Northampton rapper and MC, Slowthai has appeared on Radio 1’s Live Lounge covering The Verve’s ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’, putting his own spin on the 1997 hit.

Slowthai is fresh from the release of his sophomore album, ‘Tyron’, which has been met with acclaim from fans and critics alike. He’s got a massive arena tour on the way and is right at the peak of his powers. This week, Thai popped down to Radio 1’s legendary Live Lounge.

He took on The Verve’s legendary Britpop hit, ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ – an interesting choice to say the least. Slowthai moved away from his usual grimey, venomous delivery and exercised his pipes somewhat. There are moments on the new album, ‘Tyron’, where Thai softens up somewhat and Slowthai gives himself the chance to be more vulnerable and intimate.

The cover version, then, is pretty decent – although it’s split fans. Slowthai has a clearly talented band behind him who pull the strings and sound pitch perfect. Thai faces his band as he delivers Ashcroft’s lyrics in his unique style, they rattle through the track without a hitch – the backing band gives Slowthai enough space to do his thing and deliver the lines as he choses. The version is beautifully chilled and atmospheric. There’s a haunting quality to the instrumentals that make the track glimmer and shine

Thai also played a live version of album track ‘i tried’ – one of the softer and more intimate cuts from ‘Tyron’. Slowthai has quite a tour lined up, playing a series of intimate, low capacity shows before looking to tear up arenas at the start of 2022.

You can see Thai’s cover below, he also played a Live Lounge version of ‘i tried’ from second studio LP, ‘Tyron’.