Meridian Dan

Artist

Daniel London, better known as Meridian Dan, is a Grime MC hailing from Tottenham, North London. He is best known for his 2014 single “German Whip”.

Video: Who is Meridian Dan?

Dan was a peripheral member of North London’s Meridian Crew in the mid-2000s alongside Skepta, Jme, President T, Big H, [Bossman Birdie]
(

Bossman Birdie — Genius

Bossman Birdie has steadily garnered a reputation as a skilled lyricist and built deep-rooted relationships with Grime's leaders, making music from the age of 15 with Skepta, JME

) and Paper Pabs. At this time known as just “Dan” or “AdiDan”, he most notably appeared on Skepta’s track “Private Caller” (below).

Video: Dan’s feature in “Private Caller”

Around the time of the break-up of Meridian Crew, Dan took an extended hiatus from music. As he told The Yorker in an interview he went on to spend time as an amateur boxer, before taking up a number of other professions. These included being a plasterer, an electrician, and a welder.

Who told you that Dan quit?
I walked out the game and left the door open
Meridian Dan – Violate

Dan still made occasional appearances on pirate radio and began to return to music in the period of 2010-2012, releasing tracks such as “The Bad Guy” and featuring on “Dedication”.

The track “German Whip”, featuring Big H and Jme, was initially released in 2013 before receiving full release in early 2014. The song shot Dan into mainstream attention and peaked at 13 in the Official UK Charts, and has been described as being so influential that “it steered grime’s unexpected comeback”. It is widely seen as the starting point of a new era of grime music which is more readily accepted by mainstream audiences.

Dan signed to the label PMR shortly after the success of “German Whip” and continues to regularly release music. His upcoming album I Am London was initially going to be released in 2015, but has since been pushed back.