Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	83/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Evening Standard
The Guardian
The Independent
The Line of Best Fit	9/10
musicOMH
NME
Pitchfork	7.6/10

Gang Signs & Prayer is the debut studio album by English grime artist Stormzy. It was released on 24 February 2017 independently through #Merky Records while being distributed by ADA of Warner Music Group. It is Stormzy's first major commercial release, following the Dreamers Disease EP (2014). The album features guest appearances from fellow MCs Wretch 32, Ghetts and J Hus, along with singers Kehlani, Raleigh Ritchie and MNEK. It features production from Fraser T Smith and Sir Spyro, among others.

The album was supported by the lead single "Big for Your Boots". Gang Signs & Prayer received critical acclaim upon release, and entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1 with sales of 69,000, becoming the first grime album in history to reach number 1. It holds the distinction of having every song from the album appear concurrently on the UK Singles Chart, including 7 songs in the Top 40.

After garnering attention on the UK underground music scene via his Wicked Skengman series of freestyles over classic grime beats, Stormzy released his debut EP Dreamers Disease independently in July 2014.

In March 2015 he released the single "Know Me From", which entered the UK Singles Chart at number 49. In September 2015, he released a final instalment to his "WickedSkengMan" freestyle series, "WickedSkengMan 4", onto iTunes, along with a studio version of his "Shut Up" freestyle over XTC's Functions On The Low instrumental. The track debuted at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Stormzy's first top 40 hit. The online video for "Shut Up" garnered millions of views and attention from the mainstream. As a result, Stormzy launched a Christmas number 1 campaign to get the song to number 1, ultimately peaking at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart.

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