Pay attention. When Dave and Kano lastly obtained within the studio collectively, they might’ve accomplished the apparent factor. Huge beat, flexing bars, possibly a hook about being the very best within the recreation. Commonplace collaboration fare.
As an alternative, they sat down over dinner and simply talked.
“Chapter 16” performs out like somebody secretly recorded a dialog between two generations of UK rap royalty and turned it right into a six-minute observe. You may hear cutlery clinking within the background.
There’s precise restaurant noise blended into the manufacturing. They’re interrupting one another, laughing at inside jokes, debating whether or not it’s “plantain” or “plantin” (Dave’s Nigerian roots versus Kano’s Jamaican heritage), and at one level Kano simply flat-out calls Dave out about his relationship habits.
James Blake’s manufacturing provides them area to breathe. Minimalist piano, some harp from Eleanor Turner that nods to the album’s biblical theme, and sufficient air within the combine that you simply catch each bar.
Blake’s at all times been good at creating environment with out crowding the artist, and right here he’s virtually invisible while one way or the other making the entire thing really feel cinematic.
The chemistry is rapid. These two acted reverse one another on High Boy, Dave taking part in the risky Modie while Kano embodied Sully, the Summerhouse legend.
That display screen dynamic interprets immediately into their circulate right here. Dave’s obtained that easy, virtually conversational supply that makes advanced bars really feel easy.
Kano brings that sharp grime cadence that outlined 2000s UK rap, the form of circulate that makes you rewind to catch every little thing he simply packed into eight bars.
What will get me is how comfy they’re with silence between verses. There are precise pauses. Moments the place one finishes and you may virtually see the opposite nodding, processing, earlier than coming again with their response.
That’s not how most collabs work. Normally everybody’s combating for area, making an attempt to outshine the opposite individual. Right here? It’s extra like watching two chess gamers who respect one another sufficient to really take into consideration their subsequent transfer.
Dave opens with that wagyu line. Fifty-second flooring of The Shard, costly steak, “simply to take the piss.” Then instantly flips it: one way or the other we’ve handled greater stakes than this. Stakes. Steaks.
It’s the form of wordplay that appears virtually too easy till you realise he’s organising all the theme. Luxurious versus survival. Success versus the place they got here from.
The biblical weight sits heavy all through however by no means feels pressured. Dave actually names the observe after the Guide of Samuel chapter the place younger David will get anointed as the long run king.
Kano turns into Samuel on this situation, the OG passing information to the following technology. When Dave suggests they “base it on the Guide of Samuel, name it ‘Chapter 16′” close to the top, you realise they’ve simply documented the torch being handed in actual time.
Kano’s verse in regards to the 5 senses is genuinely masterful. “Are you able to ever see while you’re simply somebody’s pockets?” Sight. “Have you ever ever smelt when a cousinship turns rotten?” Odor. “Do you ever hear out of your brother and begin sobbing?” Listening to. He runs by means of all 5 earlier than including his “sixth sense” for understanding who’s actually from the streets. It’s technically good but in addition cuts deep as a result of you possibly can hear the expertise behind it.
These aren’t hypothetical questions. Kano’s lived by means of watching household relationships disintegrate over cash, watching the trade chew folks up.
The bit about kings being “checkable” hits significantly arduous. Everybody desires the throne however no person talks about how uncovered you grow to be sitting there.
Kano’s warning Dave in regards to the goal on his again, about envy turning into “jealous juice” that folks sip till they’re hooked on hating your success.
It’s knowledge from somebody who’s navigated this trade for twenty years while Dave’s nonetheless comparatively early in his journey, regardless of his huge success.
Dave’s vulnerability comes by means of in surprising moments. The entire part about relationships and shopping for Chanel tortoiseshell glasses for ladies while his “coronary heart’s chilly like Courchevel” (snowboarding reference, displaying how he’s learnt to match Kano’s layered wordplay).
Then that line: “God loves a trier, David loves a liar.” Trier. Liar. However he flips “liar” into lyre, the harp-like instrument biblical David performed. Even when he’s being playful there are three ranges of which means stacked on prime of one another.
The dialog construction means they’ll pivot naturally. One minute they’re discussing severe trade politics, the following Kano’s teasing Dave about his newest romantic curiosity. “So what’s her title?” It’s actual friendship captured on file. The outro particularly feels just like the observe ends as a result of the waiter got here again, not as a result of they ran out of issues to say.
What makes “Chapter 16” stand out in 2025’s UK rap panorama is how uninterested it’s in flexing for flex’s sake. Dave asks Kano: “How’d you do it? Do you’ve regrets? What’s your life like?”
These aren’t rhetorical questions. He genuinely desires to know. And Kano responds with precise recommendation, not platitudes. “Some years’ll worsen you and a few will higher you.” That’s simply reality from somebody who’s lived by means of the ups and downs.
The observe runs six minutes and twenty seconds. That’s lengthy for a single. However nothing feels padded. Each bar serves the dialog.
When Kano talks about “38 years, that’s an evil sentence,” he’s concurrently referencing jail sentences, the biblical story of the person healed after 38 years by the pool of Bethesda, and simply the overall cruelty of time passing. Three meanings in 4 phrases.
There’s a second the place Dave mentions needing “some water I may give to my seed” and it connects to every little thing.
Water representing information, life, heritage, tradition. Passing it ahead to the following technology. He’s already fascinated by legacy while Kano’s actively constructing his by having this actual dialog. The observe is the water being handed.
The manufacturing by no means overpowers however it helps completely. Blake is aware of when to tug again and when so as to add texture.
The harp isn’t consistently current however when it seems it reinforces the David connection with out being heavy-handed.
The background restaurant atmosphere makes you’re feeling such as you’re on the subsequent desk, awkwardly eavesdropping on a dialog that’s clearly essential to each contributors.
UK rap has at all times thrived on collaboration however it’s often aggressive. Hearth within the sales space clashes. Grime units the place everybody’s making an attempt to homicide the beat more durable than the final individual. This isn’t that.
That is two artists comfy sufficient in their very own positions that they’ll have an precise dialogue about what it means to do that on the highest degree.
The meta-textual ingredient provides one other layer. They’re discussing whether or not to make a observe about their dinner while concurrently making that actual observe. It’s intelligent with out being too intelligent.
The form of idea that would’ve collapsed into self-indulgence however as an alternative feels pure as a result of their chemistry is real.
By the point Kano’s telling Dave to not overthink his relationship scenario, “day at a time, man,” you’ve forgotten you’re listening to a fastidiously constructed piece of music.
It simply looks like two mates having a chat over meals. That they’ve managed to make it this technically achieved, this layered with which means, this sonically attention-grabbing, while sustaining that pure really feel? That’s the achievement.
“Chapter 16” isn’t making an attempt to be the toughest observe of the yr or essentially the most experimental or the catchiest. It’s simply two exceptionally gifted lyricists documenting a dialog that issues to them, trusting that it’ll matter to us too. That confidence within the materials, in themselves, within the viewers, comes by means of in each bar.
