Hopefully Slowthai didn’t just have »UGLY« tattooed under his eye for the album cover and promotional purposes! Rather than describing himself as ugly, he wants the tattoo to be understood as an acronym for »U Gotta Love Yourself«. With his third album, Slowthai reflects on the path he has taken to become a better, more responsible human being and does so completely unironically, almost painfully honestly, with profound self-doubt and genuine anger. This purification began for him, as for many self-destructive young men, with the birth of his first child. Motivated by new fatherhood, he tackled his drug problems and gave his addictive voice in therapy the name »Fuck It Puppet«: an evil puppet that sits on his shoulder and encourages him to make bad decisions, which are literally screamed out in the opener »Yum«. Besides his dialect-tinged raps, Slowthai also tries his hand at being a real singer, although he acknowledges that he is no Aretha Franklin, which can only be confirmed (but then, which great singer has a good voice?!?). Fittingly, »Ugly« features hip-hop beats as well as rock guitars, contributed, for example, by his pals from Fontaines DC. You can hear that the hip hop kid also grew up listening to Nirvana and Radiohead. This expanded artistic expression suits Slowthai well and transforms »Ugly« into a bold, challenging and very personal album.
Klein
Star In The Hood
Parkwuud Entertainment