“Doorman” is the second song on the track-list of slowthai’s debut album, Nothing Great About Britain, featuring production from collaborator Mura Masa. The song was initally released as a single on November 19th, 2018, following up “Rainbow,” as a precursor to the upcoming album.

The song marks the first collaboration between the duo, and the versatility of both parties; a deviation from producer Mura Masa’s forte, whose usual pop-electronic sound is exchanged for an aggressive clash of guitars, drums, and distorted vocals, “Doorman” entertains a punk-like aesthetic, but also familiarizes itself with elements of Slowthai’s usual style. Mura Masa explains the change of pace:

Slowthai is the embodiment of subversive and punk energy in UK rap – We knew we wanted to make something with a DIY, rebellious energy together, so we banged Doorman together in a few hours, kept all the original takes and let it be what it is. It’s a record that challenges ideas about what rap can be, which I think the scene needs more of. I love it.

Slowthai also treads familiar ground thematically, using his discordant relationship with an upper class girl to represent the class disparity in Britain, and the apathy accompanying exorbitant wealth, Slowthai channels his frustrations into the controlled madness that is “Doorman”:

I was at some yard in Chelsea after a night out and I saw 4.5 million pound paintings hanging on the wall and it made me sick… I went to the studio the next day and wrote ‘Doorman’