Quotes from Santan Dave

It was a pleasure to work alongside Sir David Attenborough and Hans Zimmer.

For a black person who's Senegalese, growing up in France, or a New York Jamaican, that's a completely different relationship with being black and how you might be accepted in that culture or that world. Everyone's experience is different. Especially black women and black men.

When it gets to that time to tell your mum that you're not going to university, which has been her grand plan for you for the last 18 years, all of a sudden 700,000 YouTube views mean absolutely nothing.

The piano is an instrument I've always loved and so I taught myself. As a rapper, who wants to produce more, being able to play by ear helps a lot because I know where I want an instrument to turn or how I want it to sound without having to do too much work.

I'm not really good in public spaces, I'm not really good with people, I'm not really good at a lot of things.

I learnt what I am not good at: listening, staying focused, turning up on time, following orders... I realised that I was going to have to pull off something special, something different.

Black is confusing. Where does the line start and stop with what is black and what isn't black? People that are mixed-race, or, imagine being from Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, people might say you're black but your features are so non-black, like you've got straight hair, you've got like a sharper nose, or such.

I've always like 'Dragonball Z' and 'Naruto,' that kind of drawing. My older brother draws so he was always drawing 'Dragonball Z' characters and so I got into it from there.

The biggest lesson that I've learnt is that things can change so quickly, never get used to one thing because everything can flip on it's head.

I want to help people struggling with whatever it is they're going through.

It's what I do my entire life when I'm not doing music. If I'm in a hotel room in Sweden, or on a plane to Vancouver, I'm watching football. I'll try to talk about other stuff, too, but football is a lifestyle.

I started my first year at college on May 10 2015, and dropped my first video, 'Black Box' on the same day, it's pretty weird. I'm studying Philosophy and Ethics, Law and Music. Ethics helps a lot with music. Philosophy gives you a great perspective on things; it makes you think deeper about what you're saying.

I've always listened to different styles of music to make sure I'm balanced. I feel like if you only listen to your type of music you can never go outside of it.

The moment I started learning to play the piano it changed my whole dynamic with music and with school. Suddenly I had a reason to be there, or at least at my music lessons; it just took hold of me.

I've always had a different ear for music.