Stormzy has pledged £10 million over the next 10 years to organisations, charities and movements committed to fighting racial inequality, justice reform and Black empowerment in the UK.

The chart-topping musician and his company #Merky said the pledge was “just the beginning of our lifetime commitment to financially and wholeheartedly back these causes”. 

In a statement, Stormzy said: “The uncomfortable truth that our country continuously fails to recognise and admit, is that black people in the UK have been at a constant disadvantage in every aspect of life – simply due to the colour of our skin.

“I’m lucky enough to be in the position I’m in and I’ve heard people often dismiss the idea of racism existing in Britain by saying ‘If the country’s so racist how have you become a success?!’ and I reject that with this: I am not the UK’s shining example of what supposedly happens when a black person works hard.

“There are millions of us. We are not far and few. We have to fight against the odds of a racist system stacked against us and designed for us to fail from before we are even born.

“Black people have been playing on an uneven field for far too long and this pledge is a continuation in the fight to finally try and even it.”

Stormzy and #Merky added that additional information on the pledge would be announced in due course, as they urged others to join them in pledging.

Throughout his time in the spotlight, Stormzy has repeatedly used his platform for good.

In 2018, he announced that he would be funding scholarships for two Black British students a year to attend Cambridge University, covering their tuition fees and providing a maintenance grant. The scheme was extended in 2019. 

He also launched his own publishing imprint, #Merky Books, a collaboration with Penguin Random House, in July 2018, encouraging submissions from young writers.

The Vossi Bop star has also been vocal about a number of social and political issues, with the Grenfell Tower fire being a cause particularly close to his heart.

As well as appearing on a charity single to help those affected by the tragedy, Stormzy also closed the show at the Brit Awards in 2018 with a freestyle rap lambasting then-prime minister Theresa May over the way she handled the incident.