Stormzy – “Longevity Flow”
Late last year, the London grime overlord Stormzy released a relatively mellow and introspective album called This Is What I Mean. But now, Stormzy is back to talking his shit. On Friday, he teamed up with fellow UK rap star Fredo to release the tough single “Toxic Trait.” Today, Stormzy has followed that track with another new one called “Longevity Flow” — a testament to the fact that Stormzy has kept his UK rap prominence for the better part of a decade.
“Longevity Flow” has a tricky, off-kilter beat from producer GX. It’s a slow, foggy track, built from moody violins, herky-jerk bass-blobs, and skittery drum programming. Stormzy uses it to casually assert his own superiority. He says, “I’d rather be overrated and overpaid than whatever you are,” and then he rhymes it with “sewer,” “Dua,” “Akua,” and “truer.”
The “Longevity Flow” video follows Stormzy jetting around, living a glamorous life, and it has cameos from fellow UK rap giants Dave and J Hus, racecar driver Lewis Hamilton, and, uh, Tom Cruise. Has Tom Cruise ever shown up in a rap video before? Is this the first time? In the clip, Tom Cruise pops up right after Stormzy says, “They hate n***as, but they love Mike.” Is that intentional? So many questions. Tom Cruise seems very happy to meet Stormzy. Check it out below.
“Longevity Flow” is out now on Merky Music/Universal.