Santan Dave's story: From London Struggles To Inspirational Lyrics

David Orobosa Omoregie, also known as Santan Dave is one of the hottest rappers in the UK right now. Learn about his difficult early life while he was poor and while he had both of his brothers in prison. Read how Dave's music stands out from other rappers and what his most memorable flow state moment is.

Difficult youth

David Orobosa Omoregie, also known as Santan Dave did not have a very easy upbringing. When Dave was just a few months old, his father was deported back to Nigeria while Dave and his family were left behind in South London. At the age of 11, one of Dave’s older brothers received a life sentence in prison due to a knife crime.

A few years later, his other brother would also end up in prison. His mother could barely take the stress and Dave himself took pills to help him deal with the pain. After both of his brothers got locked up, Dave’s mother kept her last free son inside the house, to keep him safe. This gave Dave all the time he needed to learn a new skill: Playing the piano. This would also keep him distracted from all the problems in his life. 

It is amazing how Dave created an addiction to this creative discipline, while there were so many temptations from the violent outside world in South London. Becoming a full-time drug dealer or robbing stores in the streets would have looked like an easier way out for most of the teenagers who were in the same overwhelming position Dave was in at that time. Thankfully, Dave chose to stay on the right path, giving him and his mother ultimately a better life.

Unfortunately, his two older brothers in prison could not join in this beautiful life he built over the last few years. This is where Dave’s song ‘’Survivor’s Guilt’’ is based on. Dave ''survived'' the painful early years of his life, but he still carries the pain of feeling guilty with him while both of his brothers ended up with their freedom taken away from them.

''Survivor's guilt
I feel the worst at my happiest
'Cause I miss all my nigg*s that couldn't be in this life I built
But that's the type of sh*t that only I can feel''

~ Dave on ''Survivor's Guilt''

Finding a flow state activity

While studying the soundtracks of the legendary composer Hans Zimmer, Dave learned himself how to play the piano. He did this along with his good friend Kyle Evans. Many years later, the two are still companions as Kyle produced Dave’s song ‘’attitude’’, on his EP ‘’Game Over’’. On Dave’s track ‘’My 19^th Birthday’’, he says this about him:

''On another note, I wanna say thanks to Kyle
One of my closest from young and we're still at it now
I remember when we learned to play piano
Just to make each other jealous, who would've thought that we would practice now
Your talent's been standing out
Be proud of your dream, you should stand and shout''

~ Dave on ''My 19th Birthday''

So Dave found himself an activity what would get him into the flow state every day. He mentioned that back in the days when he was sitting at home, he would just play around with the piano, hitting different random notes in order to come up with ideas for a melody. Although Dave didn’t become a composer, this exercise paid off very well as Dave produced some of his own songs like ‘’Three Rivers’’ which includes a beautiful piano melody that Dave himself played.

We're all alone in this together

For me, the owner of this brand and for many other people around the world, we always get that same feeling when listening to Dave’s music. A feeling that someone finally understands you and tells you it’s alright, even though that person is not in the same room as you. It’s almost like Dave is talking to you and understands the things you're going through when he is rapping about the pain he felt in his own life. Mental health problems caused by social anxiety, family separations and internal fights are issues that many of us can resonate with.

Dave speaks through one’s soul and touches one’s heart with his lyrics. On his song ‘’We're all alone’’ he said this: ''We all took the wrong turns in different streets, we all cry the same tears on different cheeks.'' Dave lets his fans know with this line that we are not alone in our struggles, there are so many people in the world who are going through the same sh*t as you. ‘’We’re all alone in this together’’, as the name of his recent album would word it.

The cover art of Dave’s recent album ‘’We’re all alone in this together’’. The picture is a repainting of Claude Monet’s ‘’Impression, Soleil Levant’’. The two faceless passengers in the haze of the early morning suggests a fine line between joy and sadness, hope and fear.

Speaking about political issues

Alongside his lyrics about his past-experiences and anxiety, Santan Dave is not afraid to speak his opinion about some political issues. On the song ‘’Black’’, he talks about how people all over the world are still mistreated because of their heritage or skin-color. ‘’A kid dies, the blacker the killer the sweeter the news’’ is a statement that journalists across the world can hardly deny.

At the age of only 19, he spoke in another song called ‘’question time’’ about the many shortcomings of the political system in the UK. Dave accuses the prime minister and his government at the time here of spending much money on attacking other countries instead of using that money more meaningfully, such as on the hard-working doctors and nurses who can hardly pay their rent.

''All my life I know my mum's been working
In and out of nursing, struggling, hurting
I just find it fucked that the government is struggling
To care for a person that cares for a person''

~ Dave on ''Question Time''

The kick-off to his career

The best flow state experience we’ve ever seen from Dave was at his Bl@ckbox freestyle, back in May 2015. The kick-off to his glorious career. You can definitely feel how his passion and anger rise throughout the session, as Dave talks about his brother in prison and how he himself used pills to reduce the pain this caused. You can tell that Dave was really absorbed in the moment right there, as he probably felt the pain of seeing his brother sitting behind bars again when he rapped about it. The emotions he puts in his intonation, combined with the wordplay and his lightly aggressive flow made this session to the best Bl@ckbox freestyle ever.

''They gave my brother 18 for a f*cking murder
A knife crime, the lifetime, the whole sentence he's serving
Now in my chest, my brother knows it's burning
Them visits had me crying, had me whelping
Had me taking pills to help it''

~ Dave on his Bl@ckbox Freestyle

Dave released ''Sprinter'' as the first song of his highly-anticipated collaboration project ''Split Decision'' with Central Cee in June 2023. The song is a mix of summer vibes and serious rap with bars that contains some heavy wordplay. The first collaborative track of Dave and Cench also broke the record of being the most streamed song on Spotify in a day in the UK. 

Send me the location

‘’Send me the location’’ is a quote from Burna Boy on Dave and Burna’s song ''Location''. A song that sets a happy note, located in the middle of the album ‘’Psychodrama’’, that sets mostly a dark note. While Dave describes his personal issues, like his emotions going back and forth on ‘’Psycho’’ and telling about his family separations on ‘’Drama’’, Location is a song where the hypnotized listener can catch a breath and enjoy the happy vibes Dave and Burna Boy give here.

''If you're thinking 'bout doing it
Suicide doesn't stop the pain, you're only moving it
Lives that you're ruining
Thoughts of a world without you in it, hiding
I ain't psycho but my life is''

~ Dave on ''Psycho''

 

The best Bl@ckbox freestyle of all time. What were you doing at the age of 16? Probably not rapping in the studio about the pain of your family taken apart, because of a life-sentence for one of your family members. Dave showed some real maturity at a young age in this freestyle. A trait of his that we have seen develop further in the past few years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvvZsHwrngA