FOR YOUR BOOTS' - Lyrics in this song and music video connote his perspective on people and possibly the music industry in general. Also at points shows how far he has come in his career and talks big of himself as well as putting other people in their place, 'You're never too big for the boot'. This music video represents a range of different ethnicities, ages and gender. In some shots there are only women with him in shot but not in a sexualised way, in a female empowerment way. Other shots he is with a group of males in a pub with represents a traditional view of the UK. The video is mainly set within urban areas around London but towards the end features shots of the traditional landmarks that are known around London in order to become recognisable to a global audience as well as a local audience. There are a lot of establishing shots at the beginning of the video of flats and houses around London which shows his upbringing and that he's grounded despite his success. There are also lots of close ups of people throughout the video to show the importance of the differences throughout society. The shot of him standing on a counter in a chicken shop shows that he has a jokey persona and doesn't take himself too seriously. This video has definitely shown a difference in how he wants to be shown to his audience compared to 'Shut Up' as he isn't as aggressive in this video as well as this song being slightly more pop music and having a much higher production value. 

"CIGARETTES AND CUSH' FT. KEHLANI & LILY ALLEN - This song is a lot slower and a more romantic song compared to a lot of his other work, this could show him branching out to different audiences. Production value on this video is evidently high compared to previous videos, this video is set out to be more like a short film and have a storyline to it which entices the audience. Within this video, it could be argued that the main female role in it is sexualised but not in a derogatory way. This video also touches on taboo subjects such as drugs which is quite a common theme within the genre of grime. Stormzy isn't shown as aggressive throughout this video like he has in previous videos due to the pace and lyrics of the song. The storyline to this music video is of him meeting a girl and her being a police officer with him being the main suspect in a case, making her have to decide between her job and him which ultimately she picks him. Throughout this video there are lots of close ups to show emotion and character. 

Audience: His traditional target audience would have been young males, in particular young black males but due to recent change in sound and image he has branched to many different audiences of all ages, genders, etc. Audience respond to his work fairly well, with getting lots of praise on his recent album and live appearances. In particular his performance at The BRITS 2018 when he mentioned issues such as Grenfell and Theresa May which sparked discussion within the public, praising him for speaking out of big important issues that aren't discussed as much as they should be, and even sparked discussion within politics. 

Marketing Techniques: Album Cover. 

At first sight this album cover looks fairly simple however, there are certain small details that stand out more when looked at in detail. Stormzy is the biggest person on the cover showing that it is his album and he is the only important one as his face is the only one that can be seen. He gives direct address with the audience in order to seem more intimidating due to the genre of music he makes. His name and the title of the album aren't particularly big maybe signalling that he wants to be the main focus on the cover rather than his name. The position of the main image looks a lot like the painting of 'The Last Supper' where Stormzy is the leader, being Jesus, and his group behind him could be classed as the disciples. None of the people in the main image show their faces but it seems as though everyone is male on the cover. The overall cover is very dark and doesn't have one bit of colour in it, maybe connoting that he is a simple character. The name of the album is a direct antithesis of each other and is actively shown through the main image as the 'gang signs' aspect is shown through the use of people, clothing and body language, whereas the 'prayer' part is shown through the religious connotation of 'The Last Supper' in the image.