Way back in 2017, South London rapper Dave ended his sophomore EP, Game Over, with “My 19th Birthday,” a reflection on how far he’d come in his nearly two decades of living. Late last week, Dave dropped “My 24th Birthday,” a self-produced sequel of sorts that finds the MC born David Orobosa Omoregie in a much different position. In the five years since Game Over, he’s notched two No. 1 U.K. albums and a pair of chart-topping singles, including “Starlight” from earlier this year.
Dave begins “My 19th Birthday” with the line, “I spent my 19th birthday in the hospital with my brother and my mum.” The opening lyric on “My 24th Birthday” suggests he’s still with his family but doing much better.
I spent my twenty-fourth birthday with the people I love
For the diamonds, gotta see through the dust
He spends a good part of “My 24th Birthday” giving props to his mother, who was forced to raise him alone after her husband was deported to Nigeria in 1998, when Dave was just four months old. Dave sees her efforts to keep the family fed as nothing short of miraculous.
I believe that God fed the five thousand with the bread and the fish
’Cah I seen mummy do some similar things
Later in the song, Dave touches on the pitfalls of fame. He’s got a fancy house he can’t even live in, thanks to fans and/or paparazzi, so he spends much of his time in a posh London hotel. Luckily, that led to him learning to play guitar—a skill he showed off at the 2022 BRITs, where he won Best Hip-Hop/Grime/Rap Act.
Livin’ out the Corinthia, didn’t even have a yard
But that’s where I met my teacher, and I learned to play guitar
But the good life isn’t all bad. A few lines down, Dave puts a new spin on the classic lemons-to-lemonade idiom and name-checks his buddy Drake, who jumped on a remix of Dave’s 2016 song “Wanna Know.”
Salmon pink suit, I’m like De Niro in Casino
Life gave me lemons, I gave you a branzino, and I seasoned it
Me and Drake, we’re in a private room reasonin’
And he’s always been there when I needed him
And like Drake, Dave is having trouble finding women that he deems sufficiently genuine.
Ambidex’, problems comin’ at me from the right and left
Love is dead, enough gyal are doin’ the most
If you’re talkin’ engagement, it’s probably to do with a post
Ultimately, Dave gets by on his Christian faith. It’s something he has in common with fellow U.K. rap giant Stormzy, a close friend.
You see the Bible’s my sword, and the word is my shield
Stormz prayed for me, I cried
It sharpened my steel, but that’s my brother for real
You can read all the lyrics to “My 24th Birthday” on Genius now.
