Interesting facts about Slowthai

At the beginning of Slowthai’s career, BBC Online (8 January 2019) wrote that he was either a grime MC making punk music or a punk making rap. This is indeed a perfect description of the British musician/rapper. SPIEGEL Online (17 December 2019) later called him “the Anarcho-Artur of British rap”. His debut album immediately entered the top ten album charts in the UK.

Biography

Slaughter was born Tyrone Cameron Frampton on 18 December 1994 in Northampton. His mother, who is of Barbadian-Irish descent, was still a minor at the time of his birth. She raised him and his sister on her own and had another boy who lived only one year due to congenital muscular dystrophy.

Slowthai studied at Northampton Academy but often missed classes and went to a friend’s recording studio instead, which led to problems with the authorities for him and his mother. Since 2011, he has attended Northampton College and studied music technology.

Life between two chairs

Slaughtay gives the impression of a very intelligent young man who sometimes loses control of himself, which may be due to his upbringing. His single mother was half Irish and half Barbadian. Slaughtay felt a sense of belonging to the Caribbean community, but the Caribbean kids at school called him white – they didn’t want him there.

The white community, in turn, saw him as not fitting in. After their father passed away, Tyrone and his younger sister eventually found a stepfather with whom they also only partially got along. His younger brother died of a muscle disease at the age of just one.

Slaughter had to learn to cope with a lot of things and suppress his feelings very early on. He was able to hide it behind this macho confidence and brilliantly express all that anger through grime.

He wants change, not symbolic politics

Nevertheless, Slowthai’s tracks are very political and socially critical. Unlike other rappers, he doesn’t always put himself in the foreground. For example, the song “NHS”. NHS is an acronym for the National Health Service in the UK. He says about the song:

“I wrote this song because nurses are not appreciated at all. They work tirelessly and save lives, but they don’t deserve even a fraction of what politicians get. All they do is make things worse. When everyone started applauding people working in the nursing profession, it inspired me. Everyone acts like they want to make a difference. But all we do is post something on the internet or clap our hands at our door!”

Slowthai https://znaki.fm/persons/slowthai/ has good connections in the London hip-hop and grime scene, which is also evident on the album “Tyron.” Among other things, he collaborated with rapper Skepta on the song “Cancelled.” This network naturally leads to an increase in fan base, as people push each other. However, he also realizes that he is a polarizing figure:

Just what Britain needs

“I know I’m a bit annoying to listen to. But at least I make people think. They start talking. That’s exactly what I want. I don’t want to be someone who follows everyone else around and imitates everything. Hooray! I’m jumping off a bridge! Sounds fun! Boris said we should do it! So it must be right!”

“Tyron” is intellectual London grime mixed with hints of old-school hip-hop and punk. What’s more, it features lyrics that are very much needed in Britain right now. This thought-provoking, conversational approach is exactly what many Brits want. Slowthai is helping to create an audience for it.