CD. C-Dawg. The comeback king. The sweet-tongued voice of garage circa 1999. Mr. Re-Rewind. However you affectionately refer to Craig David, there's no doubt that the UK's prodigal son is back on the path to musical righteousness. Having weathered the storm of career tumbleweed for a soul-crushing six years - during which time he went to Miami, got ripped and set up a club in his living room - he's now propelled himself back onto everyone's radar by outdoing Bieber with a better version of his own track - in your face, Biebs - and releasing his own new material, which ain't half bad. On Sunday, we saw the fruits of all this activity come into fruition at Ibiza Rocks, where the babyfaced purveyor of soulful beats launched his TS5 Pool Party from a pink podium in the middle of the dance floor (a sign of a man ferociously comfortable in his own skin), and boy, did it go off. Ibiza Rocks went wild, anyone with a mouth screamed / dribbled and everyone lined up to kiss the feet (body, face, whevs) of a singer in his prime. So here is an ode to the man who defied the odds to come back and conquer - if you're not a fan of gushing tributes, don't bother with the rest of this.
The dude is talented
He can really, really sing. If there was a food equivalent of Craig David's voice it'd be salted caramel - all smooth and sweet and molten and drippy and ideally, covered in chocolate. Not only that, he also DJs and MCs in equally impressive measure, AND tracks like his breakthrough collaboration with Artful Dodger and ‘Seven Days' sound as relevant now as ever. In summary - kudos to your skills, bruv.
He's hot
Yeah. I said it. Much like everyone in Miami, he obviously put himself on a calorie controlled diet, upped the protein (eggs, I'd wager) and started doing sit ups like Schwarzenegger back in his hey day. The result? He's fit. I guarantee you there wasn't a single person in the audience yesterday who wasn't marvelling at his physique in some way or another. Craig David all over my... boink? Yeah alright then.
He turned Ibiza Rocks into a massive, raging hot bed of fun
TS5 is the one occasion this year when you'll actually be able to make use of Ibiza Rocks' pool, and it's all down to Craigy, lad. Yesterday was the most bouncing I've probably ever seen the San An venue - there were people splashing around in the pool, people getting overexcited in the hot tub and people saying ‘hell, I don't care if my nipples fall off from sunburn because I can say I WOZ ‘ERE'. It was just one of those Ibiza moments.
His tune selection is on point
He mixes it up with tunes that were famous during his early years (‘Flowers', Sweet Female Attitude), throws in some hip hop belters (‘Niggas In Paris', Kanye), adds some mash ups of his own tunes (‘Walking Away' with Dr Dre's ‘The Next Episode'), and goes hard (‘Junglist Massive', M Beat ft. Generel Levy) - all the while making you bump and grind in a bikini with the kind of bass face that if you ever saw in the mirror you'd make yourself blush. ‘Ave it.
He's as humble as they come
He thanked the crowd 'from the bottom of his heart', and while I couldn't possibly comment on how genuine that sentiment was, I'm pretty sure he meant it. He's come back from the brink of obscurity, he's selling records, he's vibing all over Ibiza Rocks and I reckon it's pretty likely that he's having a lovely time. So yeah, the dude's grateful, and in today's self-obsessed and self-promoting pop climate, that's pretty nice.
WORDS | Abby Lowe PHOTOGRAPHY | James Chapman
