TOTT 2016 #8: DAVE

Grime and classical soundtracks are not really two things you would associate with one another. 18 year old Dave, the mononymous Streatham-based rapper, has never been one to stick to conventions however. Fusing his love of Hans Zimmer, Christopher Nolan’s composer of choice and most recently heard on Planet Earth II, with the attention grabbing South London grime scene, he’s as comfortable spitting fire in the booth as he is behind a piano.

A classically trained pianist, with a penchant for raw, heartfelt rhymes at a much slower pace to his contemporaries, Dave caused the buzz blogs (this humble blog among them) to go wild with the release of the heart wrenching JKL + HYD. And he’s only continue to capture hearts and minds with every track, session and feature.

It’s this dynamism that has already found him fans in the Godfather of Grime, Wiley, and Drake, who dropped a remix of Wanna Know this past October. He’s someone who looks for a challenge; aiming outside of what he knows to create something new and electric.  

Vowing to stay independent like his idols, the rapper’s rapper Dave is set to carve a wildly exciting path for himself in 2017. Currently in the studio with Fraser T Smith, while still working through college, it’s easy to predict that Dave is sure to be the next big grime name you need to keep your ears to the ground for.

Words by Chris Taylor and Tipped by Paul Gibbins

Dave was originally featured on February 17th with words by Callum Howard from Grey Tapes

View the full TOTT 2016 countdown HERE