Born To Do It: Craig David interview

It’s been a little over a year since Craig David’s guest appearance on KuruptFM's #60MinutesLive Takeover for Mistajam on BBC Radio 1Xtra, ingeniously reworking Fill Me In on the fly to Jack Ü’s Where Are Ü Now: 'Spit a 16, a sick quick 16 / I been doing this since I was 16 / Been a few years let's call it 16 / A brand new flow for 2016.' David’s talent is ablaze, his deceptively simple honey-toned melodies, his grassroots garage more relevant than ever. The energy in the studio palpable, with Radio 1 staff and guests alike scrambling to get in, wanting to witness the frenetic, fresh brilliance of David’s flow for themselves.

“It felt (fresh) when I went into the studio with all the guys there,” he reflects. “It was the first time I met Big Narstie. Also Stormzy was in, and Shola Ama, and obviously the KuruptFM crew. I never expected that the Fill Me In / Where Are Ü Now tune would go viral. Being a song that I cut and recorded at 16, and now it's on the new album [as 16], it was just one of those things; I was amazed. Things come together when you least expect it, but it just feels so right. It's a really good time for the scene, I'm really happy seeing how the UK – definitely this last couple of years – has spawned some really good talent out of the garage (and) grime scene.”

It’s a far cry from the dark days of post-millennium pop culture where, before the internet afforded a certain democratisation of mainstream music criticism, David was made a laughing stock by comedian Leigh Francis (now aka Keith Lemon) in a creepy, brown rubber mask. Francis’ sketch (from his preposterously successful Bo' Selecta series) effectively erased David’s identity and artistry: a working class black Jewish garage MC/DJ, reduced to answering his critical and commercial success with a one-note, nonsensical punchline in an inexplicable Barnsley accent.

After past experiences, stepping into a studio with People Just Do Nothing's fictional crew KuruptFM, whose humour revolves around poking fun at grime, was a bold move that ultimately paid off – and who knew the show's presenter MC Grindah (played by Allan Mustafa) could rap like that? The clip soon went viral, eliciting thinkpieces on why exactly the UK ever turned their back on the prodigal David and leading another generation to ask, “Have you heard of this Craig David guy?”

“It's seriously so crazy,” David enthuses about his cross-generational appeal. “I never expected that in a million years. I think that's why I'm really enjoying it, because I'm seeing two generations – mums (and) dads having conversations with their sons and daughters about the music, and both having something different to say.”

On UK garage, grime, and playing live

His 1Xtra buzz ultimately emboldened David to return from his self-imposed exile in Miami, where he’d been writing for Justin Bieber, Drake and DJ Khaled, and DJing at his infamous Miami party nights, TS5, effortlessly mixing contemporary pop with noughties R'n'B. His return to the UK and the studio resulted in the release of his MOBO-nominated top 10 hit with Big Narstie – When the Bassline Drops – plus collabs with Katy B, Major Lazer and Diplo, among others. There was also a UK number one album in 2016’s Following My Intuition and, ultimately, the MOBO award for Best Male Act, which David is characteristically humble about.

“Being nominated is amazing in itself,” he says. “Whoever ends up winning the award, you're going up there on behalf of everyone who's nominated, whether it’s best male or female, whatever the category is. On behalf of everyone who is contributing to it, as opposed to believing that all of a sudden you are 'Best Male'. So if Skepta goes up, or I go up, I'd always be like, 'listen, this is on behalf of everyone here,' because there's all these people that have made a lot of people happy this year with their music.

“Garage is so synonymous with grime music anyway – back in the day, seeing the whole garage scene move into So Solid’s 21 Seconds, and now to get to the point where Skepta has such a huge record with Konnichiwa, and Stormzy in the top ten with his freestyle... I think it's just shown that the scene is becoming [respected in the] mainstream; such a great thing for a scene that really has been hustling for so many years. It's wicked.”

The key to David’s success and continuing cultural relevance is perhaps a dedicated love of garage: “I always felt that I had to come back with a garage tune on the album. We did something between house and garage with When the Bassline Drops. Then also I felt (that nowadays) either you're an R'n'B artist on a trap record or an R'n'B artist on a house or dance record... which is cool.

"I just thought, 'where is that pure Blackstreet – No Diggity'? That good stuff? That's why I was so happy that this album has that old school R'n'B feel about it, even though I worked with all these young 2016 producers who made it feel contemporary. It's got that old school vibe, you know?

“When I started working with pretty much everyone, on the collaborative (tracks) – Blonde, Sigala, Big Narstie – it was all really natural and all before a lot of them had their big hits. So I was in the studio with Blonde before they released All Cried Out, with Sigala just before he had the huge Easy Love record which went to number one.

"Kaytranada was this hotly tipped Canadian producer who was on the up, but it was before he released 99.9%, so by the time I released my album it was almost like I was coming up with these new guys who were just about to release too. It felt very organic and real, as opposed to 'let me try and pick all these people who are hot,' or who are already having hits and try and work with them. So it feels natural. That's very important to me.”

David’s second favourite thing after working in the studio is performing live, a craft he has worked tirelessly to perfect. “Before I even released my first album, I was DJing on the south coast and I was just nurturing and honing my craft. I was using Technics 1210 record decks so I was proper old school with the vinyl playing out in a club. I learned what to do if the needle started jumping on the record; the crowd's looking at you, it's flight or fight, so I'd end up just jumping on the microphone a capella, freestyling for a minute while I'd find another record. Afterwards people would come up to me and say, 'Ah, man that was wicked when you did that a capella thing between your set, that was so cool!' and I was thinking, 'Wow, you have no idea that I had to do that.'

"All those things then led into doing live band shows over the years, and acoustic performances, and being able to incorporate TS5 and what I was doing when I first started bringing back my DJ sets as well. It means that when I go out and do the arena tour now, I can incorporate all those elements into one show. I've been doing it for 16 years now. What I love the most outside of being in the studio is being on stage – I just can't wait to let it all out."

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Craig David plays Echo Arena, Liverpool, 18 Mar; First Direct Arena, Leeds, 31 Mar; Manchester Arena, 1 Apr; The SSE Hydro, Glasgow, 3 Apr; GE Oil & Gas Arena, Aberdeen, 4 Apr