stormzy gang signs and prayer album download free Stormzy Releases New Album ‘Gang Signs & Prayer’ – LISTEN. Stormzy has released his brand new debut album 'Gang Signs & Prayer'. After much anticipation and an epic performance at the BRITs with Ed Sheeran, the British Grime MC has dropped a stunning, emotionally raw record. The album features leading single 'Big For Your Boots', exciting tunes 'Cold' and 'Return Of The Rucksack', and brilliant collaborations 'Bad Boys' featuring Giggs and J Hus and 'Cigarettes and Cush' with Kehlani. Listen to 'Gang Signs & Prayer' below: Stormzy exclusively revealed to Capital XTRA that his upcoming tour is going to be "incredible" - which, judging by the sound of his new material, is likely to be very true. He was clearly feeling overwhelmed by the album's positive response, tweeting his thanks to his 576k followers. Emotional and overwhelmed. Love and thank yous to every single person listening #GSAP pic.twitter.com/lPjHevWp3C — 24/02 (@Stormzy1) February 24, 2017. The rapper recently sat down with Ed Sheeran in a hilarious interview, shortly before announcing their new collaboration in the form of Ed's 'Shape Of You (Remix)' featuring a verse from Stormz. 2017 is set to be a huge year for Stormzy - however, in his usual down-to-earth spirit, he recently spoke of how humbled he was to be respected by his fellow artists at the 2017 BRIT Awards. Stormzy defeats Rag’n’Bone Man in one of the closest chart battles in recent memory to score the Official Number 1 album. Plus there are new entries for Future, Thundercat and Rhiannon Giddens in this week's Top 40. Stormzy and Rag’n’Bone Man have been neck-and-neck the entire week, but Official Charts can today reveal that Stormzy has secured the Number 1 spot on the Official Albums Chart. After switching between the Top 2 throughout the last seven days, it is Stormzy's debut studio album Gang Signs & Prayer that captured the top spot with combined chart sales of 69,000, according to Official Charts Company data. A huge week for London’s Stormzy’s on UK streaming services, Gang Signs & Prayers has racked up the most first-week streams for a Number 1 album in chart history, surpassing the opening week of streaming giant Drake, and even surpassing the first-week streams of the powerhouse that is Justin Bieber and his latest album Purpose. Purpose still holds the record for most streams ever recorded in a single week, which it achieved in its second week on chart at the Number 2 position. Stormzy tells OfficialCharts.com: “It hasn’t sunk in yet. Honestly, I wish I could take every person who bought and streamed the album out with me, have dinner with them, dedicate a whole night to them. I don’t take your support for granted. I can’t thank you enough.” Stormzy sets a new bar for Grime’s commercial success, bettering the first week performance of many other huge albums from leading figures within the Grime music scene; Gang Signs & Prayer is faster-selling than Skepta's Konnichiwa, Kano's Made in the Manor and Giggs' Landlord. Going back even further, the album also pips the opening week of Dizzee Rascal's Mercury Prize winning Boy in da Corner from 2003 by nearly 10 copies to one. Gang Signs & Prayer is arguably the first pure Grime album to hit Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart. Tinie Tempah's Disc-Overy is the only other Grime-influenced record to sit pretty at the coveted top spot. Completing this week's Top 5 are Ed Sheeran's x, which rises once place to Number 3 in anticipation for his new album ÷ which was released today, the Trolls Original Motion Picture Soundtrack that has reached a new peak of Number 4, and Adele's 25 is stationery at Number 5. New entries and high climbers. The BRIT Awards aftermath continues to influence the Official Albums Chart, with Bruno Mars' 24K Magic experiencing a rise of five positions to Number 7. George Michael's Ladies and Gentlemen is also up following the ceremony, hopping from 11 to Number 8. There are more rises for Rick Wakeman - up five to Number 11 - with Piano Portraits, and Michael Ball and Alfie Boe's Together experiences uplift thanks to their performance on the Let It Shine final last Saturday. The former Number 1 album jumps from 43 to Number 13. Emeli Sande's Long Live the Angels propels fourteen places to Number 14 thanks to her BRITs spotlight, ahead of a new entry for Future with HNDRXX at 21. David Bowie's Blackstar returns to the Top 40 at 32 following his two BRIT Awards wins, and Train's A Girl, A Bottle, A Boat also rebounds into the top flight, up 51 placings to Number 36. Finally, two new entries make it into the Top 40 after their first week on sale; Thundercat's Drunk lands at 37 and Rhiannon Giddens' Freedom Highway debuts at Number 39. See this week's Top 100 Official Albums Chart in full. Look back through every Official UK Number 1 album of 2017 so far: Gang Signs & Prayer. Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs. Buy the album Starting at £11.99. Stormzy was just a kid when his elders like Wiley or Lethal Bizzle were hard at work in London's pirate radio studios, laying the foundations of grime. This mixture of jungle and garage which would burst into the world's vision with prodigy Dizzee Rascal’s 2003 debut album would form the soundtrack to his youth. While he was cutting his teeth in the youth club in his neighbourhood of Thornton Heath, grime took wing: faced with oppression (clubs were closing and grime anthems judged as being ‘too aggressive’ and were subsequently banned from the airwaves), most actors on the scene chose to go underground, or compromised with the mainstream. But it was a freestyle over one of the genre's classic instrumentals ( Functions On The Low du Ruff Sqwad) that got Stormzy noticed. Shut Up – the title of this effort which has been played and shared dozens of millions of times – played a substantial role in putting grime back on the map. It would be an understatement to say that Gang Signs & Prayer , Stormzy's first album, was eagerly awaited. While he is a creature of his times, and mixes his grime with pop and R'n'B ( Velvet/Jenny Francis, Cigarettes & Cush ) the 24-year-old kid proves that he knows the grime textbook like the back of his hand (the incomparable Big For Your Boots with its sculpted chorus and its tempo racing far above 160 BPM), and he knows to pay homage to his elders – giving a nod to Dizzee Rascal, with an interlude with pioneer Crazy Titch. © DB/Qobuz. Gang Signs & Prayer. For all the talk of new wave grime artists, Stormzy has long been standing head and shoulders -- literally and figuratively -- above his peers. Whether you agree or not with the term "new wave," it's arguably irrelevant to Michael Omari, who, on his debut album, continues to ascend the sometimes restrictive nature of the genre. The opening tracks feature plenty of the characteristic chest puffing and hostility associated with grime, ticking boxes such as declaring the hard work put in on "First Things First," an Eskibeat homage titled "Cold," and features from heavy-hitters Ghetts and J HUS on "Bad Boys." But as Gang Signs & Prayer unfolds, a lot of the bravado falls away, revealing Omari's inner workings, his roots, and his desire to elevate grime to the next level. "Blinded by Your Grace, Pt. 1" is the first sign that this isn't your typical grime album, offering a touch of gospel and a respite to the proceedings. Whereas Omari has turned his hand to slower numbers in the past -- notably on his 2014 EP Dreamers Disease -- here his singing and the accompanying backing piano feel impassioned and organic. The album continues to shift, gradually at first, with harder tracks alternating with R&B or gospel numbers; by the halfway point, "Cigarettes & Kush," mellow vibes dominate the record. The refusal to pack the track list with bangers is the differentiating factor between Stormzy the grime MC and Stormzy the artist, elegantly showcasing that grime doesn't have to play by the rules, and that artists can express themselves outside of boasting and smack talk, acting as ammo for the argument that diversity and creativity are still prevalent in the scene. The guest spots featured in the latter half of the album are perfectly chosen, with appearances from Kehlani, Wretch 32, MNEK, and Raleigh Ritchie, who all act as counterweights to Omari's deeper tones. Conversely, one of the most touching moments doesn't feature any names; instead, "100 Bags" finds Omari sharing an open letter to his mum, apologizing for past actions that wouldn't have made her proud, and promising to look after her as thanks for raising him alone. During the album's final interlude, Omari's phone rings in the booth, and on the other end is old-era MC Crazy Titch. He's calling from prison -- as he's still serving a life sentence for murder -- just to drop his endorsement: it provides a perfect summation of Stormzy the artist, in the process calling out any MCs from his generation who impose boundaries on grime. Directly afterward, Gang Signs & Prayer hits you with Stormzy's breaking track "Shut Up," reminding haters to hush; quite rightly as "Shut Up" is easily one of the biggest grime tracks in recent years.