Nothing Great About Britain

slowthai - Nothing Great About Britain
Critic Score
Based on 22 reviews
2019 Ratings: #88 / 802
Year End Rank: #19
User Score
2019 Ratings: #106
Liked by 173 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Highsnobiety
This album feels and sounds like an instant classic, and there’s a sense slowthai will soon be the name on everybody’s lips.
100
The Guardian

Clever, bleak, funny, bracing, aware of a broad musical heritage but never in thrall to it: after you hear Nothing Great About Britain, it’s even more obvious why Slowthai stands out.

90
Loud and Quiet
Brutally honest and amusingly witty with his flow, aggressive and dynamic with his production work, and captivatingly appealing with his charm and charisma, all taken together it assembles a hugely impressive, compelling and socially important listen.
90
Clash
This compelling and provocative record is a haunting echo of a seemingly hopeless vignette of Britain today, where slowthai offers the slightest glimmer of optimism for a potentially brighter future. slowthai is the unexpected hero for the people we didn’t know we needed, but so many, justly deserve.
90
God Is in the TV
The most thought provoking debut of the year will have you flipping and reflipping until you know it all off by heart like a grim prospectus of the realities of life out there once we finally come out of the other side.
85
Northern Transmissions

slowthai finds himself as the poster boy for Brexit Britain and it’s a mantle that this street poet will no doubt relish.

84
Pitchfork

The Bajan-British rapper’s debut tackles the UK’s pressing crises—a looming Brexit, class hostility, widening poverty—with great jokes and writerly candor.

80
Louder Than War
A unique take on modern hip hop and grime that takes it to the next level.
80
The Needle Drop

On his debut album, slowthai proves himself to be an exciting new voice in the UK hip hop landscape.

80
Crack Magazine

His debut album, the knowingly-titled Nothing Great About Britain, succinctly captures the mental state of that fractured nation, and the fizzing energy of an exasperated youth.

80
The Observer

What connects is the dark charisma in Slowthai’s aggrieved squawk, a yelp of rage, fear and occasional self-loathing, crackling with the visceral betrayal of the left-behind.

80
The Line of Best Fit

It’s at times a brutal listen, but hidden between the hard knocks is the sound of a charismatic young artist who knows he’s making a debut album to remember.

80
NME
The Northampton rapper's unique debut album is authentic and honest in all its garish glory, an indication of the sprawling possible paths for his career to grow into.
80
AllMusic

Fresh and exhilarating, Nothing Great About Britain firmly establishes slowthai as one of U.K. rap's most relevant artists.

80
Dork
Scrappy or not, ‘Nothing Great About Britain’ is a triumph of a debut, genre-straddling, quick-witted and, most importantly, very fun to listen to.
60
Spectrum Culture

Nothing Great About Britain is great at expressing a dizzying sort of (anti-)national pride, but the LP never quite puts its finger on new and newly inclusive ways of reimagining the nation.

40
musicOMH

A record that reveals the whirlwind of hype around Slowthai to be not much more than invisible garments on an arrogant emperor.

Doofy
72

The bloke’s from Northampton - all question of authenticity should be answered by that one fact.

He has my every sympathy.

laz456
95

Final Edit: I gotta go 9/10 on this. This album is so great, and incredibly consistent. Even the bonus tracks are awesome! I am captivated by this guy- his rapping, his story, his lyrics. This album is catchy, it's aggressive, it's emotional, and it's just a really satisfying experience front to back. Top 10 album of the year for me, possibly my rap AOTY, and definitely making my top 100 albums of the decade list easy.

Really solid front to back. Slowthai is compelling as a lyricist and ... read more

Host
79

What the hell is going on in the cover💀" Nothing Great About Britain" is slowthai's first album, and to be honest he had his sound figured out fairly quickly. It's slower paced, heavier, and more grimy. The way slowthai raps is like he struggles to get out the next word, like he's trembling in the delivery, but in a good way. The beats are good, nothing to right home about, but they're solid. For a first record "Nothing Great About Britain" conveys the talent slowthai has ... read more

_V33_
68

Consistently good album. No huge standouts on here for me other than Doorman if I’m going to be absolutely honest. That being said, I was still enjoying what I was hearing. The best comparison I can make is to JPEGMAFIA’s Black Ben Carson, in the sense that I’m enjoying the music, I’m just probably never going back to it. Still good.
Favorite Tracks: Doorman, Toaster, and Rainbow

RapEnthusiast
82

I mean Britain has Slowthai, Dave, DOOM, 21, football, Wayne Rooney and yeah that's pretty much it

98

Gritty and rough album that tackles class struggle, the search for identity and a multitude of other social dillemas of the UK in the 21st century in an unapologetic and raw fashion.

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Track List

1Nothing Great About Britain
3:09
80
2Doorman
3:04
90
3Dead Leaves
2:48
75
4Gorgeous
4:15
85
5Crack
2:16
73
6Grow Up
3:00
feat. Jaykae
76
7Inglorious
3:08
feat. Skepta
82
8Toaster
3:04
78
9Peace of Mind
2:27
74
10Missing
2:20
83
11Northampton's Child
3:02
86
Total Length: 32 minutes

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Added on: March 28, 2019