''Crop Circle 3'' is the fifth

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 Nines, released on 6 October 2023, through Nines' own independent record label, Zino Records. It features guest appearances from Bad Boy Chiller Crew,

Big Narstie Tyrone Mark Lindo (born 16 November 1985), known by his stage name Big Narstie, is a British MC, author, rapper, singer, songwriter, comedian and television presenter. He started his career in 2002 as a member of grime crew "N Double A," thoug ...

Blade Brown Jonathan James Wrate (born 12 February 1985), known professionally as Blade Brown is a British rapper and songwriter from Battersea, London. He released the mixtape series ''Bags and Boxes'', and the ''Financial Times'' mixtapes. XXL has com ...

, Fatz, George the Poet, Little Torment,

Mark Morrison Mark Anthony Joseph Morrison (born 3 May 1974) is a British singer, best known for his 1996 platinum hit song " Return of the Mack", which was immediately met with success upon its release in several European countries. In the following year, ...

, Max Valentine, M Dot R, Miraa May, Mugzz, Ouraa, ShockTown, Skrapz, Streetz, Tiggs Da Author, Trapstar Toxic, and Tunde, while the album's production was primarily handled by

Jacob Manson Jacob Manson is a British music producer, DJ and songwriter, best known as a member of house production duo Blonde with Adam Englefield. Manson signed a publishing deal with Sony ATV in 2013. Blonde was then signed by Parlophone in 2014. With B ...

, Karlos, and Show N Prove with assistance from Handz Beatz, Jackson Romain, RJ Cherry, and several other producers. The album serves as a follow-up to Nines' third, ''

Crop Circle 2 ''Crop Circle 2'' is the fourth studio album by English rapper Nines, released on 28 April 2023 by Zino and Warner Records. It features guest appearances from Skrapz, J Styles and Fatz of Ice City Boyz, Wretch 32, M Huncho, Potter Payper, Clavi ...

'' (2023) and will serve as the final part of an album trilogy that began with ''

Crop Circle A crop circle, crop formation, or corn circle is a pattern created by flattening a crop, usually a cereal. The term was first coined in the early 1980s. Crop circles have been described as all falling "within the range of the sort of thing ...

'' (2018) and continued with ''Crop Circle 2'' (2023). Upon the release of the album, Nines released a

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

of the same name.

Release and promotion

Months after the release of the second instalment of his ''Crop Circle'' album trilogy, on 15 September 2023, Nines took to his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

to announce the release of ''Crop Circle 3'' while sharing the album's cover art and release date for 6 October. On 24 September, Nines released his highly anticipated "Daily Duppy" which premiered on

GRM Daily GRM Daily (Grime & Rap Music Daily), formerly Grime Daily, is a British urban music outlet and entertainment platform. As the name suggests, the platform is an outlet for UK rap and its various genres, such as UK drill, afroswing, trap, and Br ...

. The song served as the album's lead single. On 30 September, Nines shared the album's official tracklist to his Instagram. On 5 October, just a day prior to the release of the album, Nines released the album's second single, "Toxic" featuring Bad Boy Chiller Crew. Upon the release of the album, Nines released a

of the same name, co-starring Alhan Gencay, Talliah Storm, and Nines himself.

Critical reception

''Crop Circle 3'' received positive reviews from music critics. Writing for

, Niall Smith wrote that "overall, ''Crop Circle 3'' is a solid body of work" and that it's difficult to compare the album to Nines' past work. He stated that on the album, "there's a medley of cohesion, chaos and crystalline penmanship". ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

''s David Crone wrote that the project is a "smooth, blunt-voiced trap & hip-hop" album and that he "

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

struggle and success together in the issignature narratives". In a positive review, Tara Joshi for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' hinted towards Nines' retirement from music in her review, writing that "Nines is dreaming of a new, unconfined chapter: perhaps that’s why Crop Circle 3 sounds so enticingly free". ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

''s Damien Morris wrote that "we find Nines in a comfortable holding pattern" and that on the album, "he rehearses familiar topics" ranging from "his irresistibility to women" to "unfeasibly large bags of weed, and displays little desire to traverse deeper hinterlands".

Release and promotion

Critical reception

Year-end lists

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

References