Choc-city’s wildcard NOON DAVE has been making a lot of waves recently for his silk and smooth entrance into the Nigerian music industry. His single “Brunch” has gotten a lot of reviews all over the media as a rookie creating his own path and genre, unlike anything we have ever seen. The 49th street sat down with Noon Dave to bring you this exclusive interview on his sound and what to expect from this raw talent who has been launched into the big scene.
Q: We’ve heard people call your sound “A breath of fresh air”; what inspires and motivates your music?
Noon Dave: Listening to music, good music especially. I also draw inspiration from past experiences, conversations with people, and also, I could hear a really dope beat and get inspired to write and ideas starts popping in my mind.
Q: There are lots of sub genres to Afrobeats; afro rave, afro-pop and a couple of others. What genre are you classifying yourself?
Noon Dave: I’d say afro-fusion cause I fuse genre’s like RnB/soul, reggae/dancehall, alternative RnB with afro.
Q: As an artiste, what are the things you do or get yourself involved with that helps your creative process and make you very productive?
Noon Dave: I play the guitar because it helps my writing, I pray, I sometimes download beats, use them to write, then make another beat with a producer for whatever I’ve written. Also, I listen to genres like jazz, neo-soul, funk, hip-hop, rap/trap music and others, because they’re sophisticated and they help me think creatively.
Q: Let’s talk about “Brunch”; What was the inspiration behind the song, and what were you trying to achieve when writing & creating this song?
Noon Dave: BRUNCH was inspired by a Saint Jhn’s song instrumental titled “Ransom”. When I heard the song I liked the beat, so I felt I could use the bounce of the beat to create something. So, I thought about the phrase “weather for two” and decided to write something with it, the first line that came to mind was “shey you no dey see the weather”, and that’s what I used to write the hook of the song before I wrote the verses. And the word “Breakfast” is used as a slang that means “heartbreak” in Nigeria and that’s why in the hook of the song I said skip breakfast make we chop “BRUNCH” together. That’s how the song BRUNCH came about.
Q: Very intelligent Dave. Next question; If you had the chance to pick one African artiste and a global artiste to feature, who are you leaning towards?
Noon Dave: African artiste would be Burnaboy because he’s not restricted. He can work with anybody and still deliver! The global artiste is a tough one for me cause there’s Kendrick, Cole, Drake, Frank Ocean, Rihanna, Partnextdoor, Her, SZA, Summer Walker, Ari Lennox… the list goes on and on!
Q: These days, we see that producers are getting more recognition in comparison to how it was before; what producer are you most eager to work with and why?
Noon Dave: I’m eager to work with not just one producer; I’d like to work with the likes of Jae5, Sarz, Juls, Noah “40” Shebib, London on da track, and Wondagurl cause I love their sound.
Q: There are lots of new-age talents in the industry currently. Who are you feeling currently?
Noon Dave: Asake