PAUSE Meets: Dave East

How has travelling affected your music? You’re here in London now, but you were just in Switzerland for a festival before coming here.

Yeah I had a festival out there, but I’ve actually got my first tour, 12 dates, in December. First stop is London then Dubai, Portugal, a few places that I’ve never been before so I’m looking forward to that. But it was good to come here now to kind of peep it already so I’ll have more to look forward to when I come back.

Obviously you’ve doing shows in the US, and just played a festival in Switzerland. What’s your favourite song to perform on stage?

Favourite song to perform? Probably Powder, a song where I talk about my daughter and just where my life is at now, just certain things I can’t do no more and stuff like that. Powder is on Paranoia 2.

And on the next album?

No that’s my mixtape, the next album is Survival. That’s my debut album that’s about to come, all those other shits is EP’s. People just say oh that’s his album but they’re just EP’s.

You’ve always said there’s a story behind everything you do. And personally, for me, I think you’re one the last great storytellers in rap music currently. Do you think the art of storytelling is still as prevalent as it once was before, or are we just past that now and people don’t really want to hear it anymore?

Well that depends on who you’re talking to. I feel like each era and each generation had its turn up music and it’s real music. Even in the 90s but people just don’t mention it, like ONYX wasn’t no super lyricist, they was loud and you’ve got that now. You’ve got dudes who just make turn up music, and usually, that’s just aggressive or full of energy.

My favourite shit was always Biggie, always Styles P, always Big Pun, Jay, Nas, like the dudes that was telling the story so when it came down to me saying I was going to be a rapper, once I decided that I was going to do this rap shit I said I could either chase the trends or the waves of what was going on each year, and I’ll be out here a chicken with my head cut off or I could talk about my own life in ways in that all the greats talked about they lives. And that’s what made me get more into the story. Because mad real shit happened in my life that I feel like it’s also happened to other people in other cities or countries, you know what I’m saying? Because just because you’re from somewhere else doesn’t mean you’re not going through the exact same thing, so I said, you know what if I can make it little more personal and make it a little more about me then more people probably going to relate to it.

(cont.) It might not be a number one radio record or it might not be the one that gets me super larger than life but the ones that feel it, they gon’ always feel it. Their gonna tattoo it, and all that type of shit you know, so that’s the lane I chose, to be unique and talk about me and mines, and what’s going on in my life and try to mirror it. You know, I was inspired by all those dudes I just mentioned, so any bits and pieces of what they did, anything I could learn from them, to be relevant and still be strong in my career.

They’re legends.

Yeah, they’ve been in the game for twenty plus years man, that don’t happen everyday. You get a lot of people who come out and get hot for like three-four years, then you don’t ever hear from then again, you don’t see them no more or nothing, you just hope made they made their money but I want to be around for a minute.

The work I’ve put, I don’t feel like it was worth three to five years of relevancy. Like Nah, I went through too much bullshit to get to where I’m at for this to burn out quickly, so it’s like I got to be able to keep my product sharp.

Having mentioned those New York greats, Biggie, Pun, Nas and Hov, as well as being a New Yorker yourself, do you believe, like the popular saying, that New York is the place where dreams are made?

I think dreams are made everywhere man, it’s just up to you and your mind because you could come to New York and them dreams can go wrong, quick. I feel like it’s definitely a place that if you’re on your shit, like if you’re about it and you aspire anything, fashion, music or whatever it may be, New York has it. But I feel like it’s probably the same here in London, it’s up to the person and how you use your environment to your benefit.

I know a million people that rap in New York, like a million people that are NICE, will out rap a lot of people but it’s like, what do you do different, what have you brought to the table that somebody else from New York hasn’t brought, you know what I’m saying? How are you working these people, like all the labels in the city, how are you working them? Are you showing your face? Are you in the right venues? It’s still about who you know so being in New York I feel like just creates the hustle, you wake up and go outside and everybody is at it, you see motherfuckers all day long on the train, cabs, so it makes you, unless you just a lazy person, it makes you be like okay, let me get on my shit. There’s people outside all night, all morning, by the time I come out the studio at 6 or 7 in the morning the city is already packed. It’s busy so that just becomes my fuel.

Moving away from music into fashion. Are you a sneakerhead?

I’m an OD sneakerhead, I buy sneakers every day. I just came from the Nike store.

How many pairs would you say you own?

In total? I don’t know, like, maybe, three to five thousand. I’ve got mad shoes, I be giving shoes away, I give away like a hundred shoes. I go through sneakers. Like right now in my crib I might like between two thousand five hundred to three thousand sneakers.

That’s a lot of shoes man. If you had to wear two pairs of shoes for the rest of your life. What would you get?

For the rest of my life? Two pairs? Ah man. I’d get all-white ones,

You call them up-towns right?

Yeah, up-towns. Either the low or the high, never the mids, we don’t do the mids. And a fresh pair of butta’s, the Timbs. That way I know I’m good in the streets whether it’s hot or it’s cold. With those two shoes for the rest of my life, I don’t need no Jordans, because you can’t wear Jordans with everything, but I can do the all-whites with everything.

Where would you say you get your fashion inspiration?

Me? Harlem. Not no particular person, but Harlem. People you’ve never heard of, people you’ll never see, people that have died and they won’t make no movies about, shit like that. I grew up around dudes that would get up in the morning and go buy they outfit. This is how they start their day, wake up in the morning, leave the house in a wife-beater, ball shorts, socks and sandals and go to the store to cop their fit for the day. Put the clothes, whatever they had on put that shit in a bag, throw that shit away and rock brand new everything, sock, t-shirt, hats then go to the cookout or whatever. Right, then leave whatever event they was at, and go back to the store to get a brand new fit for the night, throw all that other shit away. Everyday.

Okay, that’s crazy.

Yeah, I grew up around that. So I’m fresh at all times, fresh white tee, fresh sneakers. I just have to be crispy. You got a crease in your shit? Your shit scuffed? Throw that shit away, get some new ones, what you doing? Them shits is like $70, get you another pair. Rap just helped me live like that, you know what I’m saying? My mum wasn’t doing that shit, you get one pair of sneakers and you better toothbrush them shits forever. But growing up I was seeing the flyest people, flyest of the fly.