Slowthai

Slowthai
Slowthai at Glastonbury Festival in 2019
Background information
Birth name	Tyron Kaymone Frampton
Born	(1994-12-18) 18 December 1994 (age 26)[1] Northampton, England
Genres	Hip hop grime punk rap political hip hop
Instruments	Vocals guitar
Years active	2015–present
Labels	Method AWGE[2] Interscope (current) True Panther Sounds (former)
Associated acts	Mura Masa Kwes Darko Skepta Slaves
Website	slowthai.com

Tyron Kaymone Frampton (born 18 December 1994^[1]), better known by his stage name Slowthai (stylised in lowercase), is a British rapper. Raised in Northampton,^[3] 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 fourth 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, which caused much controversy.^[4]

Early life[]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Tyron Kaymone Frampton was born on 18 December 1994 in Northampton to a teenage mother of Barbadian descent. Frampton was raised by his single mother in a council estate in the Lings area of Northampton. His step-father later moved in and his younger brother Michael was born in 2000 with muscular dystrophy (MD). He died in 2001 which greatly affected Frampton. Frampton attended Northampton Academy and in 2011 attended Northampton College, where he studied for a BTEC in Music Technology.

Slowthai frequently skipped school during his years at Northampton Academy and often spent 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.^[5] After college, Slowthai had multiple miscellaneous short stints in employment – he worked as a labourer, a plasterer and at a branch of Next before being sacked for breach of contract after he gave his friend employee discounts.^[6] After his dismissal, he focused entirely on music; he downloaded a copy of FL Studio and released numerous singles and an extended play under the Bone Soda label.^{[citation needed]}

Music career[]

The name Slowthai originates from his childhood nickname given to him due to his slow speech and drawled tone: "slow ty".^[7] In 2016, he released his first single titled "Jiggle" and later released a string of singles via SoundCloud that were later removed.^{[citation needed]}

In 2017, Slowthai partnered up with indie record label Bone Soda to release his I WISH I KNEW EP, Murder and T N Biscuits.^{[citation needed]} Later in the same year, Slowthai signed his recording contract with Method Records and since has released his RUNT EP and debut studio album, Nothing Great About Britain which peaked at number 9 on the Official Charts on the week of release.^[8]

In addition to being included in the BBC's Sound of 2019 poll^[9] and NME's NME 100 list,^[10] Slowthai as well received acclaim from publications such as DIY, Vevo and Metro.^[11][12][13] Alongside that, his debut album was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize.

Slowthai contributed additional, uncredited vocals on the song "What's Good"^[14] from Tyler, The Creator's album Igor. He is also featured on "Heaven Belongs To You"^[15] from Brockhampton's album Ginger and later joined their HBTY North American tour in 2019 as the special guest.^[16]

In January 2020, Slowthai was featured alongside UK punk band Slaves on Gorillaz's single "Momentary Bliss". The single was the first "episode" of their Song Machine project.^[17]

On 12 February 2020, after winning the Hero of the Year award at the 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.^[18] Although viewers complained of his comments to Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan, Ryan said Slowthai "didn't make me uncomfortable". He has since apologised to Ryan.^[19]

On 15 September 2020, Slowthai released the single "Feel Away" featuring James Blake and Mount Kimbie.^[20] The song was said to be a tribute to his brother, for the anniversary of his death.^[21] On 19 November, Slowthai released the single "nhs" alongside a tracklist for his album Tyron, releasing 5 February 2021, which was then delayed a week, and planned to release 12 February 2021.^[22]

On 18 December 2020, Slowthai released "Thoughts" as a single, along with a lyric video that featured local police responding to a complaint of a social gathering.^[23]

On 5 January 2021, Slowthai released "Mazza", a single featuring A$AP Rocky.

On 9 February 2021, Slowthai released "Cancelled", a single featuring Skepta.

On 12 February 2021, Slowthai released the album Tyron, which has features including Skepta, Dominic Fike, James Blake, A$AP Rocky and Denzel Curry.

Personal life[]

Slowthai is a supporter of the football team Northampton Town. Parts of the music video for "Gorgeous" were filmed at Northampton Town's Sixfields Stadium.^[24] He has also stated that he supports Liverpool F.C.^[25]

In the summer of 2020 Slowthai got engaged to Russian singer and model Katerina (Ekaterina Kischuk), who he met online. ^{[26] [27]} On 18 June 2021 Katerina gave birth to the couples' son: Rain. ^[28]

Musical style[]

His music has been categorised as grime^[29] and hip hop.^[30] He often includes elements of punk rock,^[31][32] leading to the categorisation of grime-punk.^[33][34] 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".^[35] 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".^[36]

He has cited musical influences including Gesaffelstein, Juelz Santana, Elliott Smith, Radiohead, Nirvana, Mount Kimbie, Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys, Jay-Z, Sex Pistols, Justice, Oasis and Die Antwoord.^[36][37]

Discography[]

Studio albums[]

Extended plays[]

Singles[]

Notes

As featured artist[]

Other charted songs[]

Guest appearances[]

Awards and nominations[]

References[]