It is not often that a piece of music, let alone British rap, is able to grab its listeners by the throat and hurl them into an emotional session of introspective therapy. Dave’s debut album titled Psychodrama does just that.

In today’s complex and highly meticulous culture of hip hop ‘bars’ the meaning behind each verse is difficult to grasp on the first listen. It often requires several careful examinations of the lyrics to make sense of the full picture the artist wishes to get across. This was not the case with Psychodrama. That is not to say that it was not complex or beautifully intricate, in fact it was just that perhaps more so than any other album I’ve heard. What set Psychodrama apart, was that it simply made sense right away. The seeming paradox between complexity and simplicity immediately came to the forefront thanks to Dave’s authenticity. In fact, the album was so real that I felt compelled to write on it.

The emotion with which Dave begins the album is far too fierce to not immediately hook the listener. The first track, Psycho, begins right in the fire. You are thrown into the shit Dave has dealt with his entire life only 30 seconds in and you’re left to figure out how to swim on your own. The sense of despair, struggles with mental health, the feeling of not being able to take it any longer, flames which have burned for years deep inside Dave now also envelop the listener whether they want it or not.

The immolated cover of Dave’s head burning in all blue flames, the strongest part of the fire, indicates that at age 20, the fire and the internal struggle of his life as well as the success that has accompanied it has set fire to his thoughts.

The blue flames immediately spread from Dave’s thoughts to my own. In many ways much of what Dave is rapping about are things most of us have dealt with at the age of 20. And although the severity of many of the issues Dave touches upon are uniquely his own, the fact that they are coming from another 20-year-old, immediately sets it apart from other works.

The reason I felt such a connection to Psychodrama is because I felt the barrier between artist and listener slowly begin to disappear with each song. The more Dave dug into the issues in his life, ones which he discusses and shares with his therapist, the more the divide between artist and listener ceased to exist. The therapy session which began as a one on one between Dave and his therapist soon grew to include me as well.

In Psychodrama, Dave is honest in his acceptance of darkness. The delicate yet forceful piano which appears throughout the album introduces a sense of familiarity, but not one with which you feel fully comfortable. The beats are smooth and the lyrics flow in a manner that few in today’s hip hop scene will ever be fortunate enough to master. Dave is able to combine hard hitting bars with sensitivity and maturity and in it we are able to see one coherent and sophisticated piece of art.

Streatham, the second song on the album, is a beautiful yet dangerous walk down the streets of Streatham, a district in South London where Dave grew up. Dave struggles to reconcile the hardship of his childhood in Streatham with the rapid success and riches he has found himself with at the age of 20. He offers words of advice to others who like him are trying to make it out of the ends.

Black, a song which sees Dave explore the complicatedness of being black in today’s society, is a powerhouse. A beautiful and serious look into joy and the pain, the fear and the comfort that Dave feels simply by virtue of the colour of his skin.

Throughout the 51-minute therapy session, as you navigate between suppressed thoughts, horrible memories, anxieties about the future, Dave acknowledges these moments of despair as integral to what it means to live. Rather than hide his identity, he indulges it and masterfully sculpts it to get his point across: this is who I am.

Dave opens the dark chambers of our mind and shines the light on the pain for which even stardom isn’t a vaccine. In the shadows of his missing father, his painful heartbreaks and the life sentence of his brother, comes a light of honesty and acceptance. Only once you go down those frightening alley ways that lead to places of discomfort, hatred and fear can you accept it as a part of life and come out with a flame that is much more controlled.

The 11-minute distressing account of one of Dave’s friend’s journey through an abusive relationship called Lesley indicates the maturity which has been thrusted upon Dave at an early age. He is able to flawlessly speak on issues seldom covered in hip hop from a perspective that leaves the listener deeply moved. The melody at the end of the track by Ruelle is angelic. Dave ends Lesley once again with his psychotherapist, this time indicating that the session has come to an end with his therapist wishing him well.

The track that follows, Voices is one of the most thoughtful, creative and exquisitely crafted songs in recent memory. Dave takes us on a journey with some of the people closest in his life: Heartbreak who he has on speed dial, Suffering who has the same dad as him and Pain with who he goes way back. He offers us a delicate first-person account on these issues which is warmly blanketed by an upbeat and positive instrumental. This is the first time in the album that you notice a smile creep onto your face. Even then, the hobbling grasp of mental anguish isn’t too far removed as the Voices continue to call on him.

What separates Dave is that he does not need to divide his seemingly conflicting personalities into two different sides of an album each one indicative of the different emotions he holds. Instead, Dave is able to fully integrate who he is and what he wants to say in one single and honest depiction of himself that through authenticity carries with it the needed emotional force.

Dave fully redefines the idea of swagger in Psychodrama in a way that I think is indicative of ingenuity. Swagger has for decades in hip hop been associated with the idea of toughness: a stand-offish ability to be the best with little show of emotion. Dave rather than deal with this shit on his own, in private, and then present his fans with a fabrication of a stable, in control 20-year-old star, chooses to invite us to his therapy sessions. Behind those doors, we can all embrace the insecurities, the pain and the truthfulness of the things we have all been dealing with on our own. Rather than show the final product, Dave takes us on a therapeutic journey of self-discovery, and I think more importantly, self-acceptance. Through this honesty and genuineness, Dave comes across with swagger not in the conventional sense of the word, but a swagger that embraces vulnerability as something central to what it means to be cool.

In putting this piece together, I feel as though I do not write with the elegance I ultimately wish to convey regarding Psychodrama. However, I believe this fully plays into the idea behind the title as a whole. My inability to express exactly the way I feel about the album and to fully sort my thoughts is part of what makes the work profound.

What goes on in our heads is not always that which can be expressed fully or as smoothly as we wish. Dave has helped me realize that it doesn’t always have to be.