Tyron - Slowthai: Review

Slowthai

is a British rapper who turned heads in 2019 with his explosive debut album Nothing Great About Britain. He crafted provocative and politically charged songs with a unique and hard-hitting take on grime and synonymous British rap genres. In the two years since he has massively expanded the scope of his collaborations appearing on tracks with Flume, Brockhampton, Denzel Curry, Amine and Gorillaz. 

Review By Lav:
I really enjoyed Slowthai's debut album. While he certainly had a sound he was comfortable with he consistently executed it and made for one explosive track after another. Since then he has shown up across a number of tracks showing off his versatility. Versatility has proven to be the word defining this era of Slowthai's music as the record is split into two halves. The first half is made up of tracks that would mostly fit in with his first record, in your face, hard-hitting bangers. The second half however shows a much more vulnerable and emotional side of Slowthai's music. The dichotomy had me excited for the record given how clearly talented Slowthai is, and for the most part he pulls it off. 

The two singles from the first half of the record are arguably its most high profile features. MAZZA came first and sees Slowthai teaming up with A$AP Rocky for an impossibly smooth banger. The beat is slick as fuck and has enough versatility to hold up and remain fresh for the entire song. A$AP Rocky provides a great multi-faced feature and Slowthai pens a great hook for an all around killer song. The opening track 45 SMOKE is a fast paced hard-hitting trap flavored banger to kick the whole record off. The first verse is comfortably Slowthai but on the 2nd verse he does his own version of the Playboi Carti baby voice thing and honestly I think its hilarious and a ton of fun. PLAY WITH FIRE is another highlight from the records first half and it sort of serves as a transition between the records styles. There are still rattling drums and deep bass in the instrumental and Slowthai is lyrically confrontational but overall it has a much mellower approach. It is a little step into the style he is about to jump into full force on the records second half. 

The other big single is CANCELLED which sees Slowthai teaming up with Skepta which is great because I loved their first team up. The pair take on cancel culture with some decent logic although they do trip over their own points a couple of times. I wish Slowthai had a little bit more prescence on his own song because the unrelenting aggression he brings on his verse is one of my favorite parts of the song. VEX is a short and very to the point banger as well as the most grime inspired track on the record. It's confrontational and full of hilarious enunciations and aggressive lyrics. I do wish the hook was raised up a little in the mix because its a very low impact moment in an otherwise high impact song. The hook problems persist on DEAD with a track that could have been improved quite a bit if I could hear the chorus a little better. Other than that the song is solid with a muddling piano instrumental and Slowthai delivering some realness through his words and performance. 

I enjoyed the first half of the record as I mostly expected to. The pleasant surprise of Tyron is that the second half is even better and sees Slowthai getting personal over a series of well written, produced and assembled tracks. The pair of singles from this half of the record were both big highlights for me last year. nhs is quite literally a letter of appreciation to the British National Health Service but doesn't just stop there as he seems to reach out to other emotionally marginalized people amid the pandemic for a cautiously optimistic anthem. The hook is straight up Brockhampton with the melodies and pitched up vocals coming straight out of Ginger and I enjoy the song even more now than I originally did as a single. feel away was another huge highlight that made it onto my Singles Of The Year list last year and is still one of my favorite songs on the record. It's built around an absolutely icy key phrase and Slowthai puts all of his boyish charm on display. James Blake provides the tracks second verse and performs as beautifully as ever syncing up with the instrumental in a flat out gorgeous way. James and Slowthai feel like two different sides of the songs priorities pulling in their own direction and its reflected in a wonderful instrumental arrangement. I just can't say enough good things about the song. 

i tried is the first song on the records second half and its a great track with a beautiful little instrumental for Slowthai to absolutely smash with his strained performance and witty lyrics. He is self-aware but never really bleak on the track and it makes for a really rewarding emotional experience, focus features a combination of Mount Kimbe and Kenny Beats and it shows in the cloudy beauty yet punchy versatility of the songs instrumental. That multi-faceted nature allows Slowthai to switch up his performance throughout the track fittingly and the results are very dynamic. push is a shorter track featuring guest vocals from Deb Never and she delivers a reserved but refreshingly pretty vocal performance. Slowthai is rapping over a fluttering string arrangement and some isolated high hats which sounds weird at first but he's up to it. Even when the fuller instrumental comes in on the second half he maintains total control of the track vocally.

I also enjoyed the closing track adhd which definitely touches on its title subject matter with flashes of Slowthai's experience as a child but it also feels like a bit of an effort to rid himself of people in his life who don't want the best for him. It's a refreshing sentiment and Slowthai approaches the song with raw vulnerability. He closes the entire record off with one of his most intense performances on a shouted cutthroat final verse and a funny final bar referencing his own exit from the song and ultimately the album. 

The only track I didn't love on the records second half was terms. It once again features Kimbe and Kenny on production but you really can't tell as the instrumental comes off as pretty standard for the most part. Dominic Fike features on the hook and god does it just drag out way too long with melodies that aren't really hooky or impactful and a bit of an undersold performance. Denzel Curry also features on the track but its just a bridge delivered with his vocals pitched down that takes a lot of the impact out of his delivery which is particularly weird given how raw and exciting Denzel and Slowthai's last collaboration was. Slowthai himself brings a pretty infectious energy to the track but almost everything around it is a miss and it feels like a massive waste of talent. 

Tyron is a pretty good record when all is said and done. While it's on the shorter side and has a couple of tracks I'm not head over heels for it also has a number of big highlights that show off how much Slowthai has grown as an artist. Looking to the future if he can assemble a record with hard-hitting bangers and emotionally gripping anthems throughout it could be a generation defining project, and on Tyron he shows every capability to do that. In the meantime however this is a fun, thoughtful and unmistakably energetic project that I'll be revisiting a lot this year no doubt. 7.5/10 

Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:

I really enjoy this cover. The large subject of the tree is overwhelming in the space and easily recognizable while there are smaller details hidden inside when you look closer. The color of the sunset is nice but not over cliche with oranges and reds replaced by more mellow tones. It does start to lose my interest towards the top so I would have maybe made more use with that empty sky space for some text. It does need some sort of branding that could have brought it all together. 7.5/10

For more hip hop check out my review of Rico Nasty's Nightmare Vacation here