I’m A Celebrity… is always a bit of mixed bag of “stars”, but when Ant and Dec reveal the line-up of contestants that will be joining the jungle each year, there’s always a bit of a differing generational “eh?” to some of the cast.
This year, younger people might not have been immediately aware of who Ruby Wax was; while older viewers will have scratched their heads about Angryginge, and Aitch, a rapper from New Moston, Manchester.
But while some IAC fans are yet to appreciate the musical musings of the musician – real name Harrison Armstrong – his 2.4 million followers on Instagram give a bit of an idea of just how huge he is, and how successful his career has been so far.
So, where did it all begin for Aitch? And what was the one, freestyle rap that shot him to fame? Let us spit some bars and fill you in…
ITV
Aitch’s breakthrough freestyle rap video
Looking like he was straight outta the playground, Aitch was uploading raps to YouTube channels like P110 since 2016, but in 2018, one of Aitch’s friends recorded him performing ‘Straight Rhymez 1′ and put it on his socials, where it promptly blew up. Almost four minutes of the wittiest lyrics and tongue-twister rhymes, he threw shade at his rivals: “So many haters, thank the Lord, that’s a blessin’ / It’s sad, they just mad, they can’t get in where I’m shellin'”, while also shouting out Failsworth, Five Guys and his favourite season (“Summer time / watch a white boy flex wid a tan”).
Telling the story of how he found success on Tuesday night’s show, Aitch said: “I made my own YouTube channel, put a freestyle on it just to build some subscribers, but it just happened to blow up rapidly. Next minute, Stomzy’s commenting on it, all these rappers that I’d grown up listening to. I’d never seen nothing [sic] like it, it didn’t stop.”
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Aitch said the response was completely unexpected: “I remember being proper p***ed off at the time. I was just freestyling with my guys. I didn’t know it’d be going on the internet! But then I saw how many views I was getting and all the good feedback I thought, maybe, I could do something here.”
To date, it’s had 30 million views on YouTube, and in 2023, when he celebrated the song’s five year anniversary, he said on Instagram: “It’s been a f**king mental ride full of ups downs lefts rights and I’ve ended up here. Multiple platinum records, multiple awards , crazy numbers + more. Basically everything Ive been wishing for since before I even made Straight Rhymez. From the Polo to the Maybach!”
Stormzy approved
According to this 2022 interview, when the song dropped online, Stormzy commented on it with just one emoji: the snowflake, meaning he thought it was a stone-cold banger. “I was gassed,” Aitch said. The pair went on to collaborate on a track together in 2019 called ‘Pop Boy’, which appeared on Stormzy’s Heavy Is The Head album.
I’m a Celebrity… airs on ITV1 and ITVX.
Read more I’m a Celebrity news on our dedicated homepage
Ariana & Witches in newsagents or online, priced at just £8.99.