Hangman
by Dave

Album: Single release only (2018)
Charted: 30
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Songfacts®:

  • This freestyle finds Dave continuing his mission to put the world to rights. The South London MC kicks off the track by talking about people who show fake love until confronted with something they disagree with.

    I see a lot of man let their jealousy creep in
    Watch who you eat with, the girls that you sleep with
    Watch who you talk with, walk with, speak with


    Dave explained to Genius: "Those first couple lines was just like, the situation that I had gone through when I had written the freestyle, it made me open my eyes and just say that to world. Like, 'Yo, watch the people that you're around, and everyone that you think is your friend.' 'Cause social media makes everyone seem really friendly until the situation happens, and then you start to question all the people you're around. So, that was me thinking that, and feeling that and putting that into the world."
  • Nana Rogues supplied the instrumentation for the track. The London beatmaker's other credits include Tinie Tempah's "Girls Like" and Drake's "Passionfruit." Dave recalled to Genius:

    "I had worked with Nana Rogues on a beat before this one. So we had done a track. It's actually a pretty small world. I saw him out in LA. I know him through a friend. And then we ended up coming back together and making music.

    He was cycling through a lot of beats, and this had a completely different swing. It had a '90s hip-hop-type of feel. It had that sort of West Coast synth to it. And yeah, I sat down and said, 'Remove everything apart from the piano.' So, we removed everything apart from the piano, all the drums, the bassline. And we started again. And then he beat a beat around the words. And a lot of it was very minimal, no drums, just the pianos.

    And then it kicked in, and then a low bass line. And that was it really. The switch up at the end as well, a moment of genius from him. He just came and improvised some jazz chords on a light piano."

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