cancelled – The Concordian

U.K. rapper slowthai’s sophomore album takes it a step further on TYRON, proving he is unquestionably talented.

slowthai is by far one of the most unique and recognizable voices in hip hop with his thick British accent and his eccentric and electrifying vocals. On TYRON, he even takes it a step further by experimenting with his voice.

Whether it be with the distorted and pitched down vocals on the choruses of “VEX” and “DEAD,” the baby voice on the end of the opener “45 SMOKE,” or the weird effect on the chorus of “nhs,” which sounds like something hip hop collective BROCKHAMPTON would do, slowthai is not afraid of trying new things vocally.

He also does not back down from trying new things when it comes to the production. As usual, he likes to hop on some grimey and slightly disturbing rap beats, and this record makes no exceptions of this. However, TYRON also sees slowthai rapping over some melodies that we are not used to seeing him rap over, especially in the second half of the record.

Instrumentals on songs like “push,” featuring a gorgeous performance by Deb Never, the boom bap beat on “i tried,” or even the repeated piano chords on “feel away,” really stand out among these aggressive and loud beats.

This album is separated into two sides, each of them containing seven songs. On the first side, slowthai sounds as aggressive as ever, dropping banger after banger on some abrasive and ominous beats. Songs like “WOT,” “MAZZA” and “CANCELLED” really pack a punch and put slowthai’s ability to kill a beat on display.

On the second side of the record, slowthai switches things up by going towards a more introspective route. The rapper is as hard hitting as on the first side but the focus is more on the impact of his words. He really raps from a heartfelt place. Whether it be by rapping about a broken relationship on “feel away,” featuring James Blake and Mount Kimbie, or on the powerful closer “adhd” where he raps about substance abuse and being at a low point, these songs help to establish slowthai as a gifted lyricist.

slowthai’s sophomore LP TYRON, is a thoughtful concept album that sees the rapper improve on all fronts.

Score: 8/10

Trial track: feel away

Last Wednesday night, Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.

What ensued next was absolute chaos. The NBA swiftly announced that it would be suspending play after that night’s games were finished.

Around 1 p.m. on March 12, after a meeting among team owners and commissioner Gary Bettman, the NHL also suspended play until further notice. Bettman has teased a summer restart, but nothing is confirmed as of publication.

Then the news of leagues and competitions really started to pour in. Here is a summary of what happened next:

NCAA’s March Madness, the single biggest sports gambling event in the United States announced the cancellation of the tournament.
Major League Soccer suspended its season for 30 days.
The Association of Tennis Professionals suspended play for six weeks.
The Canadian Football League combine was cancelled.
The International Ice Hockey Federation’s under-18 world championships got cancelled.
Women’s World Curling Championships got cancelled.
Hockey Canada suspended all activities including all Canadian Hockey League games, the U-Sports National Championships and all unsanctioned minor hockey leagues.
The American Hockey League suspended play until further notice.

This was all on Thursday.

Since then, many major competitions would follow suit, including the English Premier League. The EPL was one of few competitions that were supposed to continue until Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta tested positive for COVID-19.

With sports being suspended/cancelled, many 24-hour sports radio and TV stations are scrambling. However, one channel that has to be given credit is TSN.

Their coverage of all things sports that day was incredible—they ran commercial-free from the time the NHL made it’s announcement around 1 p.m. until their flagship show, SportsCentre was scheduled at 6 p.m.

Thursday was a grim day, but some positive news came out of it. A team of three Canadian doctors had managed to isolate the COVID-19 virus to further research towards a vaccine.

Rick Westhead of TSN was the first reporter to interview one of the doctors on SportsCentre about the impact of what the team’s findings mean for research.

I tip my hat to TSN for continuing live coverage and reporting during a time where the world probably needs sports the most to distract them from what is going on.

At The Concordian, we are committed to you and will still be bringing you sports pieces every week.

Stay safe, stay calm, and stay clean. And for Pete’s sake, wash your hands.