Quotes from Santan Dave

Music and football are two industries where black people excel, because talent is undeniable. You can't deny an amazing voice. You can't deny amazing athletic prowess. Physically, it's evident. But in other industries, circumstance is more of a thing.

I just can't belong to a genre, because I don't know what I would want it to be.

That's why the Kanye Wests and the Drakes are just in a different league, because they have the ability to be vulnerable and open.

I've given her bragging rights. That's something my mum's definitely big on, like any African parent. Like any parent.

I really enjoy Lana Del Rey, and Pink Floyd are amazing.

I couldn't care less about criticism.

As a human, I'd say I'm pretty intermediate.

A very bland eleven-year-old, playing computer games. I went to a local primary school but I wasn't anything special or anything insanely interesting. I didn't have a crazy personality. I was somewhat book smart, but I wasn't hanging off the teacher, nor was I messing up in class. I wasn't doing much to disrupt anything. I was just there, existing.

When I'm performing, the crowd just disappears, it's like everyone merges - one big person. You just say the words and people will say the words back to you. And it's just so rehearsed. I have a lot of songs I couldn't forget the words if I tried. So you get in there, you lose yourself and it's all good.

Rap, for me, I go at any tempo and any sound of beat and incorporate melody as well.

Grime must be its own genre.

I wish I could make myself more riveting but I'm quite standard, as the name suggests.

I don't think that one moment in people's life should define them. Within reason: I emphasise that.

Psychodrama' is a form of therapy and it is just expressing how you feel in whatever way is the most creative to you. Some people act it out, some people sing it out, people find their own different ways.

Sometimes I sit down and I think 'Do I regret this? Do I regret that?' And I feel like everything makes this snowball effect, you know? If you regret something, it's good because it just means that it's something that's affected you enough for you to stop and think... There's a reason that everything happens.

I think we internalise a great deal. Music can draw that stuff out of even the hardest person.

Just be thankful for what you have in the moment, but most importantly, work hard. The things that you work hard on have a lot of impact.

Prison hosts a lot of normal people, a lot of family men who were caught in a tight situation or in a dark place.

I think it's crucial to go out and explain to people who you are and where you come from, your hardships - that's the kind of stuff I connect to.

We're all just humans at the end of the day.

A lot of people devote their lives to me and what I do. It means the most to be able to repay that faith.

I was drawing before I did music, but me, I'm a dilettante. I jump into everything until I find one thing that I enjoy more than others. Rap was something that was always there because my brother used to rap - piano and musical instruments is something I learnt on the way.

Where I'm from, if you can't see who and what is good for you and who is bad for you, you could end up with the wrong friends, in places where you don't need to be, with people that you didn't need to bring into your house, giving your trust to those who could turn on you.

I like soundtracks. I love Hans Zimmer, the score for 'The Dark Knight Rises' is one of my favourites. I also like 'Man of Steel,' 'Inception,' 'Interstellar,' 'Braveheart,' 'Transformers' - Steve Jablonsky with 'Arrival to Earth.' 'Schindler's List' too, that's beautiful.