‘If you knew my story you’d be horrified’: Stormzy explains cryptic lyric to Louis Theroux

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Stormzy has opened up to Louis Theroux for his BBC series Louis Theroux Interviews, marking his first in-depth interview in two years.

In episode one of the six-part series, Theroux visits the British artist at his home, and also attends his sold-out gig in Glasgow.

At one point, Theroux asks the 29-year-old about the meaning behind a lyric from his 2019 single “Crown”.

In the song, Stormzy raps: “If you knew my story you’d be horrified.”

“I’ve been stabbed a few times… to some people that’s going to be horrifying,” Stormzy tells Theroux, explaining what he was referring to.

“You go on that journey and it can lead you anywhere. It’s a random box of prison, death, becoming an entrepreneur because you learnt to be streetwise and now you applied that, becoming a musician, becoming a footballer. But of course, the most likely ones are harmed, dead or in jail.”

Stormzy goes on to explain how he realised that the situation wasn’t “normal” after people were so shocked by his story.

Later recalling his apprenticeship for a oil refinery in Leamington Spa, when he moved in with 17 “white kids”, he says: “It helped me to see people and see life and see there’s a culture outside of my culture, which is always [enlightening] for anyone from anywhere to come out of where they’re from and to see the world – and for me it was jokes because he world was an hour and a half up the road.”

In the documentary, Stormzy tells Theroux how he once took off his hard hat to reveal a large scar. When one of the other crew members asked him what it was from, he told them he had been stabbed.

“Bruv I just remember the look on all their faces, I remember feeling like an artefact in a museum,” he says of their reaction.

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“They were all like what?!” he continues. “It was kind of a realisation that okay, yeah that’s not the most normal thing, as much as it’s normal in our community.” he said.

The rapper explains in the footage how he has lost “loads” of friends to knife crime: “It’s one of the things that happens, people pass away, people get harmed,” he says, before explaining some friends have lost “their mental health” to the point of not recognising him today.

“I’m always wary and careful when I speak about it because things are easy to discuss from the f*cking suburbs on my sofa – and as much as I’ve lived it and I’ve come from it, but it’s still people’s lives and people’s realities,” he adds.

In the 45-minute episode, the rapper also opens up about past relationships, mental health struggles, social media and more.

Louis Theroux Interviews: Stormzy premieres on BBC Two and iPlayer at 9.15pm on Tuesday 25 October.