Stormzy was honoured at the 25th annual GQ Men of the Year, in association with Boss, with a toast by fellow rapper Little Simz and current label head, Alex Boateng.
Stormzy goes back a long way with the pair. The rapper has long praised Boateng for helping to guide his career, first as an A&R rep, and now as the president of his label, 0207 Def Jam. Similarly, Simz and Stormzy have been friends for years – she got a shout-out at his iconic 2019 Glastonbury set and recently featured as one of a plethora of star cameos in the video for his comeback "Mel Made Me Do It".
“Stormzy not only wears the crown, but he wears it with class, he wears it with humility, and he wears it with his shoulders back,” Simz said. "Not only is he a solid, solid, caring individual, he's incredibly disciplined and it shows in everything he's doing. Stormz, I'm proud of you, you're amazing, and you deserve all the success."
Stormzy then took to the mic for a typically endearing speech of his own. He used his time to call out people he admired from the crowd – John Boyega, Ashley Walters, Andrew Garfield and Anna Wintour (“I'm trying to look stylish!”). “We just had a dream and I just love music, and now I'm in a room with so much people who I'm like, ‘oh shit can I get a selfie?’”
Even though it's his fourth GQ cover, he's still in awe of moments like these. “I'm just forever grateful,” he said. "I never want to be a person who's so deep in this that it just feels like a routine. To this day, it feels like an honour and a privilege to be amongst such people who are amazing and respected in their fields."
And he had some kind words for Little Simz, too. "Simz, that's my sister. I came in the game, and eight years later, nine years later, for us to be sitting here together… That's my sis and she's shining, and she's a Mercury Prize winner. There's no one who deserves it like this woman.
It's already been a busy year for Stormzy as he made his grand return to touring in March for the first time since before the pandemic. In his Men of the Year cover interview, he opened up about his emotional return to the stage. “Every night I went out I felt like, You guys are still fucking with me. You’re still there. You still like my music. You’re still rocking with me. It did a lot for my confidence because, two years since my last album, it was a reminder that this art you’ve done, your contribution to music, this offering that you’ve had to the world has lived and people enjoy it and people still fuck with it, man. It was really reassuring.”
Elsewhere during the event, Stormzy's fellow cover stars Andrew Garfield, Leah Williamson, Jack Harlow, Sydney Sweeney and Kit Connor and Joe Locke were honoured.
