Career[edit]
A founding member of Roll Deep, Veira appears intermittently on all five of their albums, although notably does not appear on any of their five singles to register on the UK Top 40. A good friend of Wiley, the crew's de facto leader, he came from a drum and bass and jungle background and was part of the first wave of grime MCs. He was one of nine artists to feature on Lethal Bizzle's 2004 single "Pow! (Forward)", which reached number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, making it one of the most commercially successful grime songs to date. The song also won the MOBO Award for Best Single. Veira's first solo album, Original Dan, was released in 2009 and featured a range of guest artists, including Frisco, Wiley, Killa P and Riko. An EP, Serious Business, followed in 2014, and his second full-length album Disaster Piece was released in 2016, to more positive reviews than his debut.[6][7]
Flowdan is also known for his frequent collaboration with dub and dancehall producer The Bug, and has appeared on at least seven of his songs.[8] In 2017, the pair's collaboration "Bad" peaked at number 37 on the UK Physical Singles Chart.[9] This was Veira's second named appearance on the chart, having reached number 63 with the Jubei collaboration "Say Nothin'" in 2013.[10]
In 2018, Flowdan forayed further into record production. He produced tracks for PK's Bad Ombré EP and GHSTLY XXVII's Guerrilla Tactics EP, the first two releases on his new label, SpentShell.[11] He also contributed preset sounds and samples as well as entire demo tracks to Native Instruments' Maschine expansion pack 'London Grit'.[12][13] In June 2018, he released the four-track One Shell Fits All EP, featuring vocals from D Double E, Nasty Jack, GHSTLY XXVII and Meridian Dan, and production from Masro, Teddy Music, Filthy Gears and Jammz.
In 2023, Veira released multiple collaborations with electronic dance music producer Skrillex, including the Fred Again collaboration "Rumble". Released in January 2023, it peaked at number 19 on the UK Singles Chart, marking Flowdan's second top 40 hit. He bettered this record with the Chase & Status and Bou collaboration "Baddadan", which spent over 20 continuous weeks in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number five and also topping the country's Official Trending Chart.[14] The song was certified Platinum by the BPI in March 2024, in recognition of the equivalent of 600,000 sales.[15] In October of the same year, he reunited with Skrillex for the Lil Baby-featuring "Pepper", and performed the song live at the opening ceremony of the fourth Riyadh Season.[16] Boxer Francis Ngannou, who faced Tyson Fury at a heavyweight championship match at the event, appears in the song's music video alongside footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.[17] "Rumble" later won the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording.[18][19] The song is also certified Silver by the BPI, in recognition of the equivalent of 200,000 sales.[15]