Dave, The future of British Grime

This guy!

He is going to take grime to the next level.

Dave is an up and coming artists in the ever-growing grime scene. Hailing from South London. Only 19 but is hailed as a prodigy of UK rappers. How did he get this status? More importantly what does the future hold for him?

From what I have heard on the grapevine, he is one of the most talented up and coming UK rappers of 2017. He understands music and knows how to create his vision. All this accumulated to Dave winning his first MOBO Award for the Best Newcomer Act at the 2017 ceremony. Cementing his rise and giving him the confidence and credibility to keep going and keep doing what he is doing.

His journey started, when he made his debut appearance on a small platform named Street Starz and later progressed to Black Box, a YouTube channel for freestyle rap, in 2015 He performed his first SB.TV "Warm Up Session" with Jamal Edwards in 2015. His debut performance on Charlie Sloth's "Fire in the Booth", a freestyle segment on BBC Radio 1Xtra, was in 2016. Sloth can be heard saying in a segment of the video, "you're an absolute beast cuz" and bloody hell was he right.

After releasing a range of non-album singles, Dave released his debut EP, Six Paths, on September 2016. This for me was when I really started to take real notice of Dave. His flow, his style is unique. He has a diverse sound, of grime bangers and deeply personal tracks, layered with cleverly-written lyrics. He is very mature, n’ you see this with the content he talks about from politics, the realities of life and success. This is something that you’d expect an artist to do at the end of their career, not the beginning. This is why everyone started taking notice – even Drake.

Notable Mentions

Panic Attack

Wanna Know

71/End Credits

In October 2016, Drake premiered a remix to Dave's song "Wanna Know" on OVO Sound Radio, which featured Drake and was later released as a single. As soon as this happened everyone was talking about Dave. See, Drake has a history of finding new sounds that he jumps on examples, Future, Wizkid, and our very own Skepta. Throughout 2017, Dave released the non-album singles "Samantha" with J Hus, this one was an absolute belter. It was something different. J Hus and Dave’s collaboration was one of the two brightest and freshest talents coming together and creating something special. This track was followed by, "Revenge", "100M’s, and "Tequila". In October 2017, Dave announced his second extended EP, “Game Over”, alongside the announcement of its accompanying tour. The EP was preceded by the politically-charged "Question Time" released in November 2017.

Notable Tracks

No Words ft MoStack

How I Met My Ex

Game Over

Not only is he a talented musician but as mentioned briefly before his lyricism is striking and skilful. Dave's rhymes strike many chords, both beautifully righteous and jaw-droopingly raw. His new album boasts a mixture of politically charged tracks, throwing shade at the government and asking questions to the prime minister, too heart-breaking story of how he met his ex and the struggles of maintaining a relationship. The album has it all, I went as far as to say that in terms of his openness Dave might’ve stolen the crown from Take Care Drake.

All that been said, the future as you can see is promising for Dave. Only 19 years young and full of potential and ability there is nothing holding him back. 2018 is definitely going to be a good year for the man from South London. For sure he will be featuring on my show when he releases something new!