Dave
David Orobosa Omoregie, who raps as Dave (or Santan Dave), grew up in Streatham, South London, and taught himself piano as a teenager using YouTube tutorials and self-directed music theory. He broke through with the football-referencing single 'Thiago Silva' in 2016 and the UK number-one 'Funky Friday' in 2018 before his 2019 debut album 'Psychodrama' won both the Mercury Prize and the Brit Award for Album of the Year. A conscious, piano-literate rapper praised for dense wordplay and long narrative story songs about race, family, and violence, he went on to score more chart-topping albums and, with Central Cee, the longest-running UK number-one rap single in 'Sprinter'.
Wikipedia lists J. Cole among the American rappers Dave related to growing up, and critics routinely frame Dave as a 'UK J. Cole' for the same reasons: introspective, largely self-produced records and a taste for long, single-narrative story songs over sparse piano.
listen forPlay J. Cole's 'Wet Dreamz', which unspools as one continuous coming-of-age story, then Dave's 'Lesley' — an eleven-minute narrative following one woman through an abusive relationship — and notice how both let the plot, not a hook, drive the track.
Wikipedia names Drake, alongside Lana Del Rey, as one of Dave's biggest musical influences, and Drake gave him an early platform by jumping on a 2016 remix of 'Wanna Know'. You can hear it in Dave's easy movement between hard rapping and a soft, half-sung hook, and in his taste for Afro-swing and dancehall-tinged grooves.
listen forThrow on Drake's 'One Dance' and then Dave's 'Location': hear how each rides a lilting Afro-swing groove and lets a breezy, sung hook carry the song rather than a punchline.
Wikipedia lists Kano among the artists Dave related to growing up, and Kano's blueprint — a foundational grime MC who turned autobiographical, borough-specific storytelling into full-length albums like 'Made in the Manor' — is audible in how Dave anchors his writing to a named patch of London.
listen forCue Kano's 'Hail', which opens 'Made in the Manor' by planting itself on a specific East London street, then Dave's 'Streatham', where he turns his own South London postcode into the entire identity of the song.