Music video analysis – ‘big for your boots’

The music video for stormzy’s ‘big for your boots’ presents the artist-Stormzy in many ways using: mis en scene, characters and a wide range of diversity in social groups and backgrounds to enforce the idea that he is a man of area and a man of the people, and a person who came from nothing to something. Towards the end of the video, he is seen with a group of ‘geezers. (White, working-class Britons, associated with football hooligans etc.) taking into consideration he was with a group of black boys and another 2 Sikh men earlier in the video, it reinforces the idea that stormzy’s is respected by his community and is a big ‘player’ or character in his area. The name of the song – big for your boots – touches on the idea that he has came up and made himself into something even though people doubted him and told him that he is getting ‘big for his boots’.

By being in shots in different locations, with different social groups he can show that he is respected in his ‘hood’ which is what he is trying to portray throughout the video by including the stereotypical factors involved with the ‘hood’ lifestyle like wearing tracksuits, being in deprived areas/ blocks. Stormzy is an artist with money do not be fooled by the locations in the music video, however I believe he has purposely decided to film in deprived, urban areas to credit his people, the people of his background, who came up from humble beginnings just like him.

For example, in this shot, there is a mis en scene change- change of clothes and location. he is at a chicken shop in south London (Morley’s). this amplifies the fact that stormzy is remembering his roots even though he had made past the stage of chicken shops- chicken shops are found in deprived areas in urban cities as cheap, good tasting food, an alternative to spending lots of money on a takeaway, money that many kids like a young Stormzy didn’t have as youngsters. I feel like this is inspiring to kids currently coming up from the struggle as it shows them it is possible to make things happen even when your disadvantaged earlier in life. This is very important and applaudable as stormzy is inspiring the youth by this, however he is also selling himself by massively appealing to the many who are in the working class (as they could feel that they have been forgotten and neglected by people who have made success, that have originally came from a working-class background.