Heavy Is the Head by Stormzy
Heavy Is the Head (abbreviated to h.i.t.h on the album cover) is the second studio album by British rapper Stormzy. It was released on 13 December 2019 through #Merky Records and Atlantic Records UK. The album features collaborations with Aitch, Burna Boy, Ed Sheeran, Headie One, H.E.R., and Yebba. Heavy Is the Head was supported by the singles "Vossi Bop", "Crown", "Wiley Flow" and "Own It". "Vossi Bop" was Stormzy's first number-one hit on the UK Singles Chart, whilst "Crown" and "Own It" reached the top 10 on the chart. Heavy Is the Head received positive reviews from critics upon release, with praise being directed at its emotional depth and diversity of genres in comparison to Stormzy's debut album Gang Signs & Prayer. It debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, behind Rod Stewart's You're in My Heart: Rod Stewart with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and ahead of Harry Styles' Fine Line.
<i>Heavy Is the Head</i> feels like the crowning moment in Stormzy’s defining hour. Album two arrives two years after the incendiary <i>Gang Signs & Prayer</i>, and in that time the South London MC has emerged as one of the most powerful voices in contemporary Britain. <i>Heavy Is the Head</i> is testament to that new spirit. Played out over 16 songs, the album sees Stormzy lay himself bare on a record that reckons with the pressures of fame and the weight of expectation that befalls a young man ordained spokesperson for his generation.<br /> “When Banksy put the vest on me/It felt like God was testing me,” he says on “Audacity” with Headie One, calling back to that iconic moment on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage. Elsewhere, there are moments of impassioned prayer on “Do Better” and sorrowful confessions on “Lessons”. “Superheroes” is a love letter to an emerging black British generation, to whom he says, “Our parents were legends/They had to migrate,” before adding: “All I see is innovators and a bag of icons.”<br /> There is flossing on “Pop Boy” with Mancunian rapper Aitch and deep vulnerability on “One Second” with US singer-songwriter H.E.R. There is homage to his upbringing and frank reflections on the direction his life has since tilted. There is defiance and regret, there is community and hope, there is passion and pride. It is Stormzy taking ownership of his responsibility, a young man whose story and words give voice to the many who go unheard and unseen in Britain today.
