J Hus has got it all to play for. The unsigned Newham MC has gone from who? to most-likely-to in the space of half a year and a handful of YouTube uploads. He's already scored over a million YouTube and two million SoundCloud plays for "Dem Boy Paigon"—not bad for a track that hasn't been properly released yet—while the follow-up, "Lean & Bop", is sitting on just shy of 800,000 reloads; to put that in context, in one month, it's had more plays than Krept & Konan's Rick Ross-assisted "Certified" has managed in three. So, it's fair to say that the streets are feeling J Hus. The question is: can it last?
Fact is, the roll call of UK rappers who have flopped after early hype is longer than Drake's list of people he doesn't want to be friends with. There have been untold reasons why MCs have come out strong then gone to nothing, and few of them have been to do with a lack of talent. With artists dealing with anything from bad managers making wack decisions, record labels forcing rappers from the bits to make wet pop, or the old bill going out of their way to eff-up a promising career (we see you, K Koke)—the rewards of success may be big, but the pitfalls are bigger. Here's where J Hus is gonna need to deliver if he wants to convert street hustle into Richard Branson paper.
Words: Ian McQuaid