In the eight years that have passed since young Michael Omari JR from Croydon started dropping his intense grime, he has risen to the top.

Under the name Stormzy

, he has made the big bucks, taken the genre to the top of the charts, collaborated with Ed Sheeran and played on the main stage at the Glastonbury festival.

He has also started an award-winning book publishing house and a scholarship for blacks who want to study at the top university of Cambridge. 

When the pandemic hit, he got the first and so far only break of his career.

Then the thoughts hit.

Who is he?

What trip is he on?

And what part of black British culture is he?

How to make it grow further right?

And, perhaps most of all, who is God to me?

The thoughts first turned into a song and video.

Earlier this year, the 11-minute long, celebrity guest story "Mel made me do it" was released.

Probably the best video of the year and at the same time something of a program explanation for the upcoming full-length.

But, strangely enough, a song that at the same time is not among the 12 that make up "This is what I mean". 

The same goes for those heavy, bassy, ​​electronic soundscapes with Stormzy's explosive vocals that catapulted him to stardom on the first two albums and on tracks he released beyond them.

In the new, rap

has turned into song and speech and grime into jazz funk, gospel, yes, sometimes praise.

There is no doubt where he is based on the debut album's title "Gang signs and prayer".

Stormzy has done like her single mother and headed towards the church. 

And, Stormzy himself

,

he is everywhere and, sometimes, nowhere on the album.

So many guest performances are accommodated here by both young and more established voices.

Ayra Starr from Nigeria, India Arie, Jazzy B from Soul II Soul, Debbie Ehirim and friend Sampha are some of them.

Our Swedish star Daniela Rathana also appears, albeit as sampled on "My presidents are black" 

There is a lot, a lot

to fit into the album's 50 minutes.

And when it is done both with the self-confidence that his success has resulted in and at the same time with an open, sometimes sad heart, it lands differently.

Sometimes it becomes so low-key and introspective that it almost feels private, sometimes it becomes airy luminous soul of a kind we've never heard him do before ("Need this").

Or a bit like before, on the loaded dramatic title track.

"This is what I mean" is in any case the most personal thing Stormzy has done.

And an important signpost about the importance of taking responsibility both for oneself and others.

And show that everything is possible.