David Lawrence Brewster Jr. (born June 3, 1988), better known by his stage name Dave East, is an American rapper, songwriter and actor from Harlem, New York. East began his career in 2010, and gained attention in 2014 from his eighth mixtape, Black Rose. Its release garnered the attention of fellow New York rapper Nas, who later signed East to his record label, Mass Appeal Records, and later in conjunction with Def Jam Recordings.
In 2016, East was chosen as part of the XXL magazine’s 2016 Freshman Class. His tenth mixtape, Kairi Chanel, was released in the same year and peaked at number 38 on the US Billboard 200. His eleventh mixtape, Paranoia: A True Story, was released in 2017 with features from Nas, Wiz Khalifa and Chris Brown amongst others and peaked at number 9 on the US Billboard 200.
East began his acting career in 2017, where he had a role as himself in Being Mary Jane and The Breaks. He also had a supporting role in the Netflix film Beats (2019) as “Mister Ford”. His breakthrough acting role came in the Hulu series Wu-Tang: An American Saga (2019) where he portrays Method Man. His debut studio album Survival was released on November 8, 2019, and peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200.