Stormzy turned down a collaboration with Jay-Z: ‘He couldn’t believe it’
US rapper wanted to appear on ‘Take Me Back to London’, Stormzy’s collaborative track with Ed Sheeran
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Your support makes all the difference.Stormzy has revealed he turned down the opportunity to collaborate with Jay-Z on a track.
The US rapper wanted to rap a verse on Stormzy and Ed Sheeran’s “Take Me Back to London”, but the grime star turned down his “number one hero inspiration” because he didn’t think it was the right song for them to appear on together.
“We were all in the studio writing, me, Ed Sheeran and Jay-Z,” Stormzy said on the episode of The Jonathan Ross Show that's scheduled to air tomorrow (30 November).
“Before that I loved ‘Take Me Back To London’ because I thought it was just going to be me and Ed, and then Ed was like, ‘Jay is getting on it.’ It blew my mind. Jay-Z is my number one hero inspiration."
After an hour-long conversation in which Stormzy told Jay-Z all about London – “everything from black culture, community and music” – Jay-Z asked Stormzy what he thought of the track.
“I had verbal diarrhoea,” said Stormzy. “I was like, ‘I love this song, but you being on the song changes everything.’ ‘Take Me Back to London’ with me and Ed is one thing, but now that Jay-Z is on it... This is Jay-Z and Stormzy, what he means to culture, what I mean to culture... I said, ‘Is this the song?’ I didn’t think it was the song… In my heart, in my soul musically.
“I felt proper bad because I was like, ‘You’re saying no to Jay-Z!’”
He added: “I was like, ‘If you didn’t ask me this, I would have just written my verse and we would have done it and I would have never questioned it, but now that you’ve asked me, no.’ I was like, ‘I know how it goes, Mr Z. You are the most brilliant, busy man and I will probably never get this opportunity ever again but hand on my heart, I don’t think this is the right song for us. I don’t know why I’m saying this to you but this is not the song.’”
Describing Jay-Z’s astonished response, Stormzy said: “Jay-Z was super proud and super shocked and taken aback by the fact that this kid told him. He fully understood… He couldn’t believe that I did it.”
Stormzy recently announced his second album, Heavy is the Head, will be released on 13 December.
The Jonathan Ross Show will air on Saturday 30 November at 10.10pm on ITV
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