Two burgeoning British artists, Slowthai and Mura Masa, made their U.S. television debuts Tuesday on The Tonight Show with a riotous performance of their collaboration, “Deal Wiv It.”
The track finds Slowthai, an incredibly versatile MC, putting in a blistering punk shift over Mura Masa and his band’s blown-out instrumentals. On the track, Slowthai vents about life’s major and minor indignities — from rising beer prices to family feuds to the slow march toward death. The rapper quickly peeled off his shirt (as is his wont) and began flying around the stage, jumping on Jimmy Fallon’s desk and sprawling out on the guest couch.
“Deal Wiv It” appears on Mura Masa’s most recent album, R.Y.C., which was released last month. Mura Masa will return to the U.S. in the spring for a North American tour that kicks off April 16th at the Warfield in San Francisco.
As for Slowthai, he released his debut album, Nothing Great About Britain, last year, while more recently he teamed with Gorillaz for their new song, “Momentary Bliss.”
Speaking with Apple Music’s ALT CTRL, Damon Albarn called Slowthai “a kindred spirit,” adding: “You need to work with kindred spirits, people who are really in the same pocket as you are, about worldview and emotion. That’s something where you have to kind of go on instinct, because you can listen to people’s music and be an admirer from afar, but until you’re actually in the room with each other, you really know whether there’s gonna be any kind of connection.”
