J Hus
When: 30th October 2023
Location: OVO Hydro
J Hus is the British rapper takes new album Beautiful and Brutal Yard on a UK tour in October & November 2023. Coming to the OVO Hydro on 30th October 2023.
Following news of his third studio album Beautiful and Brutal Yard, J Hus has announced a UK & Ireland tour, kicking off in Dublin before dates in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and two nights at London’s O2 Arena.
London has produced a glut of awesome young rappers in recent years, but you’ll find few more as incendiary and influential than Stratford-born J Hus. Lauded by the likes of Drake, Dave, Burna Boy and Stormzy, the rapper has risen to prominence within the UK scene, courted controversy, and even pioneered Afroswing – a distinctive blend of grime, Afro-beats, dancehall and Auto-Tune-infused R&B.
Born Momodou Lamin Jallow, the Londoner of Gambian heritage was brought up by his mother in the borough of Stratford and raised on African music he’d hear at his community’s parties. He began to rap from an early age after a life-changing discovery of 50 Cent. Taking his stage name from the word ‘hustler’, J Hus pursued music fully having been expelled from school and encouraged to focus on a career in rap by his childhood friend-turned-manager Moe, alongside his older brother who both formed 2K Management.
Uploading to the internet
Recording and uploading his demos and freestyles to the internet in 2015, J Hus cut the tracks ‘So Paranoid’ with fellow Londoner MoStack and ‘Dem Boy Paigon’, the latter of which became an instant word-of-mouth hit and quickly amassed over a million views. The track’s attention paved the way for his breakthrough hit ‘Lean & Bop’ to make a sizeable impression on the UK rap scene; its surging popularity as a bonafide summer bop resulted in over ten million streams. Mighty impressive figures for a rising star.
J Hus’ debut mixtape The 15th Day spawned his first critically acclaimed single ‘Friendly’, which was nominated for a MOBO Award in 2016, and ‘Playing Sports’ which featured on the soundtrack to Noel Clarke’s Kidadulthood sequel Brotherhood. A busy year followed, as the coveted rapper was recruited for a swathe of guest appearances with the likes of Nines on ‘High Roller’, Dave on ‘Samantha’, and Stormzy on ‘Bad Boys’, all of which steadily built momentum in the lead up to the release of J Hus’ debut full-length, Common Sense, in 2017.
Featuring guest spots from Burna Boy, MIST, Tiggs Da Author, and previous collaborator MoStack, Common Sense announced J Hus as a generational talent, which was recognised with a Mercury Prize nomination that year, and in 2018 winning the Best Album at the NME Awards as well as tallying three Brit Award nominations. In 2019 he joined Drake on stage at London’s O2 Arena for ‘Did You See,’ as the Canadian headliner told him: “I wanna give you this stage so you can do what you’ve been waiting to do.”
Moving into 2020
Major success beckoned however, as J Hus made up for lost time with the release of 2020 sophomore album Big Conspiracy, which topped the UK album charts and produced a top five single in ‘Must Be’. Ahead of the album’s release, J Hus announced he had no intention of touring for “the next 3/4 years, maybe more” and was largely inactive despite the commercial success he’d achieved with his second album.
That was until 2023, with the snap-release of top fifteen single ‘It’s Crazy’ which preceded news of the Londoner’s third album, Beautiful and Brutal Yard, and follow-up single ‘Who Told You’ which saw him join forces with R&B megastar Drake once again.
