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Jan 21, 2020This album gets better with successive listens.
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Dec 13, 2019Heavy is the Head absolutely hits it out of the park. It’s the same winning mix of grime bangers and radio friendly singing as last time, but, crucially, it’s better at making sure they work together on the same project. 16 tracks might seem like a lot, but when almost every one is a classic, it’s so hard to care.
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Dec 30, 2019On Heavy Is the Head, that throne is never taken lightly. Instead, Stormzy delivers one of the most introspective and prayerful works of the year, solidifying his elite status in hip-hop.
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Dec 18, 2019More enjoyable overall than Gang Signs, Heavy Is the Head is a well-rounded mix of toughness and sentimentality, and another rightful triumph.
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MojoDec 17, 2019Save a few saggy, meh0ish collaborations mining genres, this sparky yet spiritual blend of bum-rushing hard bangers and deep soul dives further underscores his three-dimensional star quality. [Feb 2020, p.86]
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Q MagazineDec 17, 2019Yet another display of his banter and brains. [Feb 2020, p.106]
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Dec 16, 2019Stormzy came out swinging for his second album – it’s big, it’s broad and it is mostly brilliant.
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Dec 16, 2019The spaciousness, punch and depth of these productions is telling, but it is a mark of the album’s artistic integrity that Stormzy manages to transcend genre (again) without sacrificing his core griminess, or losing too much in the way of accent, word choice, content or theme.
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Dec 13, 2019The result wittily, emotionally and triumphantly affirms his position at the head of the British rap pack. Like many of our most fascinating pop stars, from John Lennon to Robbie Williams, Stormzy lies on a knife-edge between ego and insecurity, self-confidence and self-doubt.
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Dec 12, 2019A powerful collection. And if Heavy Is The Head is one thing, it’s aware of its own worth.
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Dec 12, 2019The labyrinthine complexities of human nature are explored here in all their grit and glory, but it’s the combination of Stormzy’s charm and his knack for storytelling that allows ‘H.I.T.H’ to glimmer with a universal appeal that will please both his mainstream audience and grime fans of old; an almost impossible task that he’s amazingly pulled off.
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Dec 12, 2019it consistently hits a sweet spot. It is packed with memorable hooks – singles Vossi Bop and Wiley Freestyle are by some distance the least obviously commercial things here – but never sounds obvious or craven in its desire for chart success.
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Dec 12, 2019Not only is it a drastic step up from an impressive debut, but it shows an artist keen to test himself emotionally, as well as artistically.
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Dec 30, 2019A solid album but also not a surprising one. To boot, the main thing that grounds this album with a sense of time and place is the political side of it.
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Dec 18, 2019Stormzy sounds more natural than most in his oscillation between the streetwise rude boy and the silky lover man. ... There are a few clunkers on this overstuffed album.
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Dec 18, 2019The versatility on show gives a sheen of adventurousness that isn’t quite backed up by the beat selections—the majority of which feel like safe choices for an artist otherwise known for his accelerated ambitions.
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Dec 18, 2019The fondness for schmaltz gets a bit overwhelming, and the album is only great in patches.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 65 out of 74
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Mixed: 2 out of 74
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Negative: 7 out of 74
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Dec 17, 2019
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Dec 13, 2019This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.
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Aug 30, 2021