“Enemy” by Slowthai

According to the audio samples featured in Slowthai’s “Enemy”, it is somehow premised on the NME Awards which transpired in February of 2020. During said event, to make a long story short Slowthai, who took home a couple of awards from the ceremony, conducted himself in such a manner whereas he was later compelled to issue a public apology to one of the show’s hosts, Katherine Ryan. Indeed Katherine referring to him as a “c***” is one of the aforementioned samples featured in “Enemy”. 

And whereas he may have apologized to her, the lyrics are anything but apologetic. In fact Slowthai goes out of his way to present himself as a bad ass, so to speak. And in doing so he makes several references to his powerful bedroom prowess. He also, as many UK rappers tend to, alludes to the idea that he comes from an economically-depressing background. And in generally referencing his bad behavior, his philosophy is that “we all make mistakes”. Therefore his own should not be blown out of proportion.  Also he seemingly drops a number of metaphors which boil down to himself being a superior rapper.

Conclusion

So conclusively, the prevailing theory is that this song is somehow based on his infamous behavior at the NME Awards – i.e. “Enemy” being a satirical pronunciation of NME. But outside of sampling Katherine Ryan and Matt Healy, who also mentioned Slowthai (more favorably) at the ceremony, it is not clear exactly how the song and the event actually relate. However, if we were forced to come up with a definitive conclusion, we would say that all things considered Slowthai really doesn’t give a f.

Writing Credits for “Enemy”

“Enemy” was written and produced by Slowthai, K. Darko and Sammo.

Release Date

The song was released by Method Records, seemingly as a standalone single, on 10 May 2020.