The Manchester rapper, Harrison Armstrong, better known as Aitch, has dropped his most recent debut album Close To Home (released on Aug. 19), which features sixteen songs. The 2020 ‘Rain’ rapper, has made a household name for himself, and has risen to fame at an astonishing rate; even he acknowledges his achievement as ‘it’s as if I blinked, and I am now here’.
We notice an influence from Aitch’s stance within British youth culture and the movement of UK rap music and its future. Using his roots (having grown up in Manchester) is an element that echoes in his music. “I got Manny in my core”, he raps about his proud association with his hometown, and various other semiotic expressions reflected from society and his personality – especially lyrics closely associated with sex. His natural talents in rap, his unique rap flow and image has distinguished him among other UK rappers and brought him as the Aitch we see today. Collaborating with famous UK rappers like Bugzy Malone, and D- Block Europe, has further increased his position in the UK music spotlight.
With seven UK top 10 singles under his belt, with his recent single ‘baby’, is only just scraping the surface into the rap music scene. With his 2022 hit single ‘baby’ blowing up in the radio and earning a spot in the UK top 10 music charts, it has enabled his most recent debut album Close To Home be as successful. His most recent single ‘My G’, has been an important, very personal track showing his love for his sister, featuring UK’s most well-known British music artist, Ed Sheeran. The song is dedicated to Aitch’s younger sister, Gracie, who has suffered with down-syndrome and sadly passed away; the money raised from the music video has been donated to support Down’s Syndrome Association. As Gracie was a huge fan of Ed Sheeran, it’s beautiful to see Ed Sheeran collaborating on the track with Aitch. Ed Sheeran is very quickly shown in the music video, but the focus was an emotional, moving video of Aitch watching back memories of his sister.
Aitch is currently on tour around the UK and is performing at Bournemouth O2 academy on the 20th of October 2022. I look forward to experiencing a different side to Aitch with ‘My G’ as I admire his vulnerability with the song, and it makes me excited to see him grow as an artist. I am excited to see him perform live for the first time; I think the audience will go ballistic if Ed Sheeran showed up as a surprise guest; I think it’s worth the anticipation to hope for possibility!
You can purchase tickets here:
https://www.viagogo.co.uk/Concert-Tickets/Rap-Hip-Hop-Reggae/Aitch-Tickets/E-150206164
