Why I (Unfortunately) Have To Disapprove Of Stormzy's Glastonbury Appearance

The 25 year-old Rapper from Croydon may have excited the media and the predominantly white and privileged festival goers, but has he sold out and forgotten his roots in the process?

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few days, you will no doubt be aware of the mass outpouring of praise for Stormzy after his Friday night headlining slot at this year's Glastonbury Festival in Somerset.

We are being constantly reminded how it is 'so amazing' that a BAME person could ever perform at this majority white elite festival and that Stormzy is now a deity and musical equivalent of Beethoven.

This is enough to me vomit induce, and please white people save your fake virtue signalling nonsense - I really find it rather racist and not at all complementary of my race. The thing with race equality and acceptance is that you do not worship us just because you think it will get you brownie points and likes on Facebook or re-tweets on Twitter. We are open to criticism as much as we are praise, and if we are to look at Stormzy we need to look at him as an artist consider that he has released only one album and is already being heavily marketed and hyped even when his material is meant to appeal only to certain demographic groups.

Stormzy is a name, yes, and people may well point out that 'big names sell out arenas'. Take That, Pink and The Spice Girls all sold out this summer... your point being what exactly?

My main grievance is that Stormzy now appears to be pushed by the media more towards entertaining white and privileged audiences more so than his black hometown fanbase. Dare I suggest that he is now 'selling out' to fields of Milky Bars? I have seen Stormzy before he hit the heights of his fame, and have noticed that his audience has gone from 100% BAME to I would say less than 10% at Worthy Farm in Somerset, and my fear is that he is being used as a Black 'Musical Prostitute' to entertain white elitist kids who wish to top up on their 'woke points' rather than listen to the music.

Stormzy is making the classic Black Lives Matter blunder of getting into bed with the wrong white people - he entertained the very people we should despise, as these white elites are the problem, they are the ones with the hands on the levers of power and the very people who keep black people poor. These white kids pretended to care, the hypocrisy was rank rotten – tell me what does a white boy called Henry from Ascot really know about drug, gun and knife crime in London? Sorry, nice as the white boy is, he is always going to be clueless and just won't get it. Talk with a white kid from a poor area and he/she will understand more about economic hardships and actually get what you are saying – there's more room for back and fore discussion for them and room for growth, development and balance.

Please, Stormzy, do not forget that it was your black brethren who made you and believed in you. I am not saying that you cannot talk or perform to white people - as an artist that is your call, but I am annoyed that you appear to be becoming more led by the white media as a reason for them to feel good and proclaim how 'with it' they are. I appreciate that the reasons might appear to be good - no racism and division - but when it is obvious pandering then it is easy to see through. Like us for who we are, not our skin colour, and please treat us like human beings - being Black does not mean that we are Gods, we should be judged and valued on what we individually bring to society.

Finally, to the white kids who think that singing Vossi Bop will earn them praise points - get over yourselves, you are fakes and are hurting race relations and diversity more than any gammon-head in the small towns. Black people and black music is not your token, by all means appreciate the music but let the music and talent be the over-riding factor.

As the Rt. Hon. David Lammy MP rightly said recently, Black people do not need nor desire white saviours and this also applies within our own society in the UK - we do not need you to like Stormzy just because you are told to like him, so please take your wokeness and stick it where the Sun doesn't shine.