UK

Following the release of his last critically-acclaimed album Big Conspiracy in 2022, J Hus has announced that a new album is on the way — and it’s expected to release later this year. The East London artist’s debut album Common Sense reframed British rap, bringing a combination of grime, afrobeats, jazz instrumentation, and much more. The project also brought UK smash singles “Did You See,” “Plottin,” and “Bouff Daddy” — records that kept labels, execs, and fans alike eagle-eyed and excited for what was to come next. Two years later, the musician released Big Conspiracy — after being released from prison — and he announced his new music and freedom on stage with Drake at the 02 Arena in London. The album led with singles such as “Must Be” and “No Denying” while the proj...

For the first time since year-end charts were introduced over 50 years ago, British artists made up the entirety of the year’s most-listened-to songs in the UK. Topping the biggest songs of 2022 in the UK was Harry Styles — who Hypebeast also labeled for releasing the best UK album of the year — with his hit single “As It Was.” Unsurprisingly, Ed Sheeran has two songs on the list, while newcomers such as London-based Cat Burns and Scottish dance duo LF System were also included in the top 10. Furthermore, British music also proved that old is gold, with Kate Bush’s 1985-released single “Running Up That Hill” placing sixth following the single’s feature in the latest series of popular Netflix drama, Stranger Things. The remainder of the top 10 was taken up by Fireboy DML and Ed Sheeran...

Year after year, the UK hits new levels with its musical output. It’s an incredibly difficult task to select the stand-out records from the plethora of music over the last 365 days – and this year has proven to be one of the toughest yet. This year – now musicians are free following two years of COVID restrictions – has ushered in a new sense of creativity, along with a fresh wave of self-expression that has led to artists releasing some of the best music of their careers. Additionally, 2022 has welcomed another batch of emerging faces that have produced refreshing sounds, thus keeping the gatekeepers on their toes and hungry to remind the country why they are the leaders in the industry. For UK rap, newcomers came in the form of Nemzzz, who built on his breakout single “Elevate” from 2021...

Rex Orange County has shared a statement saying that all charges against him in a sexual assault case have been dropped. In October, the musician, real name Alex O’Connor, was charged with six counts of sexually assaulting a woman in London — pleading not guilty to all of the charges at Southwark Crown Court.  The singer-songwriter was accused of assaulting the woman on six occasions between June 1 and 2. He allegedly assaulted the woman twice in London’s West End — once in a taxi, and three times at his home in Notting Hill. Following the allegations, he was set to provisionally face trail on January 3, 2023.  Now, in a statement posted today, Rex Orange County revealed that all the charges against him have been dropped. “Today, all charged against me have been dropped,” he said...

House Of Pharaohs rapper, Sam Wise has returned with new music and he is more mature than ever before. Earlier this year, Hypebeast caught up with the London-based musician following his recent Billionaire Boys Club campaign, of which he was involved in the continuing press run from his critically-acclaimed project, Free Game. Now, the rhymer is back with another new E.P. in the form of None The Wiser — and he’s just dropped off some new visuals to go with it. For the six-track project, Wise taps into different yet refreshingly-new sonics, using trap drums, uplifting horns, and a melange of electronic piano chords that take us on retrospective and grateful journeys in records such as the E.P-opener “Guess Who’s Back” and “Thankful.” Furthermore, the new project is also a lot less collabora...

Back on a victory lap of his worldwide hit “Doja” — which became the first U.K. rap record to appear on Cole Bennett’s Lyrical Lemonade — West London rapper Central Cee is back with a new song aptly dubbed “Let Go.” It’s no lie that the U.K. music scene is currently going through a phase of “sample music.” For example, Aitch sampled Ashanti for his smash record “Baby,” while Digga D also sampled 50 Cent for “Pump 101.” And while there’s a slew of other examples that have arguably not hit the mark, this current sample trend is separating the best from the rest. This is best seen now in Central Cee’s new “Let Go” drop. Flipping the hook from Passenger’s 2012-released “Let Her Go,” Cench provides a chorus more befitting the rhymer who earlier this year rapped: “How can I be homophobic? My b*t...

While Little Simz continues to reap the rewards of her critically-acclaimed record Sometimes I Might Be Introvert — including a Mercury Prize, MOBO, and BRIT Award — she’s already back with more content that dives into topics of vulnerability, Black excellence, setting boundaries, and nonconformity on her surprise new album, NO THANK YOU. This new record from Simz is smaller in scale in comparison to the movie-like Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, however this new project — which has been exclusively produced by Inflo — still incorporates similar sonics such as live orchestra elements, and a full choir for added substance. Additionally, Simz has also enlisted the silky-smooth vocals of Cleo Sol who adds an extra layer of soulful energy to the package. Spanning across 10 tracks, NO THAN...

Hot on the heels of his recent Best Album Award at the 2022 MOBO Awards, U.K. rapper Knucks has just dropped a new deluxe version of his winning project Alpha Place – and the musician has also announced the release of a brand new, two-part documentary. The first installment of Alpha Place was a well-received one, featuring hit records such as “Leon The Professional,” Nice & Good” featuring SL, “Die Hard” with Stormzy, and the Breaking Bad-inspired single, “Los Pollos Hermanos.” However, this new deluxe version of the project features two new songs, “Lucious” with U.K. drill front-runner, Kwengface — which dropped earlier this year — and an all-new track in the form of “Don’t Look Up.” For Knucks, his music is rooted in various pockets across the rap universe; o...