Pa Salieu and Slowthai drop visuals for their collaboration ‘Glidin’, the video shot by director KC Locke feature the pair shot with a fisheye lens in a number of different locations, including a padded cell and various different rooms in a house where the artists are seen to release their chaotic energy with baseball bats and chair legs.
The duo who both hail from the midlands, Pa from Coventry and Slowthai from Northampton, are spearheading a new sound of UK rap with their unique flows and content. The unique sounds ultimately coming from their unique influences.
In an interview with Clash magazine, the Coventry bred artist cited his aunt as a major influence “My auntie is a Gambian folk singer. She goes around the world, and she always used to come to my house every year. So I used to be around music, just not in it. I’ve always felt intrigued. I love what she does”. While Slowthai credited more traditional rap inspirations such as Jay Z prior to the release of his latest album as well as crediting Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys, in an interview with the Rolling stones the gapped-tooth rapper said “Jay-Z — more so for flow, wordplay, and delivery. I’ve always appreciated that from being a little kid when my uncle was playing it. I feel like there’s a lot of anger even when he’s doing the soft stuff. A heavy inspiration for me is Alex Turner from Arctic Monkeys”
Pa is from Coventry but references his Gambian heritage throughout his music, having released his breakthrough track ‘Frontline’ in January 2020 on mixtape madness a song that has taken him to perform on The tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon and appear on Genius. His ascension to UK stardom was cemented following the release of his debut project ‘Send them to Coventry’ an ode to his home city. The critically acclaimed tape saw the Gambian rapper nominated for the rising star award at the 2021 Brit awards and win the coveted BBCs sound of 2021 prize.
Northampton’s Slowthai is two albums deep into his career, his first ‘Nothing great about Britain’ was released in 2019 and was the artists stamp on the music industry. His sophomore album ‘Tyron’ debted at no.1 on the official charts eight places higher than his debut project, a clear sign of the rising rapper work in the two years between the projects.
Slowthai announced his own festival ‘Happyland’, which will take palace on the 25th of September in the artist’s hometown Northampton and will see performances from the likes of beabadoobee, Easy life, Greentea peng, Collaborator Pa Salieu and more, including the event creator Slowthai.
The video for ‘Glidin’ is available now on Pa Salieus official youtube channel, with the song available on all streaming platforms.
