BACK TO THE BAR

Fresh from climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of charity, Manchester rapper Aitch returns with a shackles-off second studio album crafted with high-energy live shows in mind

- BY FRED GARRATT-STANLEY

Arena shows with Coldplay, huge singles with Ashanti and Ed Sheeran, a BRIT Award, and a gargantuan charity fundraising campaign: Manchester rapper Aitch has scaled new heights over the past couple of years. But make no mistake, the fierce, no-nonsense rapping ability that caused him to blow up in the first place is still at the core of his artistic identity. On his new album 4, set for release on 20 June, Aitch is on a mission to remind people of that.

“I'm still not a joke, man, on the mic,” he states firmly, dialling into a video call from his light, spacious apartment in Manchester. “I don’t think it should be surprising, it should be ‘How dare we forget? Aitch has been doing this.’ I suppose when I chose to chill out and step back after my first album, I left it on a bit of a sour note for my super rap fans, because I had the Ashanti tune going off, I had the Ed Sheeran tune going off; I left it on a very female-based, mainstream note and then went missing for a bit. People forgot I came in the scene murking rappers.”

The 25-year-old’s ascent has been so dramatic that you can forgive a little forgetfulness from listeners when it comes to his roots. Aitch, whose real name is Harrison Armstrong, was catapulted to fame after his ‘Straight Rhymez’ freestyle blew up online in 2018. At this point, he’d been steadily growing his fanbase for a couple of years, dropping freestyles on increasingly far-reaching platforms. “The Birmingham grime scene played a big part in my come-up,” he says. “Watching P110 Media and JDZ Media cyphers with people from Nottingham, Derby, Birmingham, it was more relatable than watching certain people from London.”