Tyron Kaymone Frampton , better known by his stage name Slowthai, is a British rapper. Raised in 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.
Early life
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. 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 studio album, Nothing Great About Britain which charted at number 9 on 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 the song "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, Slowthai was featured alongside UK punk bandSlaves 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 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 Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan, Ryan said Slowthai "didn't make me uncomfortable". He has since apologised to Ryan.
