"Close to Home" este primul album de studio al rapperului britanic Aitch. A fost lansat pe 19 august 2022 sub labelul Capitol Records.
Albumul conține 14 piese și include colaborări cu artiști precum Mastermind, Ashanti, New Machine, Bakar, AJ Tracey și Ed Sheeran. Sound-ul albumului îmbină elemente de grime, rap și trap, oferind o varietate de stiluri și influențe muzicale.
Harrison
James Armstrong, aka Aitch, is already a platinum-selling artist. His
stage name chimes with songwriter Terence McGaughey’s vivid memory of
gangs in Belfast demanding people recite the alphabet. If you pronounced
h as “haitch” it meant you were a Catholic, while “aitch” supposedly
signalled a Protestant. Aitch pronounces his name somewhere in between.
Most
of grime’s leading lights to date have been from London town, but Aitch
hails from Manchester. Thanks to the support and endorsement of
Stormzy, his singles and extended plays have become mega smash hits and
his press releases boast of billions of streams and millions of sales.
Unfortunately,
this appears to have led to the obligatory Ed Sheeran collaboration, a
syrupy affair that probably won’t be considered the high point of either
party’s career.
While
the roots of this music are gritty and urban, this slickly polished
manifestation of pop-orientated British rap has positioned its creator
as an ambassador for energy drinks, non-fungible tokens, and McDonald’s
first rewards scheme, transforming the 22-year-old into a poster boy for
late capitalism.
The
music is suitably dull, watery and unremarkable, occasionally
coalescing into reasonably pleasant sun-kissed pop-rap. With typical
Mancunian understatement, Aitch has made much out of the fact that Close
to Home is “10,000 per cent a Manchester record”. Liam Gallagher was
reportedly lined up for a guest appearance.
Apart
from 1989, which samples Fools Gold by The Stone Roses, and a
succession of skits in a Manc accent, there is precious little here to
back up such a claim. Over a decade ago a rapper from Tottenham called
Wretch 32 used the same sample to much greater effect on an album which
bristled with post-millennial tension.
This
album is not grime. It’s hardly surprising that Aitch claims that young
people don’t listen to grime any more, a contention that didn’t go down
too well in the wider scene. Aitch purveys a poppier, more accessible
sound, steering it away from the darkness and innovation of trap and
drill. It also puts down his marker as a new artist, while stalwarts
such as Kano drift into middle-age despite making some of the best music
of their careers.
While
Aitch admittedly has a good flow, it doesn’t really go anywhere, or
amount to anything substantial whatsoever beyond glittery urban pop.
This is music for mass consumption and a slick soundtrack to
consumerism. If he finds a greater sense of urgency, then perhaps he can
become an artist of distinction.
Close
to Home will be a very popular album, but just as Big Macs and
Starbuck’s coffee sell like hot cakes, the wisdom of crowds isn’t always
to be trusted.
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