We all know who Santan Dave is. He known for his eminent lyricism and one of a kind storytelling and has subsequently been labelled one of the most successful UK Hip Hop pioneers in the scene.
His story starts in South London, Streatham, where he spent most of his childhood years growing up. He knew he wanted a career in a creative industry and he started experimenting with music from a young age playing piano before settling as an MC. In an interview with NME he said he would ‘play nonstop until I went to bed’
When Dave was just 11 his brother Christopher was sentenced to life imprisonment after his involvement with a gang murder in March 2010. This obvious pivotal and life changing moment only inspired Dave to dig deeper into his music, writing more emotionally about his life and others around him. This is still apparent in his modern music where he often shines a light on themes of loss, pressure, friendship and betrayal.
When Dave was 16, he featured on an underground UK Hip Hop channel, freestyling, the video now sits at an insane 14M views. It was after this where his career began, releasing his first single ‘JKYLL+HYD’ where he raps about the conflict between his education and his love for music, using the analogy of the book ‘Jekyll and Hyde’. Following this he continued to feature on numerous UK rap channels such as Charlie Sloth’s ‘Fire in the Both’. This solidified his distinct lyric style. In this time, he also released his famous song ‘Thiago Silva’ featuring AJ Tracey before releasing his Ep ‘Six Paths’. It was this that caught Drake’s interest as he remixed one of Dave’s songs ‘ Wanna Know’ which gave him an international platform. This catapulted his career and a year later he released another EP ‘Game over’ a fantastic musical journey diving deeply into Dave’s relationship with love and regret. This cemented his reputation, receiving praise from critiques and the entire UK Hip Hop scene.
Around a year after releasing ‘Funky Friday’ with Fredo, Dave released his first album ‘Psychodrama’. This album is still as impactful as it was when it came out, offering emotionally raw and contemplative songs.
Dave explored how Hip Hop can be a bold self-examination of society. For me this album also confirmed his place in the broad genre of UK Hip Hop, he wasn’t specifically placed in grime, trap, drill, etc. He was his own genre. The album features renowned songs like ‘Location’, ‘Black’, ‘Environment’, ‘Psycho’, ‘Streatham’, and one of my favourite songs ‘Leslie’ ft Ruelle, a storytelling, instrumental masterpiece that tells the journey of a woman’s battle against domestic violence. His reflection of racial discrimination, women’s exploitation and mental health earned him numerous awards including the Mercury award and Brits Album of the year. As well as this, he became a thrilling performer, making his iconic debut at Glastonbury.
In 2021 he released his second album ‘ We’re All Alone In This Together’ possibly one of my favourite UK Hip Hop albums of all time. He experiments musically and vocally in this album and to fully unpack it would take a long time. But I will tell you why I think this album made Dave one of the best UK rappers to date. He explores numerous topics in this such as immigration, poverty, knife crime, his upbringing, love and mental health. However this doesn’t diminish the musical excellence of the album with it maintaining the stylised, rhythmic and often magical music conventions of Dave. An example of this are the songs ‘We’re All Alone’ and ‘Both Sides Of The Smile’ two of my favourite songs on the album, each discussing emotionally deep topics but are still instrumentally captivating songs. The album spreads through the vast sub-genres of UK rap with songs varying from ‘Verdansk’ a fast and lyrical rap song that includes elements of UK drill to songs like ‘Lazurus’ that sits in the genre of afro swing. The album subsequently gained its deserved popularity and people recognised place in the UK Hip Hop scene. It featured artists like Stormzy in ‘Clash’ as well as Giggs, Ghetts, Meekz and Fredo in the infamous song ‘In the Fire’ where Dave investigates the different perspectives of growing up. I could talk about this album and its greatness for days and I urge you all to listen or re-listen to it as soon as you can.
In more recent years, Dave has released more popular music including a collection of songs with UK rapper Central Cee, which earned international popularity. His ability to move between political and emotional themes is what engages his fans. Although he keeps a relatively private life, he stands proudly outspoken on social and political issues and is keen to always talk about his love for playing and creating music.
For me he will always be one of the greatest.
Picture of Dave from: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/dave-brixton-academy-reviewa-briefand-simple-showthat-proved/