Slowthai at Royale 4/30
I have long dreamt of the day where my American peers finally realize just how good British rap is. I can’t place my finger on why they don’t get it, but literally all I want is to live in a world where I don’t accidentally kill the vibe of a party just by playing some Skepta or AJ Tracey (true story, sadly!)
When that day finally arrives, someone who I think is poised to benefit the most is Northampton’s Slowthai, whose unapologetically fierce style and cheeky demeanor has long straddled the thin line between the mainstream and underground for a few years now. I was gripped by Slowthai’s debut album Nothing Great About Britain when I first heard it during my sophomore year, as the fiery manner in which he rallied against an increasingly conservative and nationalist UK administration – he made the news for waving a model of Bojo’s decapitated head during his performance at the 2019 Hyundai Mercury Awards – was particularly relevant at a time where governments the world over were heading on similar trajectories.
Since then, Slowthai has only continued to make his name as one of the UK’s most promising talents, issuing the ambitious new album Tyron last year, building cross-pond relationships with American rap staples like Denzel Curry, Take A Daytrip, & A$AP Rocky, and even exploring styles outside of rap through punk-leaning collaborations with Mura Masa & Gorillaz.
Fresh off that afternoon’s spring fling – an annual concert series held at Tufts – festivities, a few friends and I managed to rally and head over to the Royale. After the craziest opening set from hardcore outfit Show Me The Body – until then, I’d never seen a mosh pit form as a band takes the stage – Slowthai and his DJ emerged. “Boston – this is the last show on our tour, so you’re gonna make this a memorable night, right?” Slowthai proclaimed to rapturous cheers, before starting things off with the Kenny Beats produced track “ENEMY.”
Slowthai followed with the Skepta-assisted “CANCELLED,” one of my personal favorites from Tyron. He rattled through a few more bangers from the album, such as “45 SMOKE” – the song’s “rise and shine let’s get it, bombaclaat dickhead bombaclaat dickhead!” refrain was stuck in my head for the following few days – “DEAD,” and “MAZZA,” with a furious passion. After spending the afternoon at a show where the attendees were there largely to get sloshed, it was refreshingly energizing to be somewhere where the crowd was deeply engaged with the music, as the crowd shouted and screamed every lyric near flawlessly back at him.
Most of Slowthai’s discography is comprised of hard, fast, and aggressive heaters, but he has a few slower-paced tracks as well. In these moments, a more sentimental side to Slowthai emerges, as he exhibits his vulnerabilities and appreciation for those in his life. In this live setting, his performance of “i tried,” “push,” and “feel away” brought the crowd together, and also had the added benefit of giving them a chance to cool off (if only for a few minutes!)
Slowthai is one of those artists who just doesn’t have a bad feature, which is good because he’s been tapped as a featured artist quite a number of times. He made sure to dig into his discography as a featured artist that night, performing “Psycho,” “Deal Wiv It,” and “Momentary Bliss,” tracks he guested on courtesy of Denzel Curry, Mura Masa, and Gorillaz respectively. As mentioned earlier, Slowthai doesn’t really rap on his work with Mura Masa and Gorillaz – in fact, “Momentary Bliss” really makes me wish that he just had a purely punk EP. Despite the change in pace, the crowd responded in kind, screaming the titular refrain of “Deal Wiv It” with pure ferocity.
Slowthai drew surprisingly little from his back catalog that night, but when he did, he made it count. One particularly memorable moment was when he invited an audience member on stage to perform Skepta’s verse on his breakout hit “Inglorious” – I must confess that the thought of volunteering for that duty did briefly tempt me. And of course, “Doorman” from NGAB, the song which he chose to close his set, garnered a second wind from the crowd like no other.
In my ~2.5 years of attending shows all around Boston, I’ve come to view the Royale as a strictly mid-sized venue. There’s always a degree of separation between the audience and performers there, but Slowthai somehow made it feel like a crowded underground club with a maximum capacity of 100 people. A never-ending stream of people jumped up on stage throughout the entire show with no security ever trying to stop them, and Slowthai embraced them all with open arms. He danced with a few of them, even going so far as to do a “ring around the rosey” type thing with an entire group, before patting them on the back and sending them back where they came from. And after the show ended, he even briefly stuck around on stage, hilariously vibing to Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” of all things.
Outside, after reconvening with my mates who I had inevitably lost in the crowd, we began to talk about what we had just witnessed. “I straight up got kicked in the head,” one of them remarked with a huge grin plastered on her face. That about sums it up, methinks.
