Crowns & Owls on its video for Slowthai and Skepta's Brexit revenge track, Inglorious

Last week, Tyron Kaymone Frampton AKA Slowthai released his much anticipated album Nothing Great About Britain. Its cover (and surrounding artwork), which features the Northampton-born rapper naked in the stock in front of a block of flats draped with Union Jacks, was produced by photography and film trio Crowns & Owls. The artwork was so well received that the trio was asked to direct the video for Slowthai’s track featuring Skepta, Inglorious.

The video, which was released at the end of last week, opens with Slowthai stood in front of a line-up of assumed politicians – one of them featuring an unmistakably Boris Johnson-style do (a similar do appeared in Stormy’s video for Vossi Bop at the end of April) – as two banners behind him read “STRONG” and “STABLE”. A typically hectic Slowthai series of events ensues, including the rapper being tortured A Clockwork Orange style before riding atop a tank with Skepta.

Crowns & Owls tells us: “It feels like music is finally beginning to respond to the uncertainty of the times we’re living in at the minute, and Ty feels like he’s at the forefront of that angst – with that there’s a license to try things most artists wouldn’t. With the track being called Inglorious, it felt right to take aim at the more inglorious members of the political backdrop we’re living against, whilst also heavily nodding to the Tarantino movie the chorus references in the track.”

The video, the trio continues, “is essentially a high energy Brexit revenge piece that doesn’t take itself too seriously,” created in two halves as Slowthai and Skepta’s verses differ so much. “The first verse adopts a more ‘Kubrickian’, narrative-driven vibe, with the second half feeling more like a classic hip hop video, with a dystopian undertone,” they continue.

In terms of working with both Slowthai and Skepta, they add: “We’ve done a few projects with Ty now and he’s an absolute dream. As you can probably imagine, shooting this one was pretty gruelling for him but he’s just such a pro. His performative energy is incredible to work with. He’s truly one of a kind and we have so much love for him.

“The day we shot Skepta’s verse we were working against bleak weather – raining sideways and freezing cold and the mud we were dealing with was something else. Skepta was loving it, he brought such a good vibe and gave it on every take. The shoot basically felt like a massive party. The whole thing was just a wild experience. We loved it.”