TYRON is Not Just about Mental Health

TYRON is Not Just about Mental Health

("TYRON Album Art")

On February 16, 2021, only four days after slowthai had his newest rap album TYRON released by the U.K. record label Method Records, a video titled “slowthai - TYRON ALBUM REVIEW'' with a thumbnail image of a bald man in a yellow flannel making a peculiarly suggestive face appeared in my YouTube recommended feed. The man in this image was none other than Anthony Fantano, a music reviewer/youtuber who frequently refers to himself as “the internet's busiest music nerd” (Fantano). Confronted with a new video review of an album by an artist I had never even heard of before, I clicked on the video without an ounce of hesitation, curious to find out more. 

Over the course of the ten minute video, Fantanos comments on the overall style, caliber of songwriting, and production quality directly informed my expectations of what the album had to offer. For instance, Fantano described slowthais style as a “fusion of grime, hardcore hip-hop and punk aesthetics,” and listed a number of guest artists featured on various tracks throughout the album to provide further stylistic context (Fantano). However, given that this was my first exposure to slowthais work and more broadly to him as an artist, I lacked a concrete point of reference, a context within which to place Fantano’s interpretation of the album. Specifically, his ambiguous characterization of TYRON as a “mental health record” left me somewhat confused as to what the album was really about (Fantano). I struggled to reconcile the concept of a grime heavy rap album with the idea of mental health, thereby leaving me with an incomplete mental image of the experience I would later have while listening to TYRON for the first time.

After having listened to the album multiple times, I have come to view Fantano’s assessment as superficial and incomplete. It fails to account for the level of artistic depth and thematic variety that is clearly present within the lyrics, instrumentation, and production present on this album. This is not to say that mental health is not a dominant thematic throughline when considering the album as a whole, but rather that the blanket term of mental health obfuscates and directs attention away from any alternative meaning that might be found outside of the broad interpretive lens of mental health. TYRON’s success as an album is equally contingent upon the way it grapples with themes such as substance abuse, self-acceptance, and the implications of being a public figure with a large audience. 

Before delving into the album itself, however, it is first necessary to provide some context with regard to the specific circumstances surrounding my experience of it. I have only ever listened to this album using headphones, sitting in front of my computer within the quiet, calm, isolated environment of my bedroom. This has amounted to a listening experience completely unencumbered by any extraneous noise or other activity that could divert my attention away from the music. I mention this only because I believe these particular circumstances encouraged a kind of introspective listening that allowed for certain details in the music to emerge - details that might otherwise be left unattended in a busier/noisier listening environment with a different method of amplification.    

The album itself is a follow-up to slowthai’s first full length album Nothing Great about Britain which was released in 2019. It spans a duration of thirty five minutes and contains a total of fourteen tracks which are divided evenly to fill both ‘sides’ of the record, with seven tracks occupying each side. Within the first half of the album, the themes of self-acceptance and coming to understand one's role as a public figure both feature prominently on the track “CANCELLED.” This track - which showcases Skepta, another established rapper from the U.K. - begins with a simple melodic line played on a distant sounding flute, evoking a tribal, almost animalistic sensation. Skepta enters with the lyrics “now you’re dripping blood,” which becomes ingrained in the listener's head through repetition, leading into an aggressive drum beat with a hard hitting bass during the chorus. Appearing again in the chorus, this phrase is invoked within the context of cancel culture, a relatively recent trend on social media platforms like Twitter whereby public figures are called out by large numbers of people for something reprehensible they are found to have said or done in the past. This usually results in the complete destruction of the target's reputation, and often has a tremendously negative impact on their career. 

Skepta denounces cancel culture with lyrics such as  “About you wanna cancel who? / Fuck with the cult, now the gang's on you / I'm a vampire, got the fangs on you / Now you’re dripping blood.” In this passage Skepta likens the people who engage in cancel culture to vampires, who figuratively nourish themselves with the blood of whatever unlucky person happens to be their target by cancelling them. He identifies himself as one of these “vampires” as a way of flipping the script and using the tactics of cancel culture against itself. By using his position as an artist to speak out against it, Skepta aims to cancel the phenomenon of cancel culture itself. This sentiment is further reinforced by a sudden shift in instrumentation occurring just after the chorus. In this section, the bass and drums suddenly drop out leaving the listener to focus on Skepta as he repeats his opening line over and over again, thereby cementing his self-proclaimed victory over cancel culture in the mind of the listener.

During the first verse, Skeptas attitude towards cancel culture is reaffirmed by slowthai, who opens with “I ain't an actor, fuck the Oscars.” This line clearly reflects slowthai’s disdain for people who are subservient to the online mobs that go after them, choosing to sacrifice their authentic selves for false personas that they hope will prevent themselves from being cancelled. slowthai follows this up with “Main stage in my boxers”, as a way of signalling to his audience that he isn’t like these “actors,” and that he's not afraid of being himself and saying what he truly thinks. 

With the help of Dominic Fike and Denzel Curry, slowthai explores similar themes from a different perspective in the second half of the record on the track “terms,” also tying in the theme of substance abuse. More precisely, this track navigates the various ways in which being in the public eye and being open to criticism amplifies the self-destructive and addictive tendencies that lead slowthai towards substance abuse. For instance, halfway through the first verse, slowthai exclaims, “They be judgin’ me like I got horns.'' By this slowthai means to say that people look at him as if he is the devil, overemphasizing his flaws and giving him little credit for his virtues. Halfway through the second verse, in the bars “Smokin' my troubles away / My early grave, don't resuscitate,” slowthai remarks on how he uses substances as a means of coping with the negative judgement he recieves from others. Both of these verses are underscored by a rhythmically dynamic drum beat that subtly complements the frenetic and constantly shifting rhythms with which slowthai delivers the lyrics.  

During the chorus, Dominic Fike’s buttery smooth vocal passages create a laid-back vibe that serves as a welcome contrast to the fast-paced and rhythmically intensive rap delivered by slowthai in the two verses, while simultaneously echoing slowthai’s struggles with maintaining a public persona. The chorus begins with Fike clearly expressing how media outlets will often misrepresent what people say in order to generate drama or sway public opinion in a certain direction. This is evident in the bars “I woke up and came to terms with it / No matter what they get my words twisted.” Clearly Fike realizes that part of being a celebrity involves coming “to terms with” this fact by acknowledging and accepting it as such. The repetition of the chorus multiple times throughout the duration of the track further reinforces the significance of this fact to the listener, and communicates the weight he feels in having to accept it. Moreover, throughout the chorus the lyrics are supported from underneath by a relatively stable drum beat, while additional vocal layers occasionally interject over top of Fike’s lyrics in order to add melodic interest and contribute to the overall melancholic vibe of the track. 

Overall, it is clear to see how the themes of substance abuse, self-acceptance, and dealing with having a public persona are expressed in various ways within specific tracks such as “CANCELLED” and “terms.” Furthermore, it is evident how TYRON would not be as compelling of an album were one to observe it exclusively through the lens of mental health as Anothony Fantono seems to recommend. TYRON is a multilayered, complex album that reflects a number of facets not only in slowthai’s life, but also in the lives of the many guest artists featured on this album. To suggest otherwise would be to underestimate the power of music, and of rap in particular, as a way of effectively communicating and otherwise engaging with a multitude of ideas in a manner which is authentic, creative, and extremely personal all at once.

Works Cited

Fantano, Anthony. “slowthai - TYRON ALBUM REVIEW.” www.youtube.com, 16 Feb. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMAcwJ5lUzE. Accessed 17 Apr. 2021.

“TYRON Album Art.” Genius.com, images.genius.com/3725f5fe67ccae1048bbd1f1b0af4233.1000x1000x1.jpg. Accessed 16 Apr. 2021.