Slowthai discusses “brotherhood” with IDLES and says his second album will show “growth”

The Northampton rapper was nominated for the 2019 Mercury Music Prize with debut album 'Nothing Great About Britain'

Slowthai has discussed his “brotherhood” with IDLES and spoken about his plans for his second album.

The Northampton rapper spoke to NME on the red carpet at the 2019 Mercury Music Prize yesterday (September 19).

“Yeah, they’re the boys,” he said of fellow nominees IDLES, who were recognised at the event for their 2018 album ‘Joy As An Act Of Resistance’. “We just see eye-to-eye and we just don’t care. You connect with some people, you don’t connect with others. I feel like it’s a brotherhood, they’re my brothers in arms forever.”

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The star, who was nominated for his debut album ‘Nothing Great About Britain’, also revealed he’d already started thinking about his second record. “I’ve already got the concept for it,” he said. “I know what I’m gonna do, now I’ve just gotta do it. It’s gonna be growth, it’s not gonna be a follow-up or a sequel. It’s got to be its own entity, I suppose it will be growing, I can’t explain it any deeper than that.”

Watch NME’s full interview with Slowthai at the Mercury Music Prize above now.

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Meanwhile, the rapper made waves at the event last night when he performed his track ‘Doorman’ while holding a dummy of Boris Johnson’s decapitated head.

Slowthai responded to criticisms of the stunt today (September 20) in a note posted to Twitter. “Last night I held a mirror up to this country and some people don’t like the reflection,” he wrote.

“This ‘act’ was a metaphor for what this government is doing to our country, except what I did was present it in plain sight. No Boris Johnsons were hurt in the making of this Slowthai performance. I don’t condone violence in any form.”

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The 2019 Mercury Music Prize was won by Dave for his album ‘Psychodrama’. “I don’t know what to say,” the London rapper said in his acceptance speech. “I want to firstly thank God. I want to invite my mum up onto stage. I want to thank everyone that made this happen, I want to thank all of the exceptional musicians who performed tonight… I respect you all so highly.”

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