London grime star Stormzy is joining the Beats 1 roster with a show on Friday nights called #Merky. Having filled in for Julie Adenuga while she was on holiday, Stormzy joked that he was taking her job, but appearing as her UK Represent feature guest this week he proved that there was room for them both, announcing that his new show #Merky will be live on a Friday night 8 – 10pm in the UK and broadcast around the world.
“I am so, so gassed to be joining the Beats 1 family. It’s a chance for me to show 100+ countries about the scene that I come from, the music I like and the artists I rate,” Stormzy said in a statement released by Beats 1.
For his first show, this Friday night, Stormzy says he has tracks from Section Boyz, Novelist, Julie’s big bro Skepta and more, and that he will launch a weekly feature called #Problems that is modelled after Adenuga’s UK Represent segment. “My feature is slightly similar to your UK Represent,” he told Adenuga, “You know, Julie’s the Don! I’m going to be doing a #Problems section, so every week I’m going to have a new #Problem that I’m going to bring to the forefront, someone from my scene, my grime scene, my UK rap scene, and I’m gonna say: ‘100 countries, here is my #Problem,’ and then it’s going to be a new artist”.
In case the idea of a Problem is new to you, Adenuga explains that it’s something Stormzy said about himself: “When someone is a Problem,” she says, “It means they’re about to cause…,” “Mental scenes,” Stormzy chips in, “Right, with good music and good talent,” Adenuga adds, “So that’s what’s going to be happening on the #Merky show”.
There will also be a section where Stormzy transforms into, erm, DJ Stiff Chocolate for an R&B section. “That’s the time of the show when things get very… smooth, you know. I start running some slow jams, that’s when the girls start getting, ‘Oh, wow, I love that’,” he explains. We can’t wait.
Credits
Text Charlotte Gush