Dave: Bars, BRITs & The Boy Who Played The Harp - EP9

0:28All right, it's that time bro. Alright, back again. Yo. We're here. Let's get to it, man. Where are we starting? What are we doing? Vinyl of the week? Of course, Vinyl of the week. I see you got it already in your lap. It's my turn. It's my turn. So let's get straight to it. We're going Sango North Volume 2 compilation album. Obviously, I've been mentioning Sango. A fair bit. A fair bit. Maybe a bit too much. So I thought, you know what? Let me get the vinyl album in now. And then I'll space it out a bit. I was trying to talk too much on Sango. It's not going to be a Sango podcast. But yeah, so Volume 2, his latest album was from 2024.

1:09We got some good features in here. We got Early Mac, Bryson Tiller, Xavier Omar, like Gold Link. Let's continue. So it's good. It's very, it was one of my favorite albums from that year, 100%. Yes, I've used favorite already. it's already happened but uh you already know cycle is my guy so yeah here's here's the album if you look on the inside we've got a bit of a spread this one's a bit more funky so i've gone for yeah i like it i like it and i've i decided to choose a record that i've actually bought because you've been ripping into me about using my dad's uh old stuff so i've gone for something you could put him on with this one yeah yeah so it's got a little spread of like family pictures and stuff like that which is cool um you've got a little back bit here it's got a little glimpse of I think that's his kid there this little maybe that's him actually at the back and yeah we've actually got a colourful we've got a colourful one isn't it okay okay I'm excited I was thinking surely isn't it yeah everything's looking super colourful so let me open this up get out the rice paper and that so look there we go bro there we go nah this is clean this is good bro this is it what were you saying marbled orange yeah I think so I think that's what we're going for man so oh I really like it so I'm here for it so what are you saying what are you thinking this is this is a solid choice even just looking at the aesthetic of it I'm very much into it and there's clearly thought and effort been put in to just the whole creative what sorry you may not know the answer to this that's fine if you don't but on the front it looks like we've got like yeah I want you to not ask me questions no no not the image before we start recording I warned you like don't ask me too many questions about the visuals because I don't know but yeah so we've got like the blueprint yeah we've got like a little schematic of what seems to be like a pilot cockpit yeah yeah but I'm not really too sure I'm not sure can I have a look yeah of course you can I'm not really sure what the relevance is and stuff but yeah Sang is one of my guys and yeah I just needed to get it on the pod so we could have it there for the whole episode yeah He's He had a really good 2024 Actually We saw him Live that year As well I believe Um In Crystal Palace He did a set as well Didn't he For Use of Days On that festival Yeah Use of Days Summer Days Uh He was there Um Because obviously he does DJ sets as well And he's just He's just a vibe bro He's a vibe Production's like Very different Um I've been on him since like Caternada Because he did like Remixes of Caternada stuff as well At the time Back in the day he's collaborated with a lot of artists that we've mentioned so far as well so he's just he's just the guy he's the guy he's i like that he does like brazilian stuff sometimes as well which is cool yeah that's it man that's my final of the week i'm pretty i'm pretty happy about it i don't want to go too much i can talk about it all day but uh we're gonna keep brief he's just the guy with colorful vinyl and that great selection great selection thank you thank you um yeah very cool I would actually do some research on this And figure out If there's meanings behind it Yeah maybe I'll come back with some tidbits On a later episode or something Or post on social media or something When we talk about it Solid choice, great addition to our final In a week collection Thank you, let's go So what have you been saying anyways What have you been saying It's been a while since we've recorded Has been a minute I went to a birthday party no yeah yeah doing our birthdays big milestone yeah what were we saying first birthday party yeah yeah big ones what was it wait I was I was talking with me at 30 or something like that no no this is one of the two at this point in life and it's like I'm doing 30 I saw people having kids and stuff big numero I had a birthday celebration yesterday as well actually shut up yeah oh sorry I thought you meant you celebrated your no no no I went I went I went out and celebrated what was you it was 30 it was 30 oh right there you go there you go that's what i thought you had a 30th as well no i had to go out um to like a bar um and it was like the the music was like um let's say it was very it was very vanilla let's say oh yeah the energy that it was when i was in as soon as i entered they were playing like sweet caroline oh gosh what time you entered what were you entering three in the morning It was like 5.30, bro.

5:49It was like 5.30. Yeah, I was like playing like a bit, like old disco tunes, like I Will Survive and ABBA and all that. That's right up your street. Yeah, that's right. I don't know. I wasn't ready for it. I wasn't prepared. I wasn't doing a two-step, but I would say that. I wasn't at the dance floor. I was more just watching people enjoy it. Were people on the dance floor? Yeah, people enjoy it. It's a thing. Like people, they love that type of stuff, isn't it? Oh, I know. Trust me. it was an interesting watch a lot of interesting watch the people the people that are enjoying it they're they're not like the most fluid in movement I would say in it so they're a bit this is a masterclass in diplomacy they're they're they're hella stiff cool yeah yeah just yeah just a bit a bit stiff a bit yeah a bit challenging movements a little bit you know so but they all enjoyed it man they all How does one dance to like Sweet Caroline and that?

6:49Just hands in the air. Hands in the air. Do, do, do, do and all that, you know? I don't want to hear Sweet Caroline unless it's the tournament season, is it? That's the only time I'm like, okay, okay. Yeah, it only comes alive when like England to play. Yeah, let's, all right, World Cup in the summer. Let's come together. All right, all right, all right, yeah, yeah. Sweet Caroline and that. But other than that, I don't want to hear it. Yeah, at least to stay away. I'm not here for it. But yeah, man. So yeah, it was an interesting night. It was good I had a good time But Not because of music Just like The people watching Yeah people watching And that was me man That was me That's all my That's all my stories To tell you mate Other than that Just usual work And what have you But You went out to a concert Or something Oh yeah I saw Dijon the other day Oh yeah How was that?

7:37Yeah it was good Where was it? It was good It was at Brixton Academy Oh okay Yeah it was a good It was a good show It was really really good Like I was super impressed You weren't going to tell me that you were going In advance or anything like that You weren't going to Be like yo, it might be good for the party Come together, we'll go None of that You told me How much time did you give me When did you know that you were going A while ago And then the gap between then And then telling me How much time A while So this whole time But you tell me like On the day Or something like that Oh yeah we're going I'm going here Come down So what can I do with that It wasn't on the day I think it was at least the day before The night before Great great So I read it The morning Of the day Because you were messaging me At like Ridiculous times So I only found out on the day What can I do bro What can I do You're not helping me out here If you don't want me to go Just don't invite me at all Just don't I'll just see you Post on social media Oh yeah DJ Cool you went over there Obviously he went with some other people That's fine But yeah Anyways how was it It was good Yeah Is he a good performer live in that Yeah he was really good Okay I'm not even going to entertain it You said your piece And this is going to Keep happening Yeah it's going to keep happening Unless some of us Treat others Differently So yeah In my defense Yeah Someone else bought a ticket Okay So Okay Fine But it was good He's good live Really yeah really really good live how would i describe yeah there's like seven or eight of them on stage he had like a guest guy as well who i think he might live here and he was like playing like the fiddle a couple different things at different points in the show so he definitely added to it as well yeah man they were super tight super tight um it was great i thought it was great to watch um how it all sort of came together and it was it's impressively like the studio recordings like like there's so much detail that goes into the production of the production of all of the different sounds and like any effects that they sort of put through it or like even like it was getting a bit nerdy and stuff but like certain like gates they put on some of the sounds and stuff like obviously with so many instruments it's natural for there to be like spill a lot of overlap class and stuff but like because the way they've sort of mixed it and set everything up like none of that none of that happens even like the drum the drum sounds everything's so clean and so precise and the rate at which everything comes in and out like it just sounds really great I think is definitely is like I hadn't listened to all his catalog and stuff before going but I obviously know his musical ability and I was like this is a show that we really really good to go to yeah yeah and do you know what one thing that stood out to me sorry that was so sick was that I feel like so much of today is like captured on phones in it yeah bro barely anyone had their phones out really during the show which i was like so he had everyone just like yeah man yeah like there was so much joy and gusto when he ended the stage everyone was like gas to see him um and then yeah like i recorded a little bit to put on like our socials and stuff and just like you know nice to like like just like 20 second snippet of the show like remember it type thing but yeah like it wasn't that sort of audience and i feel like it was a slightly older audience like as in like they weren't like crazy teenagers and stuff there to be fair but yeah that was nice to see people were just super engaged with the music um so yeah it was very cool you got two sold out dates at brixton fair play oh i thought you did a one-off to be fair okay fair yeah djohn's uh yeah i similar to you like i know his like bait songs uh and i just know of his like a lot of his production credits and just know he's like the guy at the moment especially and he was mad humble with it as well like he doesn't say much at all but like he's really like because yeah he just likes to super chuffed by the crowd and their response and like yeah he's just just big he's been very cute man he sort of like clasped his hand together and done like that to the crowd where is he from do you know i actually don't know many details about it yeah same i don't know enough but okay all right cool well ending on music there let's get to the recent rotations of that you know let's get let's get to our music and that we're not our music but you know you know what i mean let's go let's go all right that brings us on to recent rotations you'll be pleased to know i have three this week so full full suite all accounted for yeah i'm backing you to have three now i expect you to I have three.

12:22It's not like I'm not going to congratulate you for doing the minimum. Okay, good. I was going to add another, to be fair. Oh, really? I was like that. Yeah, you're pushing it. You're pushing it. So what, are we doing back to back? Are you starting doing all three? What were we saying? Let's alternate. I'll start. My first reaching rotation this week is Bella and Destin Conrad. Okay. Yeah, they just put out a new tune together. It's called Typical. Yeah. Nice little UK-US link up there, which I was appreciative of. um both obviously doing their thing um yeah instantly catchy hook so i was here for that um and yeah just good good musicality throughout really um there's a nice little bass line in there which i was particularly particularly enjoying um and then something else which i feel like is rare at the minute is um there's a like maybe say 30 second or so just pure musical outro which i personally like and yeah like yeah you know i feel like there's value in in in having those parts of the song so yeah that's my first one okay okay you're starting strong you're starting strong getting a bit nervous about okay yeah yeah whatever okay so my first recent rotation is joyce rice uh no you're lucky you're lucky go ahead you joyce rice break me in this is my first uh recent rotation um so a new single that's come out this year um it's very um like 2000s r &b vibes um it's it's very like i think it's almost like an ode to like amiri uh why don't we fall in love um on joyce rice's social media like she's done it's not the music video because i don't think that's out yet but there's like a snippet of her walking down the street in the same way oh it's like in the original video as well um and yeah it's just good it's a good tune like i like the like the drum break breaks and stuff i think that's what kind of made that amiri tune so good um and it's like feels very much like a summer tune kind of r &b like just get back into it like just get vibes obviously we're talking about like um yeah i'm louise a lot uh in the previous episode uh which is also kind of reminiscent of those kind of nostalgic r &b vibes and this is kind of more of that in it so i have about it and in terms of joyce rice um i've been following her for a minute um since like she had an album in 2021 called overgrown um where she like collaborated with like cape trinata like freddie gibbs west side gun um i I think she was on Jordan Ward's last album, Forward and the bonus as well in Sidekick.

15:09So yeah, she's really good. So I'm hoping this is kind of a single of like an album that's coming out this year, potentially. I haven't really looked into it that much. I think it is. It is. From what I've seen, yeah. So it's going to be a good year. It should be. So I asked my first one, what would you say? Why did you give me that reaction? Because this was going to be on mine as well. Really? It nearly happened for the first time. Oh, I'm getting nervous now. I'm getting nervous. So I'm glad that I resisted the temptation to include that because you have dutifully done that. But do you know a fun fact about that one?

15:40No, come on then. Well, I don't know how fun it is, but it surprised me. This was her first solo or main artist piece of music in four years. Four years? That doesn't sound right. I'll have to take a word for it. That's crazy. Four years? But she's featured on different stuff for a while. And then when did you say Overgrown was? 2021. So yeah. Stacked up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was shocked by that because I thought she just hadn't been about for maybe 18 months. Yeah, and I feel I've been still listening to her music throughout, but I guess it's been her featuring and a lot of things. And maybe this year has kind of been a big build up for this.

16:20She's just been getting, putting everything in the right place. I was shocked. Yeah. She's one of them artists that I feel, yeah, if the right things come into place, she will pop off. Because she's got everything, hasn't it? Yeah. She does a little like choreography and the music videos and dancing. Obviously vocally, she's really good and all her music's like consistently good, but it can fit. Like I feel it can blow and into like a mainstream almost as well. Same, same. So maybe this is the year to do it. And I did see like a lot of love for this single when it dropped as well. Like I felt like the presence of it, which is always like, there's a lot of goodwill for her.

16:55So hopefully she just has the ammunition to be able to back it up. And I feel like she'll be at races. Yeah, man, Let's go. All right. Come on then. What's your number two? All right. My number two is Gems Creepin. Gems is spelled J-E-M-S exclamation mark. Okay. And yeah, this Creepin is taken from their 2024 album, Gems in the Corner Store 2. They are a US duo, Elu J and J-Rob. Okay. Yeah, go on. no is is it is it l-u-j yeah how do you say that but i mean i don't know if i've done it right said it right no i follow i follow him though so right right so i didn't realize yeah yeah so i follow him but i didn't realize he had like a duo thing yeah so obviously they're both like artists in their own right yeah and then j-rob is the artist like slash producer sort of type thing um but yeah that project is very good so i would recommend um yeah inspired by that old school r &b and old school hip-hop and that really comes through in the sound that they are putting out and one thing that I saw is that they they cite like the UK sound as like quite a significant influence in their own music which I thought was quite interesting because I feel like look at us that's something rare that I hear from US artists yeah yeah it's like usually it's the other way around so look at us man shout out so yeah this creeping tune like it caught my attention from the jump it's got like that sort of smooth 90s sort of groove and feel to it which I don't know there's something about it that instantly kind of makes you feel at home with it because it's probably like familiar um but yeah this is definitely like a stepped-on project i would say um so definitely check it out if you haven't um yeah gems creeping gems creeping that's cool okay okay i'm here for it man we're going like r &b it's smooth and that uh my second isn't that to be fair so my third is going left as well so it's cool so my second recent rotation is uh turtle um song called uh back to it so turtle spelled t-r-t-l yeah oh you noticed dude bro that was gonna be online as well what is going on this is getting dangerous now i think it's because i've been chilling with you and we've been talking about music so now i've been listening to like a lot of music that maybe that you would listen to because this probably wouldn't usually fall i probably wouldn't really usually listen to this so turtle back to it she a turtle is she is uh like a uk rapper and stuff i'm not sure where she's from to be fair i don't this is this is kind of the first i'm i'm hearing of her this is all new to me to be fair so um but she's a part of a collective um called it's left field um which has names bliss uh d original and like a couple others but they're the two that i know to be fair um and yeah she she had like a uh like i was looking through her socials when i had this i was like okay who's this what's good i was like uk rap she's like going and going off on it and stuff um and i was looking through her socials there's not like a huge amount there at the moment i think she's kind of cleared a lot of stuff out for a year um because like one of the early clips is that like uh talk her talking about what she wants in the in the new year in 2026 and stuff.

20:16And she says she wants to kind of grow this year and like release music, um, like consistently. And this song obviously came out this start of 2026 in January. And it's like, it's only like a minute 30. And obviously it's cause it's called like back to, back to it. It was like, like she's stamping down, like putting a, putting a flag in the ground saying like, this is, this is how we're going to start. This is how we're going to continue. It's like a short snappy tune But I'm here for it bro I'm here for it So yeah I don't Again this is the first song I'm hearing of her To be fair But yeah I'm about it I'm about it What we said I'm impressed In fairness I only come across her very recently as well I feel like I was aware of The name just because it's like a unique name Sort of like somewhere in the back of my brain But then yeah I come across this song recently I was like oh oh fairs yeah yeah i like yeah what's gonna start to follow the journey and see what happens yeah yeah again yeah hopefully that means this year is gonna be gonna be a big one for her and i'm here for it man i'm here for it she's yeah she's um yeah in in terms of the collective she's like with a bunch of artists that are yeah kind of growing as well and consistently put out good music um let's see what happens i like i do i like the name as well it's a bit like terrible yeah exactly I don't know something about that that I like so that's my number two what's your number three nice all right my third reason rotation for today is uh nori i8fly in brackets g6 okay okay so um yeah this is a fun one this is a fun one and something that I feel like yeah I saw it on social media um and I was like yeah fairs like yeah um so it's clever grind production essentially and it samples both like a G6 Far East Movement and Rhythm and Gash like the classic grime instrumental so how how is the artist spelled Nori N-O-R-I okay okay and so yeah it matches together those two like flipping greedy bait samples yeah and produced this so shout out Corey on production who produced it because yeah it's an energetic fun beat and yeah yeah so he's rapping over it in it yeah um just to clarify like it's like grind vibes um and it feels like it has a nostalgic feel to it both because of the sample choices yeah i mean that sort of familiarity and like throwback but also like some of the lyrical content as well there's references to game boy zelda um like air max 110s and stuff and then the way he's promoted it sort of is in line with that as well like the visuals include like an old school blackberry um he he wears like the dappy hat you know that's sort of one that dappy popper eyes with the ear flaps and like that so he sort of wears that um as well so it's very much like a nod to nod to that time and yeah he's just having fun over the beat um and it's attention grabbing and i think it just like puts him on the map for someone who can like have fun attack a beat yeah again similar to um it's quite a short track but yeah man it's fun and i feel like um bring some some good energy okay um yeah man i think as long as you're adding some value into it it's all good man it's all good it's good to push these samples keep the the music and the thread going on yeah yeah that's true yeah cool uh i've still got one i'm gonna i'm finishing off you know what i like to do the third one mate no we're throwing it back we're going back Go on, what year is it?

24:01So we're going 1986. I think I keep pulling out 1986. Those mid-80s is me, apparently. Solid minus nine. So 1986, we're going to artists that I've mentioned in this podcast before. Favorite of yours? No, no favorite. Oh, he's up there, but no favorite. Michael McDonald. The song is Sweet Freedom in 1986. Yeah. why have I chosen this uh because I'm an old soul yeah because I'm also but I've been getting into like like yacht rock and like blue-eyed soul they call it and stuff with all the like the 90s mad them like uh I've been yeah I've been getting into that recently um and like Michael McDonald's was one of the guys like the spearhead in that that kind of sound um and yeah so Sweet freedom is actually a single from a soundtrack of a 1980s movie uh called running scared which is like a buddy cop film that has like billy crystal and gregory hines and stuff it's a good good film to be fair like if you're into like buddy cop action stuff like um in the 1980s i'm going off here i can't like it's a foreign language to me for any of you who's listening i think it is some Let me talk about the time Taking back into the 1980s Basically there was a time Buddy cop films was like a thing In the 80s I think it was like 48 hours Beverly Hills cop With Eddie Murphy Lethal Weapon

25:42Tango and Cash Sylvester Stallone Last Boy Scout Damon Wayans and Bruce Willis That's 91 I think Anyways anyways in hollywood they were running body cop films at that time so this is one of them and i think this is like yeah running scared is probably one of the um it's underappreciated i would say of its time but yeah give it a watch and you'll see anyways uh the writer of the song uh wrote the soundtrack to the movie and it's rod temperson who is a legendary songwriter uh he was employed by Quincy Jones to work with MJ for Off The Wall album Thriller and I think he was on Bad as well but I didn't think his songs that he wrote made the album so this guy wrote Thriller he wrote the song Thriller alright he was also like a member of the band Heatwave if any man knows about Heatwave and the funk groups and them things there anyway so I just wanted to say shout out to Rod Temperton Michael McDonald Well unfortunately He's passed away But he was He was the guy He was the guy The trinity of Quincy Jones MJ Temperton They're the When they came together They made hits bro So So yeah I found out that he wrote this Wrote this song And I was like Yeah that makes sense It's a big tune as well So That's what we're saying Michael McDonald's Sweet freedom and that Give it a go Solid Alright let's get into the spotlight man Alright it's that time bro Artist spotlight We're gonna go through the artist's journey a bit talk about if they've got latest releases what they're up to and all that and uh maybe have a little bit of conversation in that so maybe maybe who have we got this week so this week we are putting the spotlight on dave oh we're going we're going big uk then we're taking it there man we're taking it we've been we flirted with it for a while yeah yeah you know i've been getting a bit feedback like when are you gonna do like a bit more uk rap mainstream and i'm like no don't worry it's coming it's coming it's coming have patience so uh where are we going to begin what what are we saying so it's it's obviously been a while since the third album released we uh we took a minute to discuss the vinyl um a couple weeks back um sort of special stone island edition so it was like honorable mention to that i personally feel like a lot of people were quick uh quick to speak on it um as in like i'll see a man doing in reviews day of and i was like i mean fair i know there was excitement i'm found i was starved of uk rap for a minute but for me i was like i think we need to digest it live with it for a bit um before we really get into the conversation but obviously it's been out for a couple months now so it's only right that we discuss the boy who played the harp yeah you've been itching to do sam dave as a spotlight we're trying to time it at the right at the right time haven't we but i I know we've always had it on the cards to be doing this, but as you said, I think you can't have like too many knee jerk reactions when, when it came out and stuff.

28:44So we've sat with it, listened to it a few times and that, and then now we can have that conversation. Yeah, because it's, because it is Dave and it like, I feel like, you know, people do take it with a bit of something extra. So I was like, makes sense to like really give it some time and not be, and not jump to it. But it's obviously something I'm passionate about. So I wanted to discuss. So South London's Dave is, I would say, one of the UK's most, well, the UK's proudest musical talents and exports, not only for being such a celebrated wordsmith and gifted musician cum producer, but I feel like, you know, without even wanting to, he represents so much more culturally as well, sociopolitically as well, but also on a human and relatable level.

29:28um yet i feel like he doesn't like bend under the weight of that that he sort of like stepped into or get sidetracked by the distractions and so i feel like the music uh does the talking and he is someone who i believe the term like artist applies to in a in its full sense of the word um so i'm gonna get into album three but beforehand i wanted to set the scene lay some foundations and going to the context of it. So I thought it made sense to summarise as briefly as we can the journey to now, which spans the last decade. Yeah, it's been a while. It's been a while, hasn't it? Like I remember, again, you know, I keep saying I'm more into that UK rap, blah, blah, blah, blah and stuff.

30:10But I do, I think I was quite late on to Dave, to be fair. I think so much so, I think Drake plugged me on to Dave like back in the day when they had a tune together. I can't remember. remember that's not late to be fair that's not late he was because i remember him he was young then but like they're young but i think like the london like the scene knew of dave already and i was like oh okay like this is one of the guys okay um and i to be honest i didn't really rate him that but that highly at that point i didn't really know much much about him sure sure sure uh it was only until like his first album where i was like oh rock this is this guy's an artist this guy is like coming with bars as well um so that's just a little bit of my story before you tell me his uh his biography i just wanted to let you know like a lot of it i probably missed yeah um but yeah now that makes sense i feel like what you've expressed like is very like natural based on the timeline that we're about to get into as much as like that before the album like it was largely he had an ep yes but it was largely sort of like a singles game the drake co-sign actually came early which i think like does you know it probably puts a bit of pressure on but also it was like obviously very exciting yeah um and yeah the album was definitely like super cohesive yeah and like as a young teenager like you're figuring a lot of stuff out but the raw talent was like evidently there so yeah let's get into it so 2015 um he arrives on the scene from a musical perspective doing a black box uh black box tree star okay um um and yeah this is his like first musical like appearance and he's like flipping hungry the backdrop of that is that like his brother he's got two older brothers and they both um within a reasonably short space space of time got prison sentences um and you know there's the found family background um descendant well comes from nigeria dad at a certain point like got deported due to visa issues and stuff so there's like loads of sort of like challenge and tension in like the household and then that's exacerbated by his brothers going away yeah and so it's him and his mom essentially um and i guess by a product of that or the result of that is like you've got a young man who's now got loads of emotions in it pent up and so music is his expression for that and so yeah the first year you just see him doing freestyles in it and i feel like you feel but the hunger the talent and also like the pain but the authenticity through that and the like wordsmith that is in him come out in that and so starts 2015 other and then throughout 2016 he does uh sbtv warm-up session with jamal okay um he does a street stars freestyle pac-man tv uh freestyle uh black box cypher piece as well uh he does uh fire in the booth with charlie sloth he does two freestyles on uh bbc radio one extra okay one with semtex um and one with toddler t um this the former being one where the bars from tiago silver like had their like inception right okay which is quite cool so yeah in into like that sort of stuff doesn't necessarily touch spotify in it that sort of lives on youtube and travels through socials and word of mouth type thing probably more than than socials i would say um and so there's loads and loads of like heat bubbling around that time I'm like right who's this kid yeah especially because like if you're in school or college like he looks like you in it yeah yeah and you're like he's not like I don't know it's not like a someone who's a slightly older and they feel like they've achieved it's like this is our peers yeah um he's doing something and then uh first thing who um comes out is called Jekyll and Hyde um and then and then amazingly shortly after that Tiago Silva with AJ Tracy comes out so that's early in the discography oh okay i i feel i remember when that came out though so or is that it just gained a lot of popularity again yeah yeah further further down the line yeah um yeah okay okay i didn't realize that came out so early yeah so he and aj have been tight like from way way back and do you know do you know where that's from because they're not from yeah i'm not entirely sides or anything are they so i'm not entirely sure i think it's like just this just being around the circuit like radio three stars same sort of people they're both hungry they're both do you know i mean yeah yeah obviously grove and bricks and then then stretton for dave yeah um so yeah kind of like opposite next to the word yeah yeah exactly and then we come on to um he has the six parts ep in 2016 as well um on that is wanna know uh the track that was initially a standalone track with him and then um obviously got the attention of none other than drake who um yeah went back and forth um with dave they put it out but drake premiered it on his audio sound radio um which was obviously i feel like a lot more influential at these times um in terms of like discovering new stuff um and then obviously got released so that's within his first year of putting music out onto like as official releases he's been discovered and co-signed by the biggest rapper on the planet yeah which is insane um anyway fast forward the next year 2017 he has a singles run um and at the start of the year he joined drake uh on stage for two of his london o2 shows to perform a remix so it's like suddenly you're like in the biggest venue uh which is insane um yeah goes on a singles run does samantha with jay huss revenge he won best newcomer at mobos uh put out 100 m's tequila and then put out question time and the game over ep which included no words with mostak yes okay um and then question time you start like almost a play on pmqs um and yeah starts get touching more on like some of the more socio-political stuff and like starts to really say some stuff yeah people are like you're starting to take notice like yeah yeah you know you've got the collaborations with people you got the vibey production you're winning awards but you're also saying something to stand in for something a bit more yeah um fast forward again next year we've got hangman and then mad moment he has funky friday with fredo which like debuts at number one in the uk yeah yeah oh that i completely forgot about that that was big bro crazy video and something a bit different.

36:36And yeah, starts to really be like that, like crazy levels of chart breakthrough for black music in the UK. In 2018 as well, he became the youngest ever winner of an Ivor Novello Award for Question Time. Okay. Which is a big deal as the Ivers is like widely regarded as like one of the most prestigious awards for like songwriting and composition. So not something probably many rappers are typically like famed for yeah um so very very big moment there and then psychodrama 2019 debut album singles that people will be aware of including like straight and black location with burn and boy disaster with jay huss um that won a brit under mercury so i know we're like rattling through but yeah yeah i mean that that was probably the point where yeah where some for someone who wasn't really checking for dave when i heard that album i was like okay this guy is like a full artist like the album is like cohesive but he's still got like big like chart toppers and like dance music and stuff in there um but there is that commentary that's throughout so i was like okay this is and that's not not that artists a lot artists don't do that in the uk but to do at that level when you've got that many eyes on you was it's quite rare at the time especially so yeah especially because he was so young i was like oh this guy's crazy he's beyond his years yeah yeah yeah so that was when i was like okay okay because i think i was just checking for i was just hearing these things that i hear in the club of course and stuff so it would just be all of his collaborations and features and stuff which are all good but i'll just be like okay so he just makes parties and stuff but naturally when i had the album i was like okay there's a lot more to this guy um than meets the eye but cool um fast forward 2020 he's at the brits performing he performs black uh one of the singles is that the one with the piano and yeah that was cold that was cold so like big big cultural moment not just for like the black music scene but like obviously you've got the tv viewing the audience it's like prime time and he's saying something in it so everyone's like oh yo like it's good it has like bbc news articles about it yeah yeah um so again to recap that one he played the piano and so you're also right see it oh like a young black rapper who's also got musical talent like for one like that it's an optic is sick also incredibly brave and courageous um so yeah massive moment um and like key one for 2020 next year he puts out a two-track titanium and mercury um which um yeah people will wait for new music and he ain't released since and then he puts the two track and it's like teasing people and then a few months after then he puts out a sophomore album we're all learning this together singles include clash with stormzy for dance and then collaborations with whiz kid snow allegra and james blake again very good album very very good album i think yeah i i just check for him for any like big singles that pop up and then i wait for the the album basically because again just the cohesion and exactly there's messages in there and like i'm you know i'm not a guy who's like mad listening to lyrics but like i think his like diction like the way it actually sounds when he talks is very easy to follow which is really good yeah um so you you take it in like very like very easily and yeah so again very very good album and it's got yeah again it's got party tunes in there as well yeah nice balance uh yeah good balance i'm here for it and so that's uh 2021 one 2022 starlight it puts out this song that many people felt like a bit of a sort of like i mean throw away is the wrong word it's got a great sample of like flying into the moon yeah um he's wearing like some of the latest cortes and then his boys have got like the psycho merch on which is his own stuff so it's like very much like a fashion nod as well but another mad cultural moment this goes straight to number one which is mad because like the sonic of it is not like a clash or a location with burner boys like almost like whimsical throwaway rapping but people were just like at this point he's the it guy yeah yeah um he's back at the brits performing again this time he does in the fire um last time he does black on the piano this time he brings out the electric guitar and just starts shredding on stage with like pyrotechnics and everything and there's like i think four feature artists on that record and he brings all the mandem out so another big moment and also but bringing like bringing the scene with him as well so it's not just like look at me yeah yeah but it's like he's got like bringing Pete like he brings Meeks out Meeks is ballied up and stuff and so it's like oh they're actually doing this thing and you're not having a man say you need to be like a certain way to be on this stage and he's still saying this is what we're doing yeah bring the streets with me yeah take it or leave it he does his debut arena tour multiple O2 dates and then yeah the age of 24 Dave becomes the youngest solo headliner of Redmond and Leeds Festival oh okay I didn't know he was the youngest 24 it's crazy isn't it so so a bit so like even people at this point you're probably used to seeing him and everything for now but then there's stuff like that that you're like oh damn like this is very very serious stuff that he's achieving he kicked off so early so it's like so early bro it's mad it's mad that he's like still like young and stuff like he hasn't he's super young hasn't reached the full peak David yeah yeah it has to be it's still great this is what I'm saying this is what I'm saying it's crazy and then as if we needed to sort of like get any bigger he puts out a split decision with Central C a four track EP which of course sees the global hit that was Sprinter on there as well I think it's the first rap record to hit a billion streams wow obviously you know essentially it's got a global footprint and that helps Dave expand as well so yeah just a crazy moment and that kind of like tides him over in it whilst he's working on this third album which is yeah what we come on to now The Boy Who Played the Heart number one album Saw Dave as the first UK rapper ever to debut three consecutive number one albums Wow that's longevity already weird to say longevity was he like 27 or something ridiculous so it's insane it's crazy it's insane And there's a whole lot of other stuff in there as well, like that we could talk about like alignments and modeling and this sort of stuff that he's doing on the side.

43:12But that kind of paints a quick picture of like the journey to now. And then I guess also why there was so much expectation and narrative around this album straight away. So getting into it, 10 tracks, 48 minutes. For context, first album was 11 tracks and 51 minutes. second album was 12 and an hour oh so condensing it yeah so all golden is what i was saying exactly to me this feels like the most deliberate um and then yeah three of those 10 tracks are over five minutes in length as well which okay yeah you know is not unfamiliar territory uh to him but i did want to mention this as a quicker side which i just think is an interesting thing and speaks to his integrity i would say as an artist so since like the global prevalence of tiktok as we all know um around you know covid times really um the average length of hit songs dipped to a record low of three minutes and 12 seconds okay well at like the height of people's brain rot inside um now even that was long compared to a few of the hits that we've seen in the last five years so take for example central sea dojo one minute 37 i mean that's what bit yeah that's voice note that's insane unless it's like a quick freestyle or something i guess that's what that is really in it but it's that's it's very short to be like a hit like just that replay value bro again yeah it's actually mad it's mad um pink panther's pain a second longer one minute 38 okay i know how long my next song's gonna be when i'm and i'm up to the studio just half everything that's the thing 30 seconds is what counts as a stream in it so it's like some man are playing that game yeah i was just like hey this is what it is the flip side of that fast forward a bit um some of the biggest songs of 2025 i saw a bit of a return to some longer track lengths okay uh three that i'll shout out as an example um over four minutes all of them lowly young messy obviously an inescapable song of last year yeah four minutes and 44 seconds oh wow chapel rowan pink pony club four minutes 18 and bruno mars and lady garg i die with a smile four minutes and 11 seconds well uh yeah i guess they've all they've all got moments in those songs that are like clippable and that are used in social media but i guess as long as you have that and then the song can still be a full song and you can still have a full like journey throughout exactly the music and stuff which i think is good because like there's there's there are some songs that are longer that um that chart well and that are on like tiktok and insta and then but and then you only hear like the 15 seconds or whatever on social media but then when you go into it it's nice to hear like there's a different part that you haven't heard on the song you're like oh damn like this goes in like if there's a cheeky bridge that you've never heard yeah oh damn this this has got depth we have artistry yeah this is crazy so yeah yeah okay fair so for me all of that sort of a little aside to say that when you're saying something in your music people do take the time to listen yeah and someone like dave who says a lot everything serves the art and the message and he's not going to be like man i only consuming three minutes of songs so i have to like either have more songs or condense them so i like the fact that he has longer songs and sometimes it doesn't feel that long because you're engrossed in some of the story yeah yeah um so we're moving on to the credits as i was saying it feels like a very deliberate album and that also applies to the cast list of the collaborators that he's chosen each feature feels very intentional and again serves the purpose of the given song so there are five james blake Jim Legacy Thames Kano and Nicole Black then behind the scenes in terms of production and stuff it's largely Dave again but also Kyle Evans long term like collaborator with him Joe Caleb and John Leslie all on production songwriting and engineering and then one fun fact that you may or may not know if you do I'll be impressed so the last track on the album the title track is produced by Fraser T.

47:18Smith who's worked with Dave a lot and Storms and a lot of people and sees writing credits from John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Oh, duh. Yeah, that is a fun fact. Due to a sample of the Beatles and I Love Her. That's a nice little fun fact there. And it's like, yeah, it's actually on the vinyl as well in terms of like the writing credits. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I haven't necessarily paid attention to. Damn. So yeah, so we set the scene. Now let's get into it. uh the album title i feel like we have to address because that is kind of the backdrop of the message that he is uh he's given um so the boy who played the harp is a reference to the bible uh specifically first samuel and chapter 16 yeah if we analyze each track um there is a lot of weight okay and that weighty subject matter that he speaks about so it's not like i've got this big name and then i'm just talking about retta tear and it's all vibes yeah it kind of makes sense so if we go through very quickly history track one he's talking about purpose and legacy the key line is this is history yeah making track two 175 months it's kind of he's talking about prayer faith vulnerability speak about the faith in his family and self-reflecting track three no weapons is like faith and dedicate i mean determination and perseverance yeah um track Jack four with Kano chapter 16, obviously a further allusion to chapter 16 of the book of 1 Samuel, talks about legacy, identity, and stepping into purpose and effectively operates as Kano passing the battle on or the torch to David.

48:55Number five, Rain Dance with Thames, just love and connection and nice romantic tune there. Six, Selfish, he's talking about his mental wealth, self-esteem, relationships, doubt, um track seven my 27th birthday talks about like compromising and contradictions but it's also like a bit of a self-audit but yeah quite isolated as well yeah that's yeah that's my favorite track from the album still um yeah it's like him like questioning a lot of like the way he feels about things um which like it kind of just like it's it's quite a long song but it kind of just like lays it all out kind of thing of like there's so many different things that i've that are going on in my life and that i'm not quite sure about like is it right to feel this way when i when i'm doing this kind of thing um which yeah i just found like yeah it's really cool it's like the song the song itself the sample um i'm like hit like the way it's produced it's like like just a like a sample that's like kind of looped like and so it just leaves space for him to just go off um and again that means that you naturally just listen to whatever he's saying like a lot a lot more closely so yeah still it's still my favorite song for sure for sure i feel like it's probably got one of the most distinct like instrumentals of the album yeah um last three marvelous uh talks about environmental pressures street politics potential regret fair child um obviously a very deep one talks about harassment abuse safety misogyny and again draws a biblical parallel um with david's own daughter um and then track 10 the title track um talks about integrity purpose and a sense of duty so in summary an extremely introspective album sharing a mature um yeah a mature array of like deeply personal reflections yeah yeah um he kind of takes stock of where he is at his point in life where he's got to and also holds himself account um despite admitting like his own hypocrisies and struggles as you say like questioning questioning certain stuff um and almost like gives himself a bit of a pep talk to kind of grow into and become the man of faith that his mom and grandma like raised him to be and to like have purpose in life and be like the best version of himself with a byproduct being that he can benefit society and there's someone sort of in the public eye with a voice essentially, despite no one ever sort of saying, I'm going to be a rapper because I want to go for PM.

51:37Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I feel like the sonic reflects this, like we discussed earlier. We don't really have those party tunes or some of the more drill beats and stuff. Yeah, I feel like I compare, not in terms of the sound of the music and stuff, but I do compare Dave to like J. Cole quite a bit because J. Cole goes on like, every now and then he'll feature on people's songs and stuff and he like dips into like a party tune or whatever, like London with Young Thug or whatever. Or he'll do just like an old school like hip hop tune. um that we jump on but then he saves his project to be like well most of the time there's no features on it at all where it's just him um and it will be just one kind of big message like for your eyes only like like something like that um which it feels like dave has done even more so in this album compared to his other like his other two albums he's had um it's still been like social commentary and kind of him laying out how he feels about things but he's always made sure there's at least like three like big tunes that kind of he knows are going to kind of chart well be playing in the club or whatever whereas this this this one it feels like every song is kind of there for a reason and even even rain dance miss rain dance right thames even that song you could say well that's the kind of the that's the chart song you've gone gone for thames to kind of chart and have like a song for the for the like women and stuff like that but i think the album sequencing it needs that there because that's after um 16 with kano um and up to that point he's they've been like like barring off like that song in itself is like i think it slept on a bit well i don't know if it slept on but i think i think when i saw how people were initially approaching it and they were kind of all just talking about how the float like how they're like flowing and stuff like that i feel if you like actually listen to the song it goes kind of up and then it goes down in terms of like mood and stuff especially kano's verse it's kind of first as you said it's like talking about um like passing the baton kind of thing but then he kind of talks about like the that's not all going to be kind of success and stuff like that and the kind of challenges that you need to kind of uh kind of get across and stuff and then and then it kind of goes to almost kind of like contemporary playful like tip attack between the two but like there's it's not just like one level is there's a lot that kind of goes on in that song and i think because of that you need a break and that's when rain dance comes in and it's like okay like let's just breathe let's like love and like have some time and then it kind of goes it goes back into I can't remember what the song is straight off of that, but it goes selfish.

54:32Yeah. It's selfish. And then it's like 27th birthday and stuff like that. So it goes straight back into rapping. So I think you need a hundred percent like that. You can see the album sequencing has been like, like well thought of because it, the way the album flows, there's like short breaks when you need to. And there's like differencing of messaging in the right places as well. Talking about the sonic, we hear lots of piano melodies and that sort of almost atmospheric music, which I think is the backdrop and create space for them for, um, the lyric of the depth, the depth of the lyrics to really like cut through.

55:05Yeah. although with, with that being said, I feel like one of my favorite Sonic parts of the album is, um, the beat switch, like in verse two of marvelous. I don't know if, um, you can sort of identify that straight away, but it gets like quite aggressive and he attacks the lyrics, um, and the flow switches as well, which I feel like accurately represents in this instance, the impact of like Josiah's spiraling choices but for me I'm like I kind of want more of this because that was I remember playing this in the gym and I'm like going back to this part again because the way it switches I'm like I can get I can like turn it up a little level now and yeah just coming back to some of his intentionalities I feel like there are some track parallels that we can draw between like previous albums and this one so we've got like Rain Dance and then Law of Attraction so you've got like the Thames record and then you've got um the snow allegra yeah features like both like light-hearted uh love records female features that come like midway through the album to like alleviate you've got selfish and both sides of a smile both james blake influences and offering like different perspectives on staff you've got this is an obvious one but my 27th birthday and then my 19th birthday and then he's got like four of them and as you rightly said that they're both like milestone reflective check-ins almost with himself and then you've also got um fair child and then leslie from psychodrama which is dave continuing to shine a light on uh i guess sadly the abusive impact that men can have on on females um so i i think for me it's like yes there's a bit of a continuation but six years after psychodrama we kind of heard that therapy session i guess essentially um and album free feels like it's more mature and self-aware to the point where dave knows his position like his biases but his purpose as well so yeah i've said a lot a lot a lot of things but a lot of positive things as well yeah i feel like we have to try our best to give like an objective okay objective measure so if i were to give a critique okay i would say and i'll welcome your thoughts so have a think uh i would say that i feel like the production could be a bit more dynamic um and notable i feel like a lot of um don't get me wrong i definitely love it but i feel like where dave is so musical and has such an incredible like ability production wise like obviously he produces under the name of sand town and has credits on like fredo records stormy records yeah etc um and he sets the bar so high i feel like we as a fan base are like wanting him to flex a bit and expecting like something a bit more and i get that this is not necessarily the album for that but yeah me personally i'm like i want to see the full spectrum of it i want you to push boundaries um and so i would love to have heard a bit more like dynamism within the beats albeit of course they're super super well like executed overall yeah i i hear i hear what you're saying but i i think you said it yourself this isn't the album for that bro i know this isn't that it's a shame not every day i have to show you everything that i've got in the bag to get me like i hear like um like when we were talking about uh like albums that intentionally have singles and stuff like that that me saying that is not um me saying those type of albums aren't good but you can tell this album is just it's just like it's one thing it's just one it's like magnavo stand alone just stand alone and just listen to the whole thing and that's it it's not it's not trying to have like all these like things going on at once and it's just trying to have one story uh and that's it i think if you're because i'm not like a super super heavy dave fan maybe that's why i'm okay with it and i'm fine but like people that like know his whole catalog and stuff and know what he can do like yourself are like oh yeah you could I want you to do this I want you to do that But I'm just like I'm just listening to it As an album And I think For me I think it's one of It's up there As like One of the better albums Like UK rap albums Oh for sure Like Period Yeah I don't want to get excited Full time But that's how I feel But I don't know that much In it But that's how When I heard it I was like Yeah this is like Elevate Yeah Like this is different I guess Like Like it comes from album two he starts with he tops and tails with half of the album title and he starts with a track called We're All Alone and then it goes straight into the dance which is like bars banger the beat is crazy and it just gets you hyped for the album so even if like then you come maybe you're not into the messaging of it but you feel like and so there's almost like where was this sort of like heavy hit bar tune but like again it's not it's not to take away it's more just like would be nice to have I hear it because I don't know like this has been a four-year gap we're like we don't know when he's dropping next in it so don't starve us of your talent in it yeah i'm sure it'll come in some in some way fair enough yeah and i liked um this was a bit right not random but the when he released and he did all the billboards of the artist and stuff like that that was super clean and stuff that's yeah the whole rollout was very intentional um and you can see yeah that when when he showed like the billboard just like who's in it i was like okay this is gonna be an artsy album like You knew from then this is going to be very intentional.

1:00:38There's going to be a message behind the whole thing. Out of interest, my 27th birthday is your favourite. What is it about that that makes it stand out to you? Is it the production? It's both. That's why it's production and lyrics for me. Because the production is perfectly placed with no drums or anything, just vocals and stuff that just gives him the space to just go off um and it just yeah your ear just goes straight to his vocals um straight off straight off the bat so you can kind of hear everything and it's like it's i like the way that um it's almost like not structured which kind of shows like where his mind's at because he just questions so many different things and it goes from one thing to another goes to from like talking about um like how he is with his girl to talking about like living like in qatar or dubai and like the troubles that are behind that yeah um and then just like talks about how like how like he doesn't know how he should feel about maybe like central sea success and like globally compared to him and stuff like that not not in like him criticizing that but just saying like obviously it's different and i don't know what's going on and it's like and he keeps just going on to different subjects yeah and i think it's it's like a perfect representation of how like anyone's mind works but like how his mind works in his situation yeah um so like yeah it's just low like you just meant he talks about loads of different things um and he's not trying to be too clever in terms of like metaphors and stuff in the song so it's like almost kind of hard hitting because it's so concise and stuff so yeah I just like it man I was just like yeah he's talking a lot a lot of stuff man I hear it so yeah that's definitely yeah definitely my favourite have you got standout tracks now you said marvellous right I'd probably say similar to you my 27th birthday and then the title track to be honest I do really like the title track and I you know I know this is done with intentionality but I love the way that it's sort of like it just is a very deliberate bookend to it and closes it out in a very you know tangible sort of way that summarizes it okay okay alright alright should we wrap up that Dave talk is there anything else that you need to I could keep going on but I feel like we've been going for going for a minute so yeah should probably call it there and then people digest it And we'll see everyone back For episode 10 Is that what we're on Is it Oh this is 9 Oh okay Alright fine Yeah Let's call it there then It's been good Final of the week Obviously I came in Recent rotations Bag of tunes And then Dave Just listen to the album bro Listen to the album if you haven't And let's see If it does well in the Brits And that Let's see Best episode yet Potentially Well we'll see about that we'll see you like that cool until next time peace