“Even if he is acquitted, it will not leave him. He’ll be cancelled for the rest of time,” Patrick Gibbs KC, defending Slowthai, told the jury. As the not guilty verdicts were read out by the foreman, the rapper collapsed in tears in the dock – he had just been acquitted of three counts of rape following a three-week-long trial at Oxford Crown Court. In that moment, most people in that court room, including the rapper’s friends and family, were focussed on the relief and joy of those two words – “not guilty”. But over the coming weeks, Slowthai – whose real name is Tyron Frampton – will begin to plot a course to overcome his ‘cancellation”, and regain his status as one of UK rap music’s most celebrated artists.
The rapper released his first album in 2019. He has since gone on to release two more critically acclaimed albums, including 2023’s UGLY – which received a five-star review from the NME’s Thomas Smith, who called it the rapper’s “most exhilarating project to date from front to back”.
But soon after the release of his third album, the Grammy-nominated rapper was charged with rape. He was quickly removed from the line-up of Glastonbury Festival, as well as Reading and Leeds, soon after.
Fast forward 18 months, and he has been cleared of those charges by a jury of his peers – and is now free to re-start his music career.
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