A big congratulations to Dave for winning this year’s Mercury Prize award for his first LP record, “Psychodrama”! What a show it was! It’s time for your Saturday blog post!
Pictured: Dave Orobosa Omoregie accepting the Hyundai Mercury Prize 2019!
Dave had to overcome a lot of very tough competition from the likes of IDLES, Foals, Anna Calvi and (my personal favourite) Little Simz to win this year’s Mercury Prize for his new LP, “Psychodrama”, which was released on March 9th on Neighbourhood Recordings. “Streatham” is one of the album’s singles, which reached the heights of #9 on the UK Singles Charts in March, a track which takes influence from obscure genres like Afrobeat to create a UK rap anthem which directly confronts the themes of mental health and it largely references Dave’s youth as a way of connecting the ideas.
“Streatham”, named after the South London district, is a track which feels like an autobiographical story of Dave’s upbringing as a young grime artist. He adds a personal flavour to the fast-paced electronic bass on the track, as he vents stories about his family and the cold home that he grew up in. In the track, he tells anecdotes about receiving his first car where his intoxicated friend got a DUI charge, abuse during his past relationships and the fact he used to skip all of his lectures in his time at university. Dave raps up a coming-of-age story in a song as he reflects on his mistakes, but he also celebrates these decisions as the influences that have molded his songwriting talents as an artist and the fact that he’s made it in the business that he’s truly passionate for. This track feels increasingly diverse as it goes along, with some poppier vocals and a slightly more light-hearted tone balancing out the rough-edged melodies and the more strikingly aggressive stories. Dave is smart in addressing the ghosts of his past, while accepting the mistakes he’s made as the experiences which have shaped him on a very personal level. Overall, it’s a very solid and concise track which has an element of beauty to it. I think that I still would have preferred for Little Simz to win the Mercury Prize award because she is more underground, whereas Dave is a little bit more conventional, but that’s just my opinion! The track is still a winning number from Dave that’s full of energy and I like the bold direction he’s taken. I wish him all the best after receiving this huge career pick-up. It feels like a good pre-cursor to the Brit Awards, which seem like they’re going to be absolutely huge for him. If it beats Ed Sheeran, it’s decent enough for me!
Pictured: Cover Art For “Psychodrama” (2018) 
Pictured: Still from the “Streatham” music video
Thank you for reading this post! I’ll be back tomorrow with a new weekly edition of my Scuzz Sundays series of themed blog posts! If you really liked what you just read, why not follow the blog to get notified when every new daily post is up and why not like the Facebook page here?: https://www.facebook.com/OneTrackAtATime/
One Track At A Time 