Tyron Frampton was born in Northampton, and he earned his nickname due to his slow, slurred speech. He grew up listening to several styles of music, such as indie, garage, and jungle, and began freestyle rapping in his early teens. He first made an impact with "Jiggle," a single that appeared in early 2016. While slowthai later stated that he made the song as a joke, it kick-started his career. The 2017 single "Murder" directly preceded his debut EP, I Wish I Knew. That year, he also made an appearance on JD. Reid's Calibrate EP with the track "Interior," which also featured 808ink and Oscar #Worldpeace. 2018 brought several singles accompanied by provocative, horror-influenced music videos, including "Polaroid" and "North Nights," as well as the RUNT EP on Method Records. In 2019, slowthai made a guest appearance on Flume's mixtape Hi This Is Flume, rapping on the song "High Beams," which reached the Top Ten of the New Zealand singles chart.
Slowthai then released his ambitious debut studio album, Nothing Great About Britain, which included guest appearances from Skepta, Mura Masa, and Slaves. The record garnered rave reviews, charted in the Top Ten of the U.K. charts, and was nominated for the Mercury Prize. The rapper was named Hero of the Year at the 2020 NME Awards. His output during the year included solo singles like "BB (Bodybag)" and "Magic" along with the Gorillaz collaboration "Momentary Bliss," which also featured Slaves. He returned later in the year with the Mount Kimbie and James Blake collaboration "Feel Away." "MAZZA," with A$AP Rocky, preceded the release of his second full-length, Tyron, which arrived in February 2021. It became the first slowthai album to reach number one in the U.K. In 2022, he released "i know nothing," the first single from his third album, Ugly. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi