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Black British Music (2025)

Black British Music (2025) (stylised in all lowercase, shortened to BBM) is the second mixtape by British rapper and producer Jim Legxacy, released on 18 July 2025 through XL Recordings. The follow-up to his mixtape Homeless Nigga Pop Music (2023), it features guest appearances from fellow British musicians Dave, Fimiguerrero, and Dexter in the Newsagent. Legxacy primarily handled production himself, alongside Joe Stanley, Cppo, J Moon, and Dre Denim, among others.

Black British Music (2025) received critical acclaim, featuring on multiple year-end lists, and debuted at number 29 on the UK Albums Chart.

Background and release

On 8 July 2025, Jim Legxacy announced that Black British Music (2025) would be released on 18 July.

Composition

Overview

Black British Music is an experimental rap album, with reviewer Mehan Jayasuriya writing how the album sees Legxacy combine "audio moodboards, stitching together spidery emo guitar lines, Afrobeat drums, recognizable samples, and of-the-moment rhythms like Jersey club."

Promotion

Singles

On 27 February 2025, Jim Legxacy released the first single, "Father", on streaming services.

"Stick", the second single, was released on 10 April 2025.

"3x", featuring fellow British rapper Dave, was released as the third single alongside the album release on 18 July 2025.

"'06 Wayne Rooney" was released as the fourth single alongside an accompanying music video on 6 November 2025.

Critical reception

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Black British Music (2025) received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 90 out of 100 from 6 critic scores. Pitchfork called the album "some of Legxacy's best production and songwriting yet; he's beginning to sound like the second coming of cut-and-paste icon Jai Paul. Here, Legxacy is at his best when commanding tracks that are propulsive and chaotic: Samples collide headfirst, drums snap with the force of fingers on pads, drops overpower everything in the mix". NME called it a "potential future classic". Sheldon Pearce of NPR described the album as "a jumbled, marvelous survey of 21st century U.K. rap, identifying connective tissue with Afrobeats, emo, drill and garage." Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called the album a "homage to the last two decades of Black British music." The Economist included the album in their top 10 albums of 2025, describing it as "the most intriguing British hip-hop release of the year".

Year-end lists

Track listing

Credits adapted from Tidal.

Notes

  • All track titles are stylised in lowercase; for example, "Context" is stylised as "context".
  • "Stick" features additional vocals from Joe Stanley and an interpolation of "Going Through It", written by Joseph Adenuga and Stewart Mullings and performed by Skepta.
  • "New David Bowie" contains a sample of "Wash", written by Jon Bellion, Jason Cornet, Jason Johnson, Stef Johnson and Pete Nappi and performed by Bellion.
  • "Sun" features an interpolation of "Did You See", written by Momodou Jallow and Jonathan Mensah and performed by J Hus.
  • "06 Wayne Rooney" features an interpolation of "Hey Ya!", written by André Benjamin and performed by Outkast.
  • "Father" features a sample of "I Love My Father", written and performed by George Smallwood.
  • "D.B.A.B" features an interpolation of "Informer", written by Darrin O'Brien, Shawn Moltke, Edmond Leary, Terri Moltke and Jeffrey Silva and performed by Snow.
  • "SOS" features a sample of "Missing You", written by Joe Thomas, Tim Kelley and Bob Robinson, as performed by Case.
  • "3x" features an interpolation of "Wanna Know", written by David Omoregie, Fraser T. Smith and Tyrell Paul and performed by Dave.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.

Vocals

  • Jim Legxacy – lead vocals
  • Fimiguerrero – vocals (4)
  • Dexter in the Newsagent – vocals (12)
  • Dave – vocals (13)

Musicians

  • Joe Stanley – synthesizer (1, 2), programming (1, 14), guitar (4)
  • Jim Legxacy – programming (2–4, 6, 11–13, 15), synthesizer (14)
  • BoyRed – programming (3)
  • Cppo – programming (3, 11, 13)
  • Cole YoursTruly – guitar (4)
  • Fumez – programming (4)
  • J Moon – programming (5, 8), guitar (5, 9), synthesizer (8)
  • Baby Cashy – programming (7)
  • YT – programming (7)
  • Sai on the Beat – bass guitar (9)
  • Kiri – guitar (10)
  • Phil – strings (10)
  • Jkarri – synthesizer (10)
  • Kare – programming (11)
  • Dre Denim – programming (12)
  • Fritz! – programming (12)
  • Hoskins – guitar, programming (13)
  • Henes – programming (13)
  • DameDame* (Barbara Hyouhat, Edith Nelson) – piano, programming (15)

Technical

  • Lexxx – mastering engineer (1, 4–6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15), mixing engineer (1, 4–6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15), recording engineer (8)
  • Beau Thomas – mastering engineer (2)
  • Freeze – mastering engineer (3, 7, 13), mixing engineer (2, 3, 7, 13)
  • Nickie Jon Pabón – mastering engineer, mixing engineer (10)
  • Jim Legxacy – mixing engineer (7), recording engineer (2)

Charts

Notes

References