‘Loud in our laughter, silent in our suffering’
Dave first entered the consciousness of mainstream music fans in the UK with ‘Question Time’, one of the singles from his EP Game Over. Since then the south London rapper has made waves in the UK Rap scene, developing a reputation for his ability to produce hard-hitting conscious rap as well as club bangers.
His latest single tackles the issue of growing up as a black person in the UK. The song, entitled ‘Black’, describes the challenged that black people face, most potently described in two lines from the first verse:
It’s working twice as hard as the people you know you’re better than
‘Cause you need to do double what they do so you can level them
The video features Dave, fellow south London rapper Stormzy and England international Raheem Sterling, who has spoken out against the unfair treatment of black footballers in the UK’s tabloid press.
Sterling reveals his gun tattoo in the video, which became the subject of debate during the World Cup last summer, despite the fact that he’d had the tattoo for years and it held deep meaning to him after his father was a fatal victim of gun crime.
The tattoo appears in video over the line: ‘Black is stepping in for your mother because your father’s gone/ Standing by your children when you haven’t proven karma wrong.’
Sterling’s appearance in the video is his latest act of peaceful protest against racism after he posted a statement on Instagram calling out the tabloids for giving unequal treatment to two of his Manchester City teammates.
He also made a tongue-in-cheek remark about the positive headlines that followed his late winner against Schalke in the Champions League on Wednesday. In his words: ‘Gonna make a screenshot of these because it might not happen soon again’.
Below you can watch the music video to ‘Black’, which will feature in Dave’s debut album ‘Psychodrama’ – due for release on March 8th.
