NAME:
J Hus
ABOUT
At the beginning of this year, J Hus made a bold proclamation: "I wanna wish you love, blessings, prosperity. 2023… I'm coming for everything." This low-key announcement served as a fitting signal that the BRIT Award-winning artist's third studio album – the highly anticipated follow-up to his UK number one record Big Conspiracy – was set to torpedo into ears soon.
Given that Big Conspiracy came after Hus’ genre-defying, platinum debut album Common Sense, news of the behemoth artist’s latest collection felt particularly colossal.
Over the past decade Hus has grown from a streetwise rap freestyler into a musical titan: an elite figurehead who slinks into view every few years and commands the attention of hungry followers with little more than a few words, or song snippets. Whether that’s Drake, who invited Hus on stage at The O2 in 2019 (“They need that music. They need his presence” – Aubrey Graham), his fans (“Bro we been starving” – everyone when Hus posts to the grid) or his global musical peers and collaborators (Burna Boy has called Hus the “best person” he’s worked with).
Just over three years have passed since Hus released Big Conspiracy – his fourteen track second album that netted him a BRIT Award for Best British Male. Now more than six have gone since Common Sense turned ears and cemented him as a rap champ; and in between both albums, he nabbed multiple features on prize winning, best selling records from some of the music industry’s most historic artists (Dave, Skepta, Stormzy, Ed Sheeran). Yet the demand for new music from Hus off the back of his previous two albums is so high that his return feels like a long sought after homecoming for a deeply revered leader.
Beautiful and Brutal Yard is that long-awaited third album from Hus. Named after the patois influenced slang term for home, the title is a reference to the two sides of Hus and his heart.
Magisterial lead single It’s Crazy is the album’s fierce comeback track. “Why you wanna see the evil in me / When I wanna live my life peacefully”, he leers. Commandeering the spacey production that builds with each verse, Hus creeps closer into view, shouting out Omar from ‘The Wire’, and wanting to beef each and every one of his peers. It’s alive. Listen and close your eyes: you can almost see the spit glistening against the mic, the fury in your headphones.
Sailing across the beat, there are instructions (“I’m the farda, giving orders”) and reflections on how little fame matters in the pursuit for power (“I don’t care if I’m a superstar”), as Hus comes back to claim his throne against the posers with lyrical menace. Repeat the hook. “The devil in me / the demon in me”. It’s all about Hus holding a mirror up to the world around us – a world that was flipped on its head since the release of his last album, for a whole myriad of reasons.
Produced by Fumes (Rimzee, MoStack) and The Elements (Burna Boy, AJ Tracey, HeadieOne), it’s cold. Coincidentally, the single’s release coincides with the six year anniversary of Common Sense. A record that flew in off the back of generation-defining street rap tracks from Hus–‘Dem Boy Paigon’, ‘Lean and Bop’ and ‘Friendly’–that proved he could make a crowd dance, and cause mayhem in the process: a brand new feat for the UK music scene.
Beautiful and Brutal Yard builds on that early afro swing atmosphere, with tracks centered around Hus’ talent for making shutting-down-the-block party music. With its hook (“Who told you bad man don’t dance / who told you gangsters don’t dance”), second single “Who Told You” coasts in from a sticky London summer afternoon and transports you, plastic cup full of spirits in hand, into the dance. Into rooms with tight dresses, men with ‘waps’ on their hips, eye glances.
This transportive effect seeps into other heaters from the album. The P2J produced ‘Massacre’ is big boss, beach side music. Hus walks across Latin American sounding sonics, using his voice as an instrument, changing tone as he bends around the production and instructs: “It gets real hot, man need aqua / J Hus activate all your chakra / Open the book to the next chapter”.
Hus has always been known for his show stopping collaborations and Beautiful and Brutal Yard is packed with them. Popcaan. Jorja Smith. Villz. Burna Boy. All testament to the multiple worlds Hus straddles with his critically acclaimed, genre-fusing music. Drill fans in particular will be pleased to see self-crowned genre king, CB, pop up on the high-octane, manic collabo ‘Cream’.
“They know I’m an alien / I feel like erasin’ them / I’m the farda / I’m raging ‘em”, Hus says near the beginning of the first verse, in another reference to his UK headman status, as skittering drill drum patterns collide with twinkling synths. Synth lines from Fumes and The Elements sound like a spaceship coming down to land, then CB comes in: “I came to war / you came to talk.”
This reload worthy collaboration with fellow east Londoner and friend CB marks new sonic territory for Hus. As does Gambia to Nigeria link-up with fellow superstar artist Naira Marley. Landing firmly in Lagos’ summer heat, it’s another example of how Hus takes listeners places.
‘Militarian’ is the name of the track. It’s also how Hus refers to his fans and a reference to the spiritual ethos that’s been imbued in the content of his music since day one. “They know we’re an African badman / anywhere we go we gotta stand strong”, he breathes, “when they ask me where I come from / I tell them straight, I’m an African.” Hus then goes on to mention how he shares that kinship with afro-bashment legend Naira: “Nigerian / Gambian / Militarian / Marlian”.
For Hus, all roads lead back to the music. Look close at the album title Beautiful and Brutal Yard and spot the acronym: baby. Whether it’s brutal, beautiful or shuffling somewhere between the two, music is Hus’ baby. On his third studio album, this has never been more clear and present.
The stage is set for his return. The man has many names – Bouff Daddy, The Farda, Elle Zollo, The Ugliest (so named after his clothing brand of the same name). But there’s only one J Hus – and his third album, Beautiful and Brutal Yard, will reach you soon.
ExpandGiven that Big Conspiracy came after Hus’ genre-defying, platinum debut album Common Sense, news of the behemoth artist’s latest collection felt particularly colossal.
Over the past decade Hus has grown from a streetwise rap freestyler into a musical titan: an elite figurehead who slinks into view every few years and commands the attention of hungry followers with little more than a few words, or song snippets. Whether that’s Drake, who invited Hus on stage at The O2 in 2019 (“They need that music. They need his presence” – Aubrey Graham), his fans (“Bro we been starving” – everyone when Hus posts to the grid) or his global musical peers and collaborators (Burna Boy has called Hus the “best person” he’s worked with).
Just over three years have passed since Hus released Big Conspiracy – his fourteen track second album that netted him a BRIT Award for Best British Male. Now more than six have gone since Common Sense turned ears and cemented him as a rap champ; and in between both albums, he nabbed multiple features on prize winning, best selling records from some of the music industry’s most historic artists (Dave, Skepta, Stormzy, Ed Sheeran). Yet the demand for new music from Hus off the back of his previous two albums is so high that his return feels like a long sought after homecoming for a deeply revered leader.
Beautiful and Brutal Yard is that long-awaited third album from Hus. Named after the patois influenced slang term for home, the title is a reference to the two sides of Hus and his heart.
Magisterial lead single It’s Crazy is the album’s fierce comeback track. “Why you wanna see the evil in me / When I wanna live my life peacefully”, he leers. Commandeering the spacey production that builds with each verse, Hus creeps closer into view, shouting out Omar from ‘The Wire’, and wanting to beef each and every one of his peers. It’s alive. Listen and close your eyes: you can almost see the spit glistening against the mic, the fury in your headphones.
Sailing across the beat, there are instructions (“I’m the farda, giving orders”) and reflections on how little fame matters in the pursuit for power (“I don’t care if I’m a superstar”), as Hus comes back to claim his throne against the posers with lyrical menace. Repeat the hook. “The devil in me / the demon in me”. It’s all about Hus holding a mirror up to the world around us – a world that was flipped on its head since the release of his last album, for a whole myriad of reasons.
Produced by Fumes (Rimzee, MoStack) and The Elements (Burna Boy, AJ Tracey, HeadieOne), it’s cold. Coincidentally, the single’s release coincides with the six year anniversary of Common Sense. A record that flew in off the back of generation-defining street rap tracks from Hus–‘Dem Boy Paigon’, ‘Lean and Bop’ and ‘Friendly’–that proved he could make a crowd dance, and cause mayhem in the process: a brand new feat for the UK music scene.
Beautiful and Brutal Yard builds on that early afro swing atmosphere, with tracks centered around Hus’ talent for making shutting-down-the-block party music. With its hook (“Who told you bad man don’t dance / who told you gangsters don’t dance”), second single “Who Told You” coasts in from a sticky London summer afternoon and transports you, plastic cup full of spirits in hand, into the dance. Into rooms with tight dresses, men with ‘waps’ on their hips, eye glances.
This transportive effect seeps into other heaters from the album. The P2J produced ‘Massacre’ is big boss, beach side music. Hus walks across Latin American sounding sonics, using his voice as an instrument, changing tone as he bends around the production and instructs: “It gets real hot, man need aqua / J Hus activate all your chakra / Open the book to the next chapter”.
Hus has always been known for his show stopping collaborations and Beautiful and Brutal Yard is packed with them. Popcaan. Jorja Smith. Villz. Burna Boy. All testament to the multiple worlds Hus straddles with his critically acclaimed, genre-fusing music. Drill fans in particular will be pleased to see self-crowned genre king, CB, pop up on the high-octane, manic collabo ‘Cream’.
“They know I’m an alien / I feel like erasin’ them / I’m the farda / I’m raging ‘em”, Hus says near the beginning of the first verse, in another reference to his UK headman status, as skittering drill drum patterns collide with twinkling synths. Synth lines from Fumes and The Elements sound like a spaceship coming down to land, then CB comes in: “I came to war / you came to talk.”
This reload worthy collaboration with fellow east Londoner and friend CB marks new sonic territory for Hus. As does Gambia to Nigeria link-up with fellow superstar artist Naira Marley. Landing firmly in Lagos’ summer heat, it’s another example of how Hus takes listeners places.
‘Militarian’ is the name of the track. It’s also how Hus refers to his fans and a reference to the spiritual ethos that’s been imbued in the content of his music since day one. “They know we’re an African badman / anywhere we go we gotta stand strong”, he breathes, “when they ask me where I come from / I tell them straight, I’m an African.” Hus then goes on to mention how he shares that kinship with afro-bashment legend Naira: “Nigerian / Gambian / Militarian / Marlian”.
For Hus, all roads lead back to the music. Look close at the album title Beautiful and Brutal Yard and spot the acronym: baby. Whether it’s brutal, beautiful or shuffling somewhere between the two, music is Hus’ baby. On his third studio album, this has never been more clear and present.
The stage is set for his return. The man has many names – Bouff Daddy, The Farda, Elle Zollo, The Ugliest (so named after his clothing brand of the same name). But there’s only one J Hus – and his third album, Beautiful and Brutal Yard, will reach you soon.
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