English rapper and MC Stormzy has an estimated net of £1.5 million
Born on July 26, 1993 in Croydon, Stormzy started his career in 2010. Stormzy, real name Michael Omari, studied at Harris Academy South Norwood.
He started MCing at just age 11, where he would clash with older MCs at his local youth club. 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.
His career started on underground music scene, and after gaining attention via his Wicked Skengman series of freestyles over classic grime beats, Stormzy released his debut EP Dreamers Disease independently in July 2014. This fuelled his popularity and on 22 October, Stormzy won Best Grime Act at the MOBO awards. Later that month, championed by Radio 1Xtra, he became the first unsigned rapper to appear on Later with Jools Holland performing the song ‘Not That Deep’ from Dreamers Disease.
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In November 2014, Stormzy collaborated with rapper Chipmunk and Shalo on the track “I’m Fine”, also appearing in a video for the song. The track is part of Chip’s upcoming Believe & Achieve project.
He won Best Grime Act at the 2014 and 2015 MOBO Awards and was named as an artist to look out for in the BBC’s influential Sound of 2015 list.
Stormzy has also collaborated with other famous artists, such as Bully, Professor Green, Timbo, and Raleigh Ritchie.
On 7 January 2015, Stormzy came number 3 in the BBC Introducing Top 5 on Radio 1. Later that year in March, he released the single “Know Me From”, the first track in his “WickedSkengMan” freestyle series which entered the UK Singles Chart at number 49 and later becoming a Top 20 hit in the U.K.
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In September 2015, he released a final instalment to his “WickedSkengMan” freestyle series, “WickedSkengMan 4”, onto iTunes, along with a studio version of his “Shut Up” freestyle over XTC’s Functions On The Low instrumental. The track debuted at number 18 on the UK chart dated 24 September, becoming Stormzy’s first top 40 hit and the first ever freestyle to reach the top 40 in the United Kingdom.
On 12 December 2015, Stormzy performed “Shut Up” during British heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua’s ring-walk for his fight versus Dillian Whyte. Originally, “Shut Up”, released as part of the “WickedSkengMan 4” single EP in September 2015, charted at number 59. The song jumped into the Top 40 following the perfomance, and the rapper launched a campaign to have the song top the charts during Christmas. This boosted the track to the 8th position, and then Number 1 on the R&B singles chart. It is currently Stormzy’s highest-charting single.
