British rapper Dave has won 2019's Mercury Prize for his critically acclaimed and chart-topping debut, Psychodrama (Neighbourhood). The album was chosen by judges for being a "moving, musically sophisticated work that demands total attention from the listener."
Released in March, Psychodrama beat Foals to hit the top of the U.K. charts and has since sold over 130k. On release, it was the fastest streamed debut British album of all time and has racked up 775m cumulative streams to date.
In announcing the winner at the awards ceremony in London Thursday night, the Mercury judging panel said: "Psychodrama is the musical equivalent of a literary masterpiece: a conceptual album about Dave’s experience of growing up in South London, structured in the form of a therapy session, which takes a deeply personal story and gives it universal relevance. … It will have lasting relevance for a generation and underlines the importance of the album as an art form."
