Dave (rapper)

Dave made his debut appearance on a platform named BL@CKBOX, performing a freestyle in May 2015, at the age of 16.[18] In July he dropped a single with just audio on Mixtape Madness called ‘Mid Summer Night’ and later progressed to Street Starz TV, a YouTube channel for freestyle rap, in September 2015.[2] He performed his first SB.TV ‘Warm Up Session’ with 1138 DripSquad in November 2015.[19] Dave released his first track ‘JKYL+HYD’ on SB.TV in January 2016.[20] His debut performance on Charlie Sloth's ‘Fire in the Booth’, a freestyle segment on BBC Radio 1Xtra, was in March 2016.[21][22]

Dave released the track ‘Thiago Silva’ alongside fellow British rapper AJ Tracey on 13 May 2016.[23] The song showcased a different side to Dave showing his versatility. The song has since been ranked number 10 on Complex magazine's list of "Grime's Most Impactful Songs of the 2010s".[24] Dave's festival debut was at Bestival in August 2016, performing the track alongside AJ Tracey on the Eskimo Dance stage.[25][26] He performed as part of the Red Bull Music Academy UK tour in October 2016.[25][27]

After releasing a range of non-album singles through 2016, Dave released his debut EP, Six Paths, on 30 September 2016, which included the tracks ‘Picture me’, ‘Panic Attack’, and ‘Wanna Know’. The extended play was produced by Dave, Fraser T Smith, and 169, and entered at number 76 on the UK Albums Chart.[25][28] Dave performed a Maida Vale session for Radio 1, playing his track ‘Picture Me’ live on piano, after his EP release.[29]

In October 2016, Drake premiered a remix to Dave's song ‘Wanna Know’ on OVO Sound Radio, which also featured Drake and was released as a single.[30][31] The song debuted at 72 on the Official Singles Chart and peaked at 51, becoming Dave's first entry on the chart.[32]

Throughout 2017, Dave released a series of non-album singles. The track ‘Samantha’ with J Hus peaked at 63 on the Official Singles Chart, becoming the third biggest song to not chart in the top 40 in 2017,[33] Dave also released the tracks ‘Revenge’, ‘Tequila’, and ‘100M's’, the latter of which featured on Nike's ‘Born Mercurial’ advert in 2018.[34]

On 9 October 2017, Dave announced his second extended play, Game Over, alongside the announcement of its accompanying tour.[35] The EP was preceded by the track ‘Question Time’. During the song Dave hosts his own ‘Question Time’ posing pointed questions directly at the Prime Minister at that time, Theresa May, the former PM, David Cameron, and even the head of the Labour Party in 2017, Jeremy Corbyn.[36] The EP Game Over was released on 3 November 2017 independently for streaming and digital download alongside the single ‘No Words’.[37] Game Over debuted at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart and ‘No Words’ debuted at 18 before eventually peaking at 17 on 11 January 2018.[38]

Dave won his first MOBO Award for the Best Newcomer Act at the 2017 ceremony on 29 November 2017.[39] He also received his first Brit Award nomination for British Breakthrough Act at the 2018 Brit Awards which he lost out to Dua Lipa.[40] Dave's also won an award at the 2018 Ivor Novello Awards for his politically charged track ‘Question Time’ which won Best Contemporary Song.[41]

Dave put out his first single after the release of his Game Over EP with the track ‘Hangman’ on 27 February 2018.[42] Then after a seven-month hiatus, Dave released ‘Funky Friday’, featuring rapper Fredo, on 4 October 2018. The song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, being only the third song to do so in 2018. It became the first song by a British rapper to peak at number one on the UK Singles Chart as a lead artist since 2015.[43] This feat also meant that Dave secured his first ever number one single, as well as his first Top 10 single.[44]

Dave announced his long anticipated debut album Psychodrama on 21 February 2019.[45] Alongside the announcement he released the lead single ‘Black’, which discusses what it means to be black in its complexities; his pride and celebration of being black alongside the challenges that black people face.[46] The video for the song included many prominent black British figures with Damson Idris, Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, Dina Asher-Smith, Ozwald Boateng, Raheem Sterling, Stormzy, Micheal Ward and Tiffany Calver all appearing.[47]

His debut album Psychodrama was released on 8 March 2019. The album debuted at number one in the UK, selling 26,390 copies in its first week, with 79% of its total generated by 26.3 million streams, this gave it the biggest first week streams for a British rap album, eclipsing Stormzy's Gang Signs & Prayer. Elsewhere, the songs ‘Disaster’, ‘Streatham’, and ‘Location’ debuted at 8, 9, and 11, respectively on the UK Singles Chart.[48] Psychodrama is also currently one of the top 100 highest-rated hip-hop albums on Metacritic.[49]

The tracks ‘Disaster’, featuring J Hus, and ‘Location’, featuring Burna Boy, both produced by Jae5, alongside Fraser T Smith and Dave, were officially released as singles off the album in July 2019.[50] Both tracks have since gone platinum with ‘Location’ becoming one of Dave's biggest tracks to date, having been BPI certified 3× platinum with 1,800,000 units sold as of October 2021.[51]

On 30 June 2019 Dave made his Glastonbury debut.[52] During the performance he bought a fan onstage to perform his song ‘Thiago Silva’ alongside him, which the video of subsequently went viral.[53] Following this the track entered the UK Singles Chart at number 57 and reached a peak of number 36.[54] Dave also performed for the first time at Reading and Leeds Festival headlining the BBC Radio 1 Stage.[55]

Dave made his acting debut in Netflix's revival and third series of Top Boy, playing the character Modie.[56]

On 19 September 2019, Dave won the 2019 Mercury Prize for his debut album Psychodrama.[57][58] Dave also won Album of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards.[59] His performance of the track ‘Black’ at the ceremony, led to controversy, after called the Uk Prime Minister Boris Johnson a ‘real racist’ and called out the government over their treatment of the victims of Grenfell Tower and the Windrush generation.[60] Dave also won the GQ Men Of The Year Vero Breakthrough Music Act Award at 2019 GQ Men of the Year Awards.[61]

In August 2020, Dave collaborated with Sir David Attenborough for a special episode of Planet Earth entitled Planet Earth: A Celebration, with Dave playing the piano alongside famous composer Hans Zimmer.[62] In October 2020, Dave collaborated with Fraser T. Smith in the production of Smith's debut album, 12 Questions.[63]

In January 2021 the track ‘Money Talks’ was released by Fredo, which Dave featured on and produced.[64] The track debuted at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart.[65] The song was a single off Fredo's album ‘Money Can’t Buy Happiness’ which Dave executively produced under the name SANTAN.[66][67]

In April 2021, Dave released two songs as a two-track EP, ‘Titanium’, and ‘Mercury’, featuring Kamal, labelled as leftovers from his second album.[68] Two months later, Dave announced his sophomore album, We're All Alone in This Together, alongside its cover art and release date.[69] On 9 July the lead single, ‘Clash’ featuring Stormzy, was released, which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart.[70] The music video features Dave and Stormzy surrounded by cars at the Aston Martin factory in Warwickshire and driving round the Silverstone Circuit.[71] This came after Dave had collaborated with Aston Martin in March 2021, for the launch of their AMR21 Formula 1 car.[72]

On 23 July 2021, Dave released his second album, We're All Alone in This Together.[73] It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, becoming Dave's second consecutive number one album. It was also Dave's first number one album on the Scottish Albums Chart and the Irish Albums Chart.[74][75] We’re All Alone in This Together sold 74,000 album equivalent units in its first week, with 43.9% of its total coming from the 38.5 million streams across the 12 tracks, a new record in terms of weekly album streams for a UK rap act.[76] On the UK Singles Chart the tracks ‘Clash’, ‘Verdansk’, and ‘In the Fire’ reached number 2, 4, and 6, respectively. UK chart rules prevent artists from having more than three songs in the top 40 at once, otherwise data showed that all 12 album tracks would have entered the Top 20.[77][78] These first week sales broke multiple records making it the biggest opening week of an album in the UK since November 2019 with Coldplay’s album Everyday Life and the biggest first week sales for a UK hip hop/rap album in the last decade, since Tinie Tempah’s debut Disc-Overy in October 2010.[79][76] The album returned to number one on 13 August 2021, three weeks after it’s release.[80]

Dave was nominated for four awards at the 2022 Brit Awards, including best album, best artist and best song and he won the award for Best British Hip Hop/Rap/Grime Act.[81] He performed his track ‘In the Fire’ at the ceremony, bringing onstage the track’s featured guests – Fredo, Meekz, Ghetts and Giggs – and performing a solo on the guitar, which he had only been learning for four months prior.[82]

In August 2021, Dave and Fraser T. Smith were nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in the Best Contemporary Song category for ‘Children of the Internet’.[83] Dave continued to produce for other artists, producing the track ‘End of the Beginning’ on Central Cee’s mixtape 23, again under the name SANTAN, which was released in February 2022.[84]

Dave headlined his first festival at Parklife on September 11. He was also announced as a headliner for Reading and Leeds Festival in 2022 which will make him the youngest ever headliner of the festival.[85]

He embarked on his first sold-out UK arena tour in early 2022, which included two shows at the O2 arena.[86][87] In March 2022, he released his first single of the year, ‘Starlight’. It debuted at number one on the UK Singles chart as the biggest single debut of the year making for Dave's second chart-topping single and his 11th top 10 single.[88] The song broke a number of records. It became the first UK number one of the 2020s to be entirely written and performed by one person and the first number one to be written and produced by just one person since 2014.[89] It also became the longest-running Number 1 solo UK Rap single in Official Charts history.[90]