Catch the full interview 8:30pm Thursday on SBS VICELAND as The Feed presents 'Britain Divided' .
“Fuck him, man,” rapper slowthai tells The Feed’s Marty Smiley when asked how he feels about UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The 23-year-old, also known as Tyron Frampton, has never tried to tone down the message in his music.
His March UK tour dubbed him the ‘Brexit Bandit’, he hocks merch that depicts Johnson engaging in unflattering activities with the country and his debut album is emblazoned with the title ‘Nothing Great About Britain’.
Just in case anyone was unclear about his stance on the political mess engulfing Britain, at September’s Mercury Prize ceremony (for which his aforementioned album was nominated) he held up a dummy of Johnson’s severed head.
“People were trying to say it's like a hate crime but there's no threatening behaviour. Everything he's doing isn't going to affect anyone he feels he's speaking for,” Frampton said.
“It's going to be five years, 10 years down the line, when we're all struggling and who's to blame.”
I'm just showing a mirror, I'm showing the reflection of how we're being treated.
Frampton grew up in a low-income estate in Northampton and litters his songs with references to the socio-economic problems going untended while the country’s elite wrestles with Brexit.
“None of them have ever lived it. None of them have ever been to real places and spent time with real people,” Frampton said.
“It's based for people that went to private school, they're taught they are above people and people work under them. It's like that's part of their education. So they can never understand the mass majority because they're so close minded to it.”
Frampton has never been impressed by the actions of politicians - even when former British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited his primary school.
“He flew in on a helicopter and only like five of the best kids got to meet him. I just thought he was a bit of a dick,” Frampton told The Feed.
To another school, Hagrid from Harry Potter, he went to their school. And I was like, why the fuck have we got this guy? Like I wanted to meet Hagrid.
Frampton’s music and professional persona scream of the divide between classes in Britain, him aim is to open some eyes to the warped pecking order that has his country in a grip.
“People are all the same, it doesn't matter how much money you've got,” Frampton said.
“Don't judge people because they have less or they have not. We all end up in the same size box in the ground or you get cremated and you're ash and you can get blown away into the sky.”
