New Music Fridays have been pretty incredible lately and the most recent, July 23, might have been the biggest of them all. For some, the main event was the release of Kanye West’s much-hyped, more-delayed LP Donda (which at the time of publication had been re-rescheduled for Aug. 6, a year after its original scheduled release). But for most of the UK, it was the release of Dave’s second studio album, We’re All Alone In This Together.
We wouldn’t go so far as to say that Streatham’s finest gave Kanye cold feet and made him cancel, but we also can’t rule it out. That might seem like hyperbole, but a continuous listen all the way through We’re All Alone In This Together and then a glance at Twitter will tell you that Friday, July 23, belonged exclusively to Dave. The album was only announced at the beginning of the month and preceded by just one single, “Clash” with Stormzy, but at every step of the rollout, Dave had his fans truly transfixed. There wasn’t time for hype to reach such unbearable heights that no album could possibly live up to it—instead, as with everything Sir Santan does, the rollout was measured and professionally executed.
After a weekend to mull it over, replay it and sift through the details, we sat down to pick apart the highlights and lowlights (scarce as they are) of the new album. Dave set out to achieve a phenomenal amount on We’re All Alone In This Together, but did he pull it off successfully?
Best song?
JP: “System”, the Latin-touched Afro-rap cut with Wizkid, came close—because, when he’s ready to, Santan is good at making songs for the club—but “Survivor’s Guilt” has had the most repeat plays. The combination of Dave’s self-made, atmospheric production, introspective rhymes and Jorja Smith’s understated vocals result in one of this album’s standouts. It’s also probably the most honest we’ve heard Dave on wax yet—from old friends to old links, fame to coping with anxiety, the UK rap scene could learn a lot from this one track. Sure, there’s time to flex, but there’s also time to show fans the real you, behind closed doors, which is what David Omoregie displays in spades here.
James: This one isn’t going to get much play in the clubs or even on the radio, nor is it an easy one to hit replay on, but the most effective and well-executed track on the album has to be “Heart Attack”—a searing look at the causes and effects of knife crime and the heartbreaking human collateral that often falls by the wayside. It’s a 10-minute marathon, which in itself was a risk, but there’s a long journey for us to take. It’s not just the tragedy of knife crime—it’s the tragedy of a generation of parents who fought tooth and nail to travel across continents for a better future, only to have those hopes dashed (“How many of our parents had dreams they abandoned so they could put food on the table?”). Throwing it into sharp relief, the tale concludes with a recording of Dave’s own mother, relaying her back-breaking journey from Nigeria to England before she was even 20, her battles with homelessness and the struggle to feed her family, and her pain when Dave’s older brother ended up in prison.
Yemi: “In The Fire” and “Lazarus” because they do different things for me. “In The Fire” gives me that head-bumping cypher energy that old-school grime sets give me. That feeling is undefeated when it’s done right. “Lazarus”, featuring Boj, takes me to the vibrance and chaos of a club in Lekki, Nigeria, with the rich kids and uncles enjoying life. They also represent Dave’s versatile nature; when he wants to bar, he can. When he wants to let loose and vibe, he can. We love a multifaceted king!
Biggest skip?
JP: Dave is famed for delivering thought-provoking social commentary, but “Verdansk” and “Three Rivers” sound like they were left on Psychodrama’s cutting room floor; the piano composition and spoken word-like cadence doesn’t hit as ‘fresh to the ear’ like the rest of WAAITT. I can appreciate the messaging on both songs—and having Daniel Kaluuya outro “Three Rivers” was a touch—but I think having fuller production would’ve taken them over the line for me.
James: “Verdansk”. It’s not poor by any stretch, but it has a lot to compete with. Fans seem to disagree, though, or they did in the build-up to the album because when Dave previewed it on Instagram Live, hype quickly escalated. Little was said about it since then and doubts were raised that it would ever be released. Now that it has arrived, placed next to such profound, emotionally-devastating writing and razor-sharp wit, “Verdansk” doesn’t quite reach the same heights for me. A year after its first preview and buried between so many standout moments, this one just felt a little underwhelming.
Yemi: If I had to pick one it would have to be “Law Of Attraction” featuring Snoh Aalegra. After the double dose of Afrobeats vibes on “System” and “Lazarus” that made me want to shake a leg, the album takes a slight nosedive at track eight. That’s probably the one I’ll go back to the least but salute to Dave for getting that Snoh assist; it was a nice surprise. The chemistry’s definitely apparent between the two.
Best thing about the album?
JP: WAAITT is less serious in tone than Psychodrama and, honestly speaking, that’s what I was hoping for. Dave has had a whirlwind couple of years, and this album is him enjoying life, the fruits of his labour, and stepping into his version of manhood—after all, he did get a lot of trauma out on the last album, so one would hope he’s in a better mental state today. Santan’s still talking about social issues on WAAITT, which is what got him his rep in the first place, but he doesn’t seem to have the world on his shoulders like on his debut offering.
James: Detail—the layering of stories, cultural references, historical easter eggs and allusions. They say your first album’s the easiest because you have your whole life to write it and your second’s the hardest because you have to top your life’s work—but Dave bucks that trend well. It’s been two years since Psychodrama, but some of these tracks sound as if he’s been mulling them over for much longer. Take “Three Rivers”, where Dave switches from talking about Windrush to referencing Dubz’s “Pain Is The Essence” flow, or the takedown of China’s creeping influence across Nigeria and the rest of Africa. It’s executed with literary subtlety, but the effect is devastating.
Yemi: Some of the production and the beat switches on this album are *chef’s kiss*. When Ghetts’ verse came in on “In The Fire”, that musical progression was so smooth! The subtle progression of the drum patterns in “We’re All Alone” to meet Dave’s intensity was fire; “Lazarus” is warm and inviting; “Both Sides Of A Smile”, featuring an incredible verse from ShaSimone, is sombre then transforms into this dramatic masterpiece, then back to sombre. We’re All Alone In This Together literally plays out like a score in a film, like those old-school overtures that would play for five minutes at the beginning of flicks like The Ten Commandments or Gone With The Wind. Dave has crafted his sophomore LP to be so immersive that you feel like you’re a part of his story.
Worst thing about the album?
JP: Bar one or two skips, I cannot fault this album. And while I need to give it a few more spins, We’re All Alone In This Together has automatically made it into my top 3 projects of the year. It may well take the No. 1 spot by December.
James: Really, especially as second albums go, this is up there with the best of them and a truly accomplished piece of work, but if we really want to get down to nit-picking, perhaps Dave could have been a little more adventurous with some of the beats. At times, and again, “Verdansk” is the prime example, piano beats are just a little too heavily relied on. He does well to switch between the drill of “Clash”, the Afroswing of “System” and the straight-up rap of “In The Fire” (the gospel sample is inspired) while still keeping the album cohesive, but there are still one or two tracks that could have benefited from more risk-taking.
Yemi: I don’t really have many complaints about this album, to be honest. The subject matter is heavy in places and hearing his mum tell her story at the back of “Heart Attack” is desperately sad. But that’s what we’ve come to expect from Santan. The fact he’s able to balance that with the flexing and the more upbeat, club-ready tracks effectively is testament to how complete of an artist he really is.
Best feature?
JP: On “In The Fire”, Fredo came in sharp, Ghetts finessed and Meekz impressed, but it was Giggs who stole the show. I haven’t connected properly with Hollowman’s music since his 2016 album, Landlord. Since that time, we’ve witnessed him experiment with flows that have had more misses than hits, but on “In The Fire”, he steps in with the swaggy low growl that made him famous over the gospel-flecked backdrop to remind us why he is still the road rap general. His verse about the cold roads and the current state of the land will stay with you long after the album is done.
James: Now here’s a question. Another of this album’s biggest feats (no pun intended) is the way Dave progresses from an album guided solely by his own voice (Psychodrama) into a much more collaborative piece, while still maintaining his position as the project’s commander. ShaSimone, it has to be said, deserves at least a mention (not least because her name remains curiously absent from most official sources), but if push came to shove, the best I can do is call it a tie between Giggs and Ghetts on “In The Fire”. Following a sample from Florida Mass Choir’s “Have You Been Tried In The Fire”—a motif that recurs throughout the track in place of a hook—and what is quite possibly the greatest verse of Fredo’s career, Giggs and Ghetts steam through “In The Fire” with the casual confidence of two greats at their best, bringing years of rap and grime history between them and layering their street metaphors, Biblical allusions and nods to history so tightly we’ll be unpicking them for years.
Yemi: Either Ghetts or Giggs on “In The Fire”. G-H is on fire at the moment and the way that he raps today sounds like it comes so easy to him. He is easily the best at what he does in the UK right now. With Hollowman, you could argue he’s artistically been in cruise control of late, but he came correct here. It almost felt like 2008 Giggs came back for a quick verse, and it was refreshing to hear him go up against Meekz and Fredo too, who also delivered in their own ways.
Overall first impression?
JP: Not to overhype it, but something tells me this will be the first UK rap album to get nominated for a Grammy next year. I’m not a gambling man, but I might just put a bet on it.
James: The defining characteristic of this album is the way Dave’s storytelling has changed since Psychodrama. Where that first album kept features to a minimum and the narrative on his own inner workings, WAAITT broadens its scope to examine and dissect the shared experiences of Black Britons and the African diaspora, and look at all the decades of societal neglect and divisions that filter down into the streets. He finds connections that we all know are there, but we hadn’t quite realised, but most impressively of all—as on “Heart Attack”—he frames them on a personal level, humanising it all and stopping us from trying to put any distance between us and the problem. This is Dave at his most mature yet. At just 23 years old, he has grown immeasurably and this is him using that wisdom to step back and ask: how did we get here? How did we become so divided, across class lines, racial lines, geographical, economic, political lines? Every possible barrier has been put up between us all and it’s been happening under our noses for years. Dave doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but he does at least try to offer a deeper understanding of the problem in the hopes that we can maybe, at the very least, gain some perspective.
Yemi: I spoke to one of my boys about this album and he compared Dave to new NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo. He said, like Giannis, Dave has figured the game out. He’s clocked it and it’s plain to see. Following up Psychodrama with something even remotely close in quality was always going to be tough, but he did it. Dave has this uncanny ability to keep you engrossed in the music from beginning to end via his choice of production and the clarity of his storytelling. He’s like a Poet Laureate but with street edge. With every track he makes you feel something and that’s the hallmark of an exceptional artist growing in real time. We’re All Alone In This Together is one of the best albums to come from these shores this year, and it has me very excited to see what Dave has got up his sleeve next.
