Momodou Lamin Jallow (born 27 May 1995), known professionally as J Hus, is a British rapper and singer who has been credited with pioneering the genre

afroswing Afroswing, also known as Afrobashment, or less commonly Afrobbean or Afro-trap (not to be confused with the French genre), is a genre of music that developed in the UK during the mid-2010s, derivative of dancehall and afrobeats, with influence ...

. He is currently signed to

Black Butter Records Black Butter Records is a British record label based in London, England. It was founded in 2010 by Olly Wood, Henry Village and Joe Gossa, with an investment of £5,000, and was named after a brand of condiments that had the same name. It wa ...

. He gained popularity in 2015 following the release of his song "Dem Boy Paigon". J Hus' "

Did You See ''Did You See...?'' was a long-running British television review programme that began on the BBC2 in 1980. The programme took a look back at the week's television with a discussion between the presenter and three guests. In the first run ther ...

" became his most successful single, peaking at number nine on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and eventually being certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

. In 2017, he released his debut album, ''

Common Sense ''Common Sense'' is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political arg ...

'', which was critically acclaimed—it was named the best UK album of 2017 by ''Complex''. The album reached number six on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. In June 2018, he was arrested in Stratford and charged with carrying a knife in public. Hours after his release from prison in April 2019, he made a surprise appearance on stage at Canadian rapper

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

's concert at the

O2 Arena O2 Arena may refer to: *The O2 Arena (London) *O2 Arena (Prague) *The 3Arena The 3Arena (originally The O2) is an indoor amphitheatre located at North Wall Quay in the Dublin Docklands in Dublin, Ireland. The venue opened as The O2 on 16 Decemb ...

in London. In January 2020, J Hus released his second album, ''

Big Conspiracy ''Big Conspiracy'' is the second studio album by British rapper J Hus. It was released on 24 January 2020 by Black Butter Records/Sony Music UK for streaming and digital download. The album features production from frequent collaborator Jae5, al ...

'', which featured appearances by Jamaican singer

Koffee Victoria Simpson (born 16 February 2000), better known as Koffee, is a Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter, rapper, and guitarist from Spanish Town, Jamaica. She released her debut single "Burning" in 2017, and in 2019 signed with Columbia Record ...

, Nigerian singer

Burna Boy Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu (born 2 July 1991), known professionally as Burna Boy, is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and record producer. He rose to stardom in 2012 after releasing "Like to Party", the lead single from his debut studio album, ''L.I. ...

and British singer Ella Mai. The album became his first number-one on the

and received widespread critical acclaim.

Early life

J Hus was born in London and grew up in the city's Stratford district. He is of Gambian descent and was raised by his mother, who emigrated to England when she was 25 years old. Jallow was raised

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

and is of ethnic

Fula Fula may refer to: *Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe) *Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani) **The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language **The Fula variety known as the Pular language **The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde *Al-Fula ...

and Wolof heritage. Growing up he had wanted to become an actor "but then around Year 10 or Year 11, it was whatever really", and he was expelled from school as he had, in his words, "started getting into a bit of trouble." In September 2014, distraught following two separate prison stints, he was advised to focus on pursuing a music career by his childhood friend Moe who also agreed to be his manager. Moe and his older brother would go on to form their own management company 2K Management. J Hus got his stage name from the word "hustler", explaining that he would buy a pack of doughnuts and sell them individually at a profit when he was in secondary school.

Career

2015–present: ''Common Sense'' and ''Big Conspiracy''

J Hus began his career by recording several freestyles, including #StreetHeat, Bl@CKBOX and GRM Daily and publishing them online. He followed this with "#Rated", which samples the beat from

French Montana Karim Kharbouch (Arabic: æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 13. ...

's "Don't Panic", and "Want From Me" Remix of

Kojo Funds Errol Kojo Bellot, better known professionally as Kojo Funds ( ; born 30 March 1995), is a British singer-songwriter and rapper. His music blends West African and Caribbean sounds with road rap, dancehall and pop. Kojo Funds featured on Yxng Ba ...

' song, which gained a lot of coverage, helping his breakthrough. His next release was "Dem Boy Paigon", which was described by Ajay Rose of The Link Up as having "brought together an Afro-beat sound with lyrical rap ... capable of turning any dance upside down". He followed this with "No Lie" and his SB:TV "Warm Up Session". Around the end of March 2015, he and

MoStack Montell Samuel Daley (born 31 August 1994), known professionally as MoStack, is a British rapper and singer from Hornsey in North London. After releasing a string of online songs and non-album singles between 2014 and 2016, he released his debut ...

released their "Westwood Crib Session". In late May 2015, he released "Lean & Bop", which was streamed more than 10 million times in total on music platforms. Around this time, he also released a "Daily Duppy" for GRM Daily, which he followed with his first mixtape, ''The 15th Day''. Jallow released the single "Friendly" in 2016, which received a nomination at the 2016 MOBO Awards, as well as "Playing Sports", "Liar Liar" (remix) and "Solo One", the last of which appeared on the '' Brotherhood'' soundtrack. In 2017, he featured on Nines' "High Roller", which featured on his album '' One Foot Out''. He also featured on

Stormzy Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. (born 26 July 1993), known professionally as Stormzy, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2014, he gained attention on the UK underground music scene through his ''Wicked Skengman'' series of f ...

's "Bad Boys" from his album '' Gang Signs & Prayer'', which peaked at number 22 on the

, on

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

's "Samantha", which peaked at number 63, and charted at number 9 with his solo composition "Did You See". The song served as the lead single off his debut album, ''

'' (2017). Upon release, the album was positively received by fans, and includes features from Mo Stack, MIST, Tiggs da Author and

. In May 2018, he released his EP, '' Big Spang'' (2018). Following his arrest for carrying a bladed article in public, Jallow was sentenced to eight months in prison. Jallow's label stopped releasing music, with his only verse whilst incarcerated coming from the song "Disaster" which was released on collaborator

's debut album, ''

Psychodrama Psychodrama is an action method, often used as a psychotherapy, in which clients use spontaneous dramatization, role playing, and dramatic self-presentation to investigate and gain insight into their lives. Developed by Jacob L. Moreno and h ...

''. "Disaster" debuted at number eight on the UK Singles Chart on 15 March 2019. Hours after his release from prison in April 2019 he made a surprise appearance on stage at

's concert at the

in London. In December 2019, J Hus announced he will no longer tour for "the next 3/4 years, maybe more". He also stated that following his next album, he would have no more features but that he wanted to work with

and

21 Savage Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph (born October 22, 1992), known professionally as 21 Savage, is a rapper based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Born in London, he moved to Atlanta with his mother at age seven. He became known after releasing two m ...

Personal life

J Hus is a supporter of

Arsenal F.C. Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (i ...

Legal issues

In 2011, J Hus was arrested outside Westfield following a "mass attack" on four people, which ended in one of them being stabbed. He'd already received a referral order that year after being caught with a knife in public. In 2014 and 2015, he was arrested and served stints in Her Majesty's Feltham Prison. He accrued six convictions for ten offences between 2011 and 2016, including for carrying a knife and for violent disorder. He has also been given an ASBO. In September 2015 the musician was admitted to hospital after being stabbed five times in London. Whilst in hospital, he was criticised for posting on Instagram a photo of him making a gang sign from his hospital bed with the message "5 stab wounds could never stop me #AntiCh #F***DaOvaSide". The attack left him with mild

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

, for which at the time of his 2018 imprisonment he was seeing a therapist. In June 2018, he was arrested in Stratford and charged with carrying a knife in public. He was subsequently dropped from the performance line-ups of the TRNSMT and

Wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

festivals. Jallow appeared at

Thames Magistrates' Court The Thames Magistrates' Court is a magistrates' court in Bow, London, England. It is located near the Bow Road tube station Bow Road is a London Underground station located on Bow Road in Bow, London, England. It is on the District and H ...

on 22 June and was released on bail. On 20 July, he pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea in October and in December was sentenced to eight months in jail. When asked why he had been carrying a six-inch blade, J Hus said: "You know, it's Westfield." He was eventually released on 5 April 2019 and was welcomed back by Drake, joining him on stage at the 02 Arena during Drake's UK Assassination Vacation Tour.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Mixtapes

Singles

As a featured artist

Other charted songs

Guest appearances

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hus, J 1995 births Black Butter Records artists Living people English people of Gambian descent Fula people Rappers from London People from Stratford, London English male rappers Gangsta rappers Black British male rappers Brit Award winners