Dave - Psychodrama Album Review

Released by Neighbourhood Recordings 2019

After the release of two singles, 'Black' and 'Streatham', Dave's debut studio album finally arrived on March 8th after a long-anticipated wait. Under the Editors Note's on Apple Music, the album revolves around a year-long therapy session about Dave's life. 

Dave has been a standout UK rapper since he burst onto the scene with 'Thiago Silva' featuring fellow UK rapper AJ Tracey. Dave's outstanding lyricism and his ability to talk about topics well beyond his years have always had listeners ears' perked. The past few years have seen him go from an underground freestyler to being one of the most versatile rappers because of his maturity and his political insightfulness that he addresses on 'Black' - the first single released from the album. 

Psychodrama is courageous and bold, and follows a similar arc to what Stormzy did with Gang Signs and Prayer in 2017. 

Dave kicks off the album with 'Psycho', a track that starts off with his first therapy session that the album samples. Produced by frequent collaborator Fraser T Smith, Dave talks about the issues that are surrounding him, varying from pain to insecurities over a mellow, piano heavy beat. 

'Black' is the third song of the album, and served as the first single that was released prior to the album releasing. The song discusses various themes of racial and social inequality - which has caused Radio 1 listeners to complain about the song being added to the Radio 1 playlist. It's baffling, that in 2019, an artist can be brave enough to open up about the difficulties and true experiences he has grew up with, and he's being criticised for it. It's unusual though that 'Black' is not the usual rap song that people normally complain about, filled with violence, sexism, and homophobia. It's in-fact an emotionally intuitive, intelligent understanding of the racial barriers and politics Dave has grew up with, that still occur in 2019 around the world. 

Dave portrays how the media unfairly shows ethnic minorities, which has been an ongoing social media topic because of the blatant racism and discrimination towards black people in the media - "A kid dies, the blacker the killer, the sweeter the news/And if he's white you give him a chance, he's ill and confused/If he's black he's probably armed, you see him and shoot/ 

J Hus features on the sixth song of the album. It came as a shock to me when I saw the J Hus feature, as he's currently serving an eight-month prison sentence, yet he still continued to show his versatile nature on 'Disaster'. Dave and Hus have collaborated before on the track 'Samantha', and hopefully it is not the last time as they both compliment each other excellently. 

Clever wordplay can be heard throughout the track as the two rappers go back and forth. Hus raps 'I'm standing here/Bumped into Dave by the Santander/
The double entendre is that Dave also goes by the name of 'Santan'. 

Dave follows up with some clever wordplay and expresses how he doesn't care about beef or the person speaking about the beef as he raps 'Them man JME cos Man Dont Care'. 

Nine songs into the album, Ruelle features on possibly the most emotional track on the album - 'Lesley'. 11 minutes in length, but on first listen I was instantly gripped by the unbelievable storytelling Dave possesses as he's able to create vivid imagery for the listener. Mature beyond his years is an understatement, at just 20 years of age there may be no other rapper than can do what Dave does. 

Lesley is a must listen from start to finish - the production is gripping yet delicate, and allows Dave to tell the story of a girl named Lesley and how she suffers abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, Jason. 

'Drama' is the final song of the album, and is an emotional message to his older brother Christopher who has been sentenced to life in prison. It starts and ends with a recording of a telephone conversation with his brother.

On 'Drama', he details his father leaving and becoming the man of the house after his brother was sentenced. The song serves as the perfect ending to the album, and Dave revealed that the concept of Psychodrama actually came from the type of therapy his brother Chris has been receiving in prison.

Psychodrama has set Dave apart from his peers, throughout the album, his intelligence and his maturity are easy to hear through the emotionally charged tracks. In an age where it is hard to keep listeners attention, Dave tempts listeners to press the skip button when they see an 11 minute track on the album, but with the topics he covers and his self-awareness, he makes it work with one of the albums of the year so far.