Introduction
Tyron Kaymone Frampton (born 18 December 1994), better known by his stage name slowthai (stylised in lowercase), is a British rapper from Northampton. He rose to popularity in 2019 for his gritty and rough instrumentals and raw, politically charged lyrics, especially around Brexit and Theresa May’s tenure as British Prime Minister. slowthai placed 4th in the BBC Sound Of 2019 and followed up in the same year with his debut studio album, Nothing Great About Britain. The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize; at slowthai’s 2019 Mercury Prize ceremony performance, he held a fake severed head of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on stage, generating much controversy.
Background
Slowthai was born on 18 December 1994 in Northampton to a teenage mother. Of mixed Bajan and Irish descent, he was raised by his single mother in a council estate with his sister in the Lings area of Northampton. His step-father later moved in and his younger brother Michael was born with muscular dystrophy (MD). He died in 2001, aged one, which greatly affected Frampton and the family. Frampton attended Northampton Academy and in 2011 went on to attend Northampton College, where he studied a Level 3 BTEC in Music Technology.
Slowthai frequently skipped school during his years at Northampton Academy, often spending time at a nearby underground “recording studio” at his friend's house, only stopping when his mother was forced to attend a compulsory court hearing. After college, Slowthai had multiple miscellaneous short stints in employment - he worked as a labourer and at a clothes shop before being sacked for breach of contract after he gave his friends employee benefits. After his dismissal, he focused entirely on music, downloading a copy of FL Studio and releasing numerous singles and an extended play under Bone Soda.
Music career
The name Slowthai originates from his childhood nickname; slow ty due to his slow speech and drawled tone. In 2016 he released his first single titled Jiggle and went on to release a string of singles via SoundCloud that were later removed.
In 2017 Slowthai partnered up with indie record label Bone Soda to release his I WISH I KNEW EP, Murder and T N Biscuits. Later in the same year Slowthai signed his recording contract with Method Records and since has released his RUNT EP and debut album titled Nothing Great About Britain which landed #9 in the Official Charts on the week of release.
In addition to being included in the BBC's Sound of 2019 poll and NME's NME 100 list, Slowthai has also received acclaim from publications such as DIY, Vevo and Metro as well as having his debut album nominated for a Mercury Music Prize.
Slowthai contributed additional vocals on 'What's Good' from Tyler, The Creator's album IGOR. He also featured on 'Heaven Belongs To You' from Brockhampton's album Ginger and later joined their HBTY North American tour in 2019 as the special guest.
In 2020 he was featured alongisde UK punk band Slaves on Gorillaz's single "Momentary Bliss". The single was the first "episode" of their Song Machine project.
In 2020, after winning the Hero of the Year award at the New Musical Express (NME) Awards, Slowthai dropped his microphone into the crowd, which was then thrown back at him along with a drink. Slowthai then threw his own drink and jumped into the crowd. Although viewers complained of his comments to Katherine Ryan, Ryan said Slowthai "didn't make me uncomfortable". He has apologised to the comedian.
Musical style
His music has been categorised as grime and hip hop. He often includes elements of punk rock, leading to the categorisation of grime-punk. In a 2019 article for the BBC, Kev Geoghegan described him as "either a grime MC making punk music or a punk making rap music". In an article for Vice Media, Niloufar Haidari described his music as "caustically witty bars over abrasive beats that blend grime, trap, Soundcloud rap and even punk and screamo".
He has cited musical influences including Gesaffelstein, Juelz Santana, Rosalía, Radiohead, Nirvana, Mount Kimbie, Arctic Monkeys, Sex Pistols, Justice, Oasis and Die Antwoord.
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK |
IRE | ||
| Nothing Great About Britain |
|
9 | 64 |
Extended plays
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| I WISH I KNEW ノノ |
|
| RUNT |
|
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | |||
| "Jiggle" | 2016 | — | Non-album singles |
| "Murder" | 2017 | — | |
| "T N Biscuits" | 2018 | — | Nothing Great About Britain |
| "The Bottom" | — | Non-album singles | |
| "North Nights" | — | Nothing Great About Britain | |
| "Ladies" | — | ||
| "Polaroid" | — | ||
| "Drug Dealer" | — | RUNT EP and Nothing Great About Britain | |
| "Rainbow" | — | Nothing Great About Britain | |
| "Doorman" (with Mura Masa) |
— | ||
| "Peace of Mind" | 2019 | — | |
| "Gorgeous" | — | ||
| "Nothing Great About Britain" | — | ||
| "Inglorious" (featuring Skepta) |
50 | ||
| "Toaster" | — | ||
| "Psycho" (with Denzel Curry) |
— | TBA | |
| "Deal Wiv It" (with Mura Masa) |
— | R.Y.C | |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||
Notes
- Appears on the deluxe edition of Nothing Great About Britain only.
- "The Bottom" and "North Nights" were released as a double A-side.
As featured artist
| Title | Year | Release |
|---|---|---|
| "Interior" (JD.Reid featuring 808INK, slowthai, Oscar #Worldpeace) |
2017 | Calibrate EP |
| "Noddy" (Earbuds featuring slowthai) |
2018 | Noddy Single |
| "Lighthouse" (Take A Daytrip featuring Rico Nasty, slowthai and IceColdBishop) |
2019 | TBA |
| "Momentary Bliss" (Gorillaz featuring slowthai and Slaves) |
2020 | Song Machine |
Other charted songs
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| NZHot | |||
| "High Beams" (with Flume & HWLS) |
2019 | 7 | Hi This Is Flume |
Guest appearances
| Title | Year | Other artist(s) | Album | Credit(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Like A See Saw" | 2015 | Lord Pusswhip | Lord Pusswhip Is Wack |
|
| "Piggy Bank" | 2018 | JD.Reid | Tree |
|
| "High Beams" | 2019 | Flume, HWLS | Hi This Is Flume |
|
| "What's Good" | Tyler, the Creator | Igor |
| |
| "Meanwhile... at the Welcome Break" | The S.L.P. | The S.L.P. |
| |
| "Heaven Belongs to You" | Brockhampton | Ginger |
|
Awards and nominations
| Year | Organization | Award | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Ticketmaster | New for 2019 | Himself | Included |
| Vevo | DSCVR 2019 Artists To Watch | |||
| BBC | Sound of 2019 | Fourth | ||
| DIY | Class of 2019 | Included | ||
| Metro | Ones To Watch 2019 | |||
| 2019 | Hyundai | Mercury Prize | Nothing Great About Britain | Nominated |
| Q Awards | Best Album | |||
| Breakthrough Act | Himself | |||
| 2020 | NME | Best Album | Nothing Great About Britain | Nominated |
| Best Album in the World | ||||
| Best British Song | "Deal Wiv It" | |||
| Best Song in the World | ||||
| Best British Solo Act | Himself | |||
| Best Solo Act in the World | ||||
| Best Live Act | ||||
| Best Collaboration | Himself, with Mura Masa |
Tours
| Date | City | Country | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | ||||
| 12/02/2017 | London |  United Kingdom
|
Boiler Room | slowthai x Bone Soda Party |
| 24/11/2017 | London | St. Pancras Old Church | Headline Show | |
| 2018 | ||||
| 15/02/2018 | London | United Kingdom
|
Hoxton Hall | Headline Show |
| 09/03/2018 | Bristol | Motion | Supporting Rejjie Snow | |
| 14/03/2018 | London | Roundhouse | ||
| 20/04/2018 | Oxford | O2 Academy | ||
| 21/04/2018 | Cambridge | Cambridge Junction | ||
| 22/04/2018 | Birmingham | O2 Institute | ||
| 24/04/2018 | Norwich | The Waterfront | ||
| 26/04/2018 | Leeds | Stylus | ||
| 27/04/2018 | Manchester | Academy | ||
| 28/04/2018 | Gateshead | Sage | ||
| 24/11/2018 | London | Alexandra Palace | Supporting Slaves | |
| 2019 | ||||
| 18/3/2019 | Brussels |  Belgium
|
Beursschouwburg | Brexit Bandit Tour |
| 20/3/2019 | Amsterdam |  Netherlands
|
Garage Noord | |
| 21/3/2019 | Berlin |  Germany
|
Prince Charles | |
| 22/3/2019 | Warsaw |  Poland
|
Hydrozagadka | |
| 24/3/2019 | Paris |  France
|
Le Trabendo | |
| 26/3/2019 | Glasgow | United Kingdom
|
SWG3 Warehouse | |
| 27/3/2019 | Birmingham | O2 Institute | ||
| 28/3/2019 | Manchester | O2 Ritz | ||
| 29/3/2019 | Bristol | SWX | ||
| 31/3/2019 | Brighton | Concorde 2 | ||
| 1/4/2019 | London | York Hall | ||
| 08/04/2019 | Dublin |  Ireland
|
Olympia Thetre | Supporting Dave |
| 09/04/2019 | Dublin | Ireland
|
Olympia Thetre | |
| 12/04/2019 | Glasgow |  Scotland
|
O2 Academy | |
| 13/04/2019 | Newcastle | United Kingdom
|
O2 Academy | |
| 06/05/2019 | Ramsgate | Ramsgate Music Hall | 99p Tour | |
| 07/05/2019 | Milton Keynes | Craufurd Arms | ||
| 08/05/2019 | Cardiff | The Moon | ||
| 09/05/2019 | Leeds | Temple of Boom | ||
| 10/05/2019 | Edinburgh | Sneaky Pete's | ||
| 11/05/2019 | South Shields | Trimmers Arms | ||
| 17/05/2019 | Northampton | The Garibaldi Hotel | Album launch party with Skepta | |
| 19/06/2019 | Los Angeles |  United States
|
The Echo | slowthai Woz Ere US Tour |
| 21/06/2019 | New York | Elsewhere (Zone 1) | ||
| 22/06/2019 | New York | Elsewhere (Zone 1) | ||
| 04/09/2019 | Los Angeles | United States
|
Lodge Room | Coming to America Tour |
| 05/09/2019 | San Francisco | Rickshaw Stop | ||
| 07/09/2019 | Vancouver |  Canada
|
Fortune Sound Club | |
| 09/09/2019 | Seattle | United States
|
The Crocodile | |
| 12/09/2019 | Toronto | Canada
|
Velvet Underground | |
| 13/09/2019 | Chicago | United States
|
Subterranean | |
| 14/09/2019 | Brooklyn | Music Hall of Williamsburg | ||
| 10/10/2019 | Dublin | Ireland
|
The Academy | Eurovision Tour |
| 11/10/2019 | ||||
| 13/10/2019 | Newcastle | United Kingdom
|
Newcastle University | Bet Ya A £5er UK Tour |
| 14/10/2019 | Scotland | Scotland
|
SWG3 | |
| 16/10/2019 | Manchester | United Kingdom
|
Academy | |
| 17/10/2019 | Bristol | O2 Academy | ||
| 18/10/2019 | London | O2 Academy Brixton | ||
| 21/10/2019 | Rotterdam | Netherlands
|
Bird | Eurovision Tour |
| 22/10/2019 | Amsterdam | Tolhuistuin | ||
| 23/10/2019 | Antwerp | Belgium
|
Trix Club | |
| 24/10/2019 | Hamburg | Germany
|
Turmzimmer | |
| 26/10/2019 | Copenhagen |  Denmark
|
Vega Small Hall | |
| 28/10/2019 | Oslo |  Norway
|
Vulkan Arena | |
| 29/10/2019 | Stockholm |  Sweden
|
Debaser Strand | |
| 01/11/2019 | Zurich |  Switzerland
|
Exil | |
| 1/11/2019 | Phoenix | United States
|
The Van Buren | Heaven Belongs to You Tour Supporting Brockhampton with 100 Gecs |
| 5/11/2019 | Fresno | Rainbow Ballroom | ||
| 8/11/2019 | Stanford | Frost Amphitheater | ||
| 13/11/2019 | San Antonio | The Aztec Theatre | ||
| 14/11/2019 | Dallas | The Bomb Factory | ||
| 15/11/2019 | Austin | ACL Live at the Moody Theater | ||
| 17/11/2019 | New Orleans | The Fillmore New Orleans | ||
| 19/11/2019 | Miami Beach | The Jackie Gleason Theater | ||
| 20/11/2019 | Atlanta | Coca-Cola Roxy | ||
| 22/11/2019 | New York | Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden | ||
| 24/11/2019 | Boston | Agganis Arena | ||
| 25/11/2019 | Washington D.C. | The Anthem | ||
| 27/11/2019 | Philadelphia | The Fillmore | ||
| 29/11/2019 | Toronto | Coca-Cola Coliseum | ||
| 30/11/2019 | Detroit | Masonic Temple Thetre | ||
| 03/12/2019 | Minneapolis | The Armory | ||
| 04/12/2019 | Milwaukee | The Eagles Ballroom | ||
| 06/12/2019 | Chicago | Aragon Ballroom | ||
| 09/12/2019 | Denver | Mission Ballroom | ||
| 13/12/2019 | Los Angeles | Hollywood Palladium | ||