Stormzy has made a teenage fan’s day after putting in a surprise visit to his home to redecorate his bedroom.
The award-winning rapper teamed up with the decorating company The Good Guys, who use funds from their paid work to offer free decorating to those in need.
As part of their work, The Good Guys transform the bedroom of a deserving young person every month, free of charge.
In a heartwarming video posted on the BBC’s social media, Stormzy was seen at the home of 15-year-old Ishae, who lives in Croydon, near where the grime star grew up.
The Good Guys founder Cyle Carth told BBC London: “Today’s give-back is for a student at one of the schools that we paint.
“He was selected because of his positive behaviour that he has demonstrated since starting at the school.”
Ishae had no idea that it would be Stormzy who was painting his room, so got quite the surprise when he opened his front door to find the much-celebrated musician on the other side, greeting him with a “yo, wha gwan fam?”.
“I’m shocked, I’m shocked,” Ishae explained. “Because I do music myself innit, but Stormzy’s just up there innit.”
His mum, Sandra, said: “It means a lot because he’s a good boy, he’s a brilliant boy, I know he’s a brilliant boy and I know there’s a lot of good in him. So to know that other people have seen that as well…”
Cyle added: “I’m happy with today, it couldn’t have went any better, to be honest with you.”
Since his rise to international fame, Stormzy has repeatedly used his platform to raise awareness of good causes and issues that he believes in.
Last month, it was revealed that he had pledged £10 million to charities and organisations fighting racial inequality over the next decade.
In the BBC’s video, he also voiced his support for the Black Lives Matter movement, saying: “I’ve been cheering. So even, like, we’ve been going to the protest… I haven’t been going there to grab the mic, I’ve just been saying ‘yo, this is sick’, and, like, I’m happy everyone is here.
“I feel like I don’t have any answers. A lot of people don’t have answers, but we’re all just trying, we’re all just getting together, we’re all just standing together cheering.”
“One thing I really want this movement to do is show what it means to be Black,” he added.
“You hear so much rhetoric you know, ‘all lives matter, why do Black lives matter more?’. And it’s like, ’bruv, do you not understand? If we weren’t oppressed, we wouldn’t be shouting. We would just be living our lives.
“I want you to understand that we’re not just crying and just shouting or acting like ‘Black lives matter’, this is a real pain, this ain’t some sort of trend, this is real life and this has been our reality for hundreds, thousands of years.”
