Songfacts®:

• Thiago Silva is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays in central defense. After joining the French team Paris Saint-Germain in July 2012, Silva was recognized as one of the world's top defenders. Dave references him in this song when he raps:
  
  I one-two rap, she don't give hat
  Thiago Silva, man block, then skeet
  
  "Hat" is London slang for oral sex. As the girl is not interested in fulfilling Dave's sexual wishes, the rapper blocks her phone number and exits. He compares the way he does this to Thiago Silva blocking a shot.
• The song is a collaboration with AJ Tracey, who, like Dave, was a rising star in 2016. Tracey is a Tottenham Hotspur FC fan and appeared in the summer of 2016 in promotional material for BT Sport's coverage of the Premier League.
• "Thiago Silva" was released as Dave's second single, following "JKYL+HYD." He made his festival debut when he performed the song alongside AJ Tracey at Bestival in August 2016.
• The instrumental is English grime crew Ruff Sqwad's 2003 track "Pied Piper."
• Dave wears a Paris Saint-Germain shirt during the video.
• When Dave performs the song, he sometimes brings fans on stage to rap Tracey's verse. During his June 30, 2019 gig at Glastonbury, Dave pulled 15-year-old Alex Mann on stage. The bucket-hatted teenager, who was wearing a PSG jersey, rattled through every lyric of the quickfire tune without hesitation. His performance went viral with even Thiago Silva himself shouting it out on social media.
• AJ Tracey was thrilled when he saw Thiago Silva had shouted out the track after Alex Mann's Glastonbury performance. "I saw the Alex thing trending and it was crazy," he told the BBC, "and then I saw 'Thiago Silva followed you.' I had to click it to see the blue tick so I knew it was official."
  
  "It means a lot to us, man," Tracey added. "When me and Dave made that song, we were quite a bit younger, Dave was really a baby, and we just wanted the football world to acknowledge us. So when Thiago Silva followed us, I called Dave and I was like, 'Bro, we finally did it!'"
• Dave has unleashed plenty of bars about his love for Manchester United over the years while Tracey supports Tottenham Hotspur. Both rappers must have had mixed feelings about the news on August 28, 2020 that Thiago Silva had joined Chelsea; excited about the opportunity of seeing the Brazilian star play, but disappointed he didn't sign for their teams.