During his performance at the 2019 Hyundai Mercury Prize Ceremony on September 19, Slowthai dramatically presented a decapitated head of Prime Minister Boris Johnson after performing his single ‘Doorman’. He called out to those attending, “Fuck Boris Johnson!, fuck everything… there ain’t nothing great about Britain!”. Nominated for the award for his acclaimed album, ‘Nothing Great About Britain’, the rapper, (real name Tyron Frampton), unfortunately lost out to Dave’s ‘Psychodrama’. Also nominated for the award included Nao, Foals, Little Simz and The 1975.
Crowd footage captured the moment that the ‘Doorman’ rapper brandished the stunt head aloft.
If @slowthai doesn't win, we riot. #FuckBoris#mercuryprize pic.twitter.com/LOWJQh8LZq
— Andrew Trendell (@AndrewTrendell) September 19, 2019
Yesterday, the rapper faced criticism for the live stunt, with it labelled a ‘disgrace’. The musician took to Twitter, writing a post in response to the revolt against the live performance. He said, “Last night I held a mirror up to this country and some people don’t like its reflection,”
He went on, “Yet this is exactly where we’re being taken, cut off and at all costs. The people in power who are trying to isolate and divide us aren’t the ones who will feel its effects the hardest.”
“They’re not the ones queueing at the food banks, not the ones navigating Universal Credit and not the ones having to deal with systematic oppression and hate crimes at the hands of privileged politicians who say what they want without fear and consequence.”
— slowthai (@slowthai) September 20, 2019
He described the stunt as a ‘metaphor’, saying, “This ‘act’ was a metaphor for what this government is doing to our country, except what I did was present it in plain sight.” At the same time, through his social media, Slowthai announced a range of merchandise including T-Shirts with the slogans ‘Fuck Boris’, and a cartoon image of a naked Johnson, as seen below.
FUCK BORIS T-SHIRTS OUT NOW!!!https://t.co/L7oWQeec24 pic.twitter.com/4cxgzeUtPP
— slowthai (@slowthai) September 19, 2019
Back in August, Slowthai pulled out of his supporting slot alongside Liam Gallagher for his upcoming UK Arena Tour in the fall, from November 11-29 with a concluding two night show at London’s 02 Arena. Liam said on Twitter, “Listen up all you boppers out there in the big city, all you street people with an ear fo the action. Slowthai has pulled out of the UK tour. Gutted.”
Listen up all you boppers out there in the big city all you street people with an ear for the action slowthai has pulled out of the UK Tour Gutted
I still love ya homeboy good luck in the USA LG x— Liam Gallagher (@liamgallagher) August 23, 2019
In a four star review on NME of ‘Nothing Great About Britain’, produced by Mura Masa, Natty Kasambala critiqued the album saying, “The Northampton rapper’s unique debut album is authentic and honest in all its garish glory, an indication of the sprawling possible paths for his career to grow into”.
