Northampton's slowthai picks up NME accolades amid controversial scenes in Brixton

Northampton’s slowthai walked away with two accolades at last night’s NME Awards ceremony amid chaotic scenes inside Brixton Academy
slowthai at his Roadmender gig in Decemberslowthai at his Roadmender gig in December
slowthai at his Roadmender gig in December

The rapper and Mura Massa won the Best Collaboration award for the single Deal Wiv It and slowthai the Hero Of The Year award which was decided by public vote.

However, during an acceptance speech for the latter, he got into a verbal confrontation with audience members after an exchange with host Katherine Ryan during the presentation.

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After objects including the microphone, which slowthai had dropped, were thrown back at him on the stage, he jumped into the crowd before security intervened - as seen in the video on this page.

The comedian has since tweeted from her official @Kathbum account: "He didn’t make me uncomfortable. This is why we need women in positions of power.

"I knew he had lost from the moment he opened his mouth like any heckler coming up against a COMIC - not a woman - a COMIC. I was operating 2/10. What a sweet boy. I defused it. Tonight was fun!"

Hosted by Ryan and Julie Adenuga, the awards ceremony in London saw people from across the music world come together for the annual event.

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Hole’s Courtney Love received NME’s Icon Award, Robyn was named Songwriter Of The Decade and Glastonbury’s Emily Eavis was crowned Godlike Genius.

Other winners included Taylor Swift for Best Solo Act In The World, The 1975 for Best British Band and Little Simz for Best British Album.

There were also performances by AJ Tracey, Yungblud, Beabadoobee, The 1975 and slowthai and Mura Massa.

Earlier this month, slowthai made his US TV debut with Masa when they performed Deal Wiv It on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

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His appearance follows fellow Northampton native Billy Locket who performed on James Corden’s Late Late Show at the end of last year.

slowthai’s critically acclaimed debut album was released last year and was followed by gigs across the world and ended with a hometown gig Northampton’s Roadmender in December

Full details of last night’s winners are available at https://www.nme.com/awards/winners