It’s a rare “chill day” for Aitch as he joins a Zoom call with Rolling Stone AU/NZ.
At 25, he’s achieved what most rappers could only dream of: BRIT Awards, songs with Ashanti and Ed Sheeran, a Forbes 30 Under 30 nod, and earning hero status in his hometown, Manchester.
To celebrate his latest album, 4, he’s touring Australia in January with shows lined up in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Brisbane.
Reflecting on a busy few months post-release, Aitch sounds content.
“The reception’s been sick man, people have loved it,” he says.
Reaching No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart, 4 features a notable guest list featuring AJ Tracey, Anne-Marie, and Avelino, a fair representation of the lane Aitch occupies within his domestic scene; he’s unfazed by the challenge of a radio hit or a track with the hardest rappers in the country.
Released independently, 4 finds Aitch leaning into his Manchester roots and core fanbase, as opposed to a glossy label rollout — 4 is named after the M40 area code in Manchester, after all. The album is, he admits, his most “carefree” work to date.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in Australian/New Zealand music and globally.
While 4 was intentionally created for easy consumption, it represents how Aitch feels right now. With no label pressure, he’s enjoying the moment. “I didn’t really care, but in a good way though. There was zero pressure, it’s just a personal memory board.”
With the eight-year anniversary of his debut project, On Your Marks, approaching in December, Aitch’s self-assurance and tactical pivots have kept him successful for years.
Emerging amidst the UK drill craze in the late 2010s, he went in the opposite direction and doubled down on his rapping ability, carving out his own lane and eventually becoming a modern face of his hometown.
While drill became the UK’s official entry into the global conversation, Aitch’s lane stayed parallel. Nearly a decade later, with drill’s dominance fading, the space around him feels wide open again. An underground revival that will likely shape the country’s future sound is being spearheaded by artists like Jim Legxacy and Fakemink, and Aitch is excited.
“It’s sick,” he says. “For me, anything that’s not the same old is great. I don’t want to call it a wave, because waves come and go, and whether it becomes mainstream or not is another story.”
He thinks the current underground movement is connecting because people “are more open to it.”
“Look at Playboi Carti. A lot of these new artists get their influence from him, which makes sense. I think that’s a good thing because the UK underground scene isn’t trying to be too Americanised,” he continues. “They’ve still got their accents, and it’s still very local,” (Coming from Manchester, that’s what worked for him.)
“All these young G’s are probably looking at the game and thinking, ‘What can we do?’ It’s not exciting when you see someone new come up, [and] they’re just kind of a replica of something. And sometimes they’re not even a replica of someone else, they’ve just attached themselves to a certain sound they know is doing well right now.”
“People like Jim Legxacy and whatnot, they’ve not done that,” he claims. “They’ve come out on their absolute own wave, and that’s why it’s worked in my opinion.”
Having been an established presence in the UK scene for years now, Aitch’s contribution to the slow-burning global recognition the scene is receiving shouldn’t be understated.
Nowadays, he doesn’t stress about remaining relevant — alongside his global army of supporters, Manchester has his back “I always just try and do the little things. Even just being in the area and showing people love, people can go home thinking in a different way.”
Aitch adds to the list of local working-class Mancs, from Oasis to Joy Division to Bugzy Malone, who turned local grit into global success. For local kids, seeing him walk down Market Street makes success feel tangible.
“I’ve met people in the ends and it’s lightened up their day, and they walk home thinking, ‘Right, Aitch is from this street, if he can do that then we can do this,'” he says. His relationship with his hometown has also grown over time. “I feel like I’ve gone harder representing Manchester the less and less time I’ve spent there, funnily enough.
“When I first came about I was like one of two people from Manchester, maximum. It was only right for me to like extra go hard with the Manchester thing because there weren’t many of us. Now, it’s just solidified in England. I don’t know if it seems like this anywhere else, but in England, I’m just known as that guy from Manchester.”
Aitch reps Manchester with pride, of course, but he also recognises that leaving the nest was as essential to his success as putting it on his back was.
“You gotta live life, man. You gotta explore,” he insists. “You can’t just be sat here and you’ve never left the area. Half the time when you’re in the ends, everyone’s complaining about how shit it is anyway. So, then you leave the ends and then someone wants to say, ‘Oh, you’re never on the ends anymore.’ And it’s like, ‘Well, you’ve been calling it shit for the past five years, why are you still there?’
“The most effective way I’ve given back is probably just 24-7 screaming my postcode, and screaming my area, and screaming my city,” he adds. “I think, again, the fact that I’m known as that guy from Manchester, which makes people wanna go to Manchester and they’re sending me photos on roads I’ve shot videos on…”
Nowadays, Aitch has more clarity on his “why.”
Despite his youth, he’s learning that leaning into his maturity alongside his own experience is what keeps him grounded. “I think I’m just naturally getting older,” he says. “So, in my head, I’m not really as excited or impressed by things that I would have been a couple of years ago.
“I know that sounds so stupid and childish, but I’m just not as gassed about things that I shouldn’t be. That’s what keeps me grounded. I do this for my family first. After that, I know that I’m not the only person on this earth with my music taste, and I also feel like no one makes music like me. Therefore I feel like there’s a lot of people out here right now who feel like they’ve got no good music to listen to. So I’m going to keep making music for those people.”
Itching to hit the tarmac Down Under in January, Aitch says the constant flow of UK acts in Australia is because it “feels like home.”
“You guys actually get sarcasm. I’ve been around in Australia meeting fans and I’m just totally being myself, saying things that I would say with the mandem and everyone’s getting it. Whereas when I go to America, I’ve got to say everything three times.”
Ticket information for Aitch’s Australian tour can be found here.
