''Big Conspiracy'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by British rapper

J Hus Momodou Lamin Jallow (born 26 October 1996) known professionally as J Hus, is a British rapper and singer who has been credited with pioneering the genre Afroswing. He is currently signed to Black Butter Records. He gained popularity in 2015 f ...

. 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 Jonathan Kweku Awote-Mensah (born 27 March 1992), known professionally as Jae5, is a British-Ghanaian record producer and mixing engineer from Plaistow, Newham, Plaistow, East London. He is a Grammy Award-winning producer and is signed to Blac ...

, alongside IO, TSB and Nana Rogues, plus guest appearances from Iceè TGM,

Koffee Mikayla Victoria Simpson (born February 16, 2000), who performs under the stage name Original Koffee, is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, rapper, and guitarist from Spanish Town. She released her debut single "Burning" in 2017, and signed with Col ...

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

and

Ella Mai Ella Mai Howell (born 3 November 1994) is an English R&B singer and songwriter. Her musical career began at London's British and Irish Modern Music Institute in 2014, during which time she auditioned as part of a trio on the 11th season of ...

. It follows the 2017 debut album, ''

Common Sense Common sense () is "knowledge, judgement, and taste which is more or less universal and which is held more or less without reflection or argument". As such, it is often considered to represent the basic level of sound practical judgement or know ...

'', and the 2018 EP ''Big Spang''. Two singles were released to promote the album: "Must Be" and "No Denying", both charting in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. The album debuted atop the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, becoming J Hus' first UK number-one album. It also charted in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. ''Big Conspiracy'' received widespread acclaim from critics and was nominated for the

Brit Award for British Album of the Year The Brit Award for British Album of the Year is given annually by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which represents record companies and artists in the United Kingdom. The accolade is presented at the Brit Awards, an annual celebration of ...

in 2021.

Background

The album was officially announced by J Hus the day before release via social media, following several tracks being leaked online earlier in the week.

Critical reception

''Big Conspiracy'' received widespread acclaim from critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, ''Big Conspiracy'' received a weighted average score of 86, based on ten reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Granting a perfect score, Dhruva Balram of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' praised the "excellent, career-defining production" and J Hus' "range and gift for incorporating multiple genres within one album", concluding it is a "career-defining collection". For ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'', William Rosebury wrote that ''Big Conspiracy'' "certifies J Hus as one of the most influential artists in UK music. With the expansion and growth of UK music over the past decade, many people have attempted to define what exactly UK rap or ‘underground’ music is. The truth is that it's completely undefinable – it's grime, afrobeat, soul, drill, dancehall, hip-hop, R&B, garage, jungle – it's all of them, and none of them. J Hus embodies this melting pot of sounds, and with ''Big Conspiracy'' he delivers an album that once again blazes a trail for everyone else to follow."

Track listing

Notes * The album's tracklist was updated on 4 February 2020 to include the song "One and Only".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2020 albums J Hus albums Black Butter Records albums Albums produced by Jae5