Description:
slowthai knew the title of his album long before he wrote a single bar of it. He knew he wanted the record to speak candidly about his upbringing on the council estates of Northampton, and for it to advocate for community in a country increasingly mired in fear and insularity. Three years since the phrase first appeared in his breakout track Jiggle, Tyron Frampton presents his incendiary debut Nothing Great About Britain.
For Ty, its been a long journey to this point. He recalls first rapping aged 8 - mostly to impress friends in the playground, or to win the attentions of his largely absent father - before a VHS bootleg of 8 Mile procured from the barbers fired his imagination. Even in the early days his flow stood out, that serrated slur initially dismissed as weird by peers and later respected for exactly the same reason. Today, the 24-year-old MC is rapidly becoming notorious as the rarest of commodities: an authentic voice in an increasingly gentrified world.
Ask Ty about it, and hell tell you hes only speaking his truth. I knew what I wanted to say on the album, he explains. Its basically my experience of growing up [in the UK]; of having a family that were immigrants originally, of the stories theyve told me, of my childhood and how Ive lived my life. Through it, Ive gone on a journey of explaining how everything I was chasing to make me feel good only clouded my judgement.
And it took me going through a tonne of shit to realise that none of these things - no money, no drugs, no fake relationships - is gonna make me happy, or make me a good person. Tys wasnt the easiest of upbringings. The oldest of three kids, he was raised almost single-handedly by his teenage mum, in a city with rapidly declining prospects. Tragically, his younger brother passed away, aged just one. He watched his stepfather hustle, his uncle struggle with addiction and Ty himself grappled with his own racial identity, I didnt fit in with a group because I werent black nor white.
Channelling these experiences into his debut, Ty is totally immune to self-pity. On the title track he sets about systematically dismantling the stereotypes of British culture, bating the Royals and lampooning the jingoistic bluster that has ultimately led to Brexit and a surge in nationalism. Tea, biscuits, the roads: everything we associate with being British isnt British, he cries today. Whats so great about Britain? The fact we were an empire based off of raping and pillaging and killing, and taking other peoples culture and making it our own? And yet, in the closing bars, when Ty growls, Hand on heart, Im proud to be British, he means it. Its the people that make Britain great, he explains. The whole albums about community and coming together, because your family, your community and the bonds we have as people is all that matters.
Largely recorded in early 2018 in East London, with Kwes Darko producing, the album serves up a succession of candid snapshots of British life. Drugs, disaffection, depression and the threat of violence all loom in Tys visceral verses, but so too does hope, love and defiance. Linking up with Skepta for the Tarantino-referencing Inglorious, the pair warn haters, Come up against us and youll fail. Dead Leaves celebrates cutting off toxic relationships, the nostalgic Toaster explores the construct of UK society and the authorities misled impression of people like him, while on Grow Up - featuring Birmingham MC Jaykae - Ty preaches the importance of being present in the moment.
Those familiar with Tys previous form badmouthing Brexit and trolling Theresa May might find Nothing Great About Britain less explicitly political than expected. This lack of specifics is born out of a desire not to date a record that he hopes will resonate with people 40 years down the line. In actual fact, its Tys decision to deal unflinchingly with painful personal experiences that make his debut such a deeply political record. The albums focal point is unquestionably the autobiographical closing track. A searing account of an upbringing informed by financial struggle and adversity, Northamptons Child finds Ty praising his mums tenacious spirit and selfless dedication to her family. Having knocked the Royals off their pedestal on the albums opening track, here he crowns his mother as his only Queen, before confessing No way I can pay you back / I just hope I can make you proud.
Standing alongside righteous anger and hard truths, its this willingness to appear vulnerable that makes Ty such a compelling storyteller, and this debut a vital cultural document, testament to the healing power of music. As Ty himself explains, Music to me is the biggest connector of people. It dont matter what social circle youre from, it bonds people across divides. And thats why I do music: to bridge the gap and bring people together.
TRACKS
1 Nothing Great About Britain
2 Doorman
3 Dead Leaves
4 Gorgeous
5 Crack
6 Grow Up feat. Jaykae
7 Inglorious feat. Skepta
8 Toaster
9 Peace Of Mind
10 Missing
11 Northamptons Child
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