Awge Label’s First Foreign Artist is Ready to Take-off!
By Mike Cotton – 3 February 2021
During my short absence from writing blogs, I took the time to search for up-and-coming artists that are on their way to mainstream. Two weeks I stumbled upon a rapper from the United Kingdom named Slowthai, and this man’s charisma and originality within his music and its visuals are only going to get better as he progresses as an artist. He’s best known for his punk rap/ political hip hop style over aggressive beats, his style of music would influence some of the most belligerent mosh pits during live shows (if there were any). Slowthai is currently the only foreign artist to be signed under A$AP Rocky’s AWGE label (Interscope Records). Before I discovered that he’s currently signed under the AWGE label, I was already thinking to myself that with his beat selections and raw lyrics that AWGE would provide the best artists and environment for him to flourish within the rap industry.
Furthermore, the energy and brilliant ideas that Slowthai displays within his music videos are quite remarkable. Two prime examples would be from his singles “Inglorious” featuring Skepta and “MAZZA” featuring A$AP Rocky. In the song “Inglorious”, he’s highlighting things such as overcoming obstacles, not understanding him if you’re not from his environment, drug addiction, his change from aggressive to passive, and longevity. The video for “Inglorious” is where a lot of his aggression and creativity come to life. For more than half the video Slowthai was being tortured in various ways. The most creative manner in which he was tortured was inspired by the film A Clockwork Orange, in which he was strapped to a chair with a ptosis crutch attached to each of his eyes. The video for “MAZZA” also displays aggression, as both Slowthai and A$AP Rocky are in motel rooms smashing everything to pieces during a bad LSD trip. The edits to the video and the madness going on throughout it made the “MAZZA” video both funny and intriguing.
Speaking of Slowthai’s current hit single “MAZZA”, this track will be featured on his self-titled second studio album Tyron, which will be released on February 12th. I’m utterly excited to see what Slowthai’s going to deliver on this two-sided album. From the looks of the format of the album so far, it looks as if there’ll be a switch in the vibe; based off of the names and them being in all caps, the first seven songs on the album seem as if they’ll have a mosh pit vibe to them. Based off of the features for the final seven tracks, those songs may be more personal and deeper. With features such as singers, Deb Never, James Blake and Dominic Fike, those tracks probably won’t have the mosh pit vibes that the first seven tracks may contain. I’m excited to hear what Slowthai and Denzel Curry have in store as well. Being that they’re already well-acquainted and haven’t released anything together since their 2019 single “Psycho”, I cannot wait to hear if there’s any progression in their chemistry.
