Dave In Charge is an emerging Conscious Rap artist who grips your attention with epiphanies and sentiments as he unravels what we take for granted. As Dave’s quirky mould-breaking delivery and content upsets the status quo, he challenges preconceptions of who you might expect to be a rap artist and also what a rap song can be about. After positive reception from Wiley and Mike Skinner (The Streets), and having been featured on BBC radio with his former rap group, Dave has been hard at work crafting a new batch of tracks.
Habitat, Dave’s first single, was due for independent digital release on 21 March 2014, to be available across all major online music stores, along with a visually stunning music video on YouTube. In the self-aware track, Dave In Charge uses words and images skilfully to reveal the beauty and then the raw unstoppable power of nature. Embracing his environment, in the mellow uplifting chorus, Dave sings, “The sun glows, the wind blows, the stream flows. Earth is a canvas; a Habitat.” His first album, Pangaea, will follow later in the year.
Growing up in Golders Green, London, and being the grandson of politicians, The Lord and Lady Palmer of Childs Hill, Dave’s upbringing is unusual for a rap artist. By the age of 13, Dave’s exposure to politics had fuelled a fascination into the social commentary of Hip Hop. From there, his interest in urban music grew to include R&B, UK Garage and Grime. By 15, Dave had become a regular DJ on a friend’s Internet radio station where he dabbled in rapping and attracted his first audience.
Whilst studying for a Business degree in Leeds, Dave befriended Max and Dan, who together formed comedy rap group Never Speechless. They wrote a string of local hits, driving the crowd wild at an unforgettable series of live gigs. Dave’s track, Check Out My Wheels, had multiple plays on BBC Radio Leeds, caused a stir on YouTube and was featured on the front page of the viral video site weebls-stuff.com.
After graduating, Dave moved back to London with an entrepreneurial mindset. Testing the water with new ideas, Dave In Charge released the cynical track Screw Valentine’s Day on YouTube. The song was well received, including on Twitter, where he was tweeted by Wiley and followed by Mike Skinner. Since then, Dave has developed himself as an artist, upping his game, showing us that he is now truly In Charge.