1. |
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Dreaming today is rarely found, so the dreamer finds it hard,
you don't need the anatomy chart, if you're looking to find your heart,
if you look at this type of art, there are many that disbelieve you,
we're not provided the right of hindsight, or the privilege of a preview.
So you never know where you stand, or how the future will unveil
but like everything you can never win, if you're too afraid to fail,
I've bailed on many times where I should've stayed,
didn't take decisions that maybe, maybe I should have made.
Shudder from your regrets or accept them and build another day,
this projects for the people who feel that there’s not another way,
to cut loose from the bonds that are trapping you,
let me introduce, imagination avenue.
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2. |
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Sixteen years old, flirting with the surfer girls
Who only wanted surfer boys, who used to hang with skater lads
I bought a surfboard, fuck it bought a skateboard
Barely riding either, but I rode a beat and made my raps
My island never made the map, but I aint even from there,
Made the move from Leicester, only supposed to be for one year
Now the 90’s kids are roaming round as twenty-something’s,
Buying homes, getting married but there’s plenty running
From the future, I’m included in the tally –
Moving through the valley of the shadow of the scallies
Who may have had Dad’s, but most of us, we were carried
By the mothers who were Sally’s now abandoned by their Harry’s
I made this album, and it’s all about the older days
Blockbuster videos, fighting over sofa space,
How did Netflix & Chill come to overtake?
A generation watching ads claiming that Tony’s great
Frosty mornings playing footie with your only mate
I was only eight getting into poetry –
Note to self, not the way to get the girls to notice me,
Now it is though, accidentally I got far,
Further than the guys who cruised to school in posh cars,
I was walking on the pavement; I was swimming when it’s raining
I was gymmin’, I was training, my mental muscle was aching
I was giving, I was taking from the women probably faking
Face it, none of us were Casanova
Though we claimed we were every time our class was over
Over a glass of cola, watching Gianfranco Zola
On match of the day, and imagining ways our life would pass,
I hope the, child in me is still present, the child would steal presents
On Christmas eve, best believe I bring the real essence
Gifted in beat sessions, with memories I keep precious
Sixteen years old flirting with the surfer girls,
Who only wanted surfer boys, who used to hang with skater lads
I bought a surfboard, fuck it bought a skateboard
Barely riding either, but I rode a beat and made my raps
Time getting faster, I change the pace
Rhyming I’ve mastered to make the grade
I don’t really think I could take a day
In the past that I would not want back,
Hop in the portal, cross that border, travel until we’ve gone back
Into one flat, with the console – playing Mortal Kombat
Consoled by the one fact you could beat life by kicking shins,
Now I need cheat codes, here we go, for the finishing
move I’m administering, the cynical lyricist living in sin
Thinking of when I was innocent then,
Thinking of when I was innocent then.
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3. |
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I was twenty to four in the morning,
during a storm - in Leicester General Hospital.
A few wards away from where
I would visit my grandfather in his final days,
Which was a few wards away from where our friend
Mez would rest on his bed,
And listen to the cheers of Welford Road stadium
Where Leicester Tigers would be playing Rugby -
And he would wish
He was once well enough to take a seat in the stand.
Many men and women have been in that ward
And I wonder how many of them said they were glad
To have worked their entire life, just to stay afloat
Just to tread water
They never got to visit that ocean, they always wanted to dive into
What I mean is...
Life is too...
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4. |
Do Quit Your Day Job
03:50
|
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Who the hell said don't quit your day job?
You don't need be a pilot, you can take off
What you afraid of? money or the small talk
it aint about the dough mate
what is this bake off?
Who the hell said don't quit your night shift,
You're an illustrator, working as a typist
You're a great writer and they got as you waitress,
Throw the plate down quick, be that escapist...
I worked in a warehouse a couple of nights,
got fired pretty quick cos I wasn't polite
there was a foreman I wanted to fight,
and five pounds an hour outside, no it wasn't alright.
Wrote raps on the packages, I was meant to package in
even more packaging, pretty damn knackering
grin like saccharin lacking in some genuine sweetness,
by the end of the week, I would've packed it in
but anyway they saved me the job,
life's not about what you make for the boss
How many of us are really so in love with our work?
Oh its going quiet now, the truth that's uncomfortable hurts.
Who the hell said don't quit your day job,
you don't need be a pilot, you can take off
What you afraid of? money or the small talk
it aint about the dough,
what is this bake off?
Who the hell said don't quit your night shift,
You're an illustrator, working as a typist
You're a great writer and they got as you waitress,
Throw the plate down quick, be that escapist
I worked a for a company a month a day,
four dollars an hour, that was all I would make
the supervisor on my case said Chris quit your daydream
at least get my name right, and can I get break please?
Eight hours straight, is that shit even legal?
this is for my people who are grinding for them evil
corporations and they will be brave enough to leave em
Believe me, it's easy - I just told em I was ducking out,
Never going back there, no fucking doubt
I'm touring with my heroes and finally my book is out
funny how I used to only rhyme for enjoyment,
now I made it actually into my line of employment
I'm laughing to the bank as I walk right past it,
forget the money, it's only paper and plastic
and how is that gonna last after I'm gone?
When i'm buried in the dust, they'll be playing this song (x3)
Who the hell said don't quit your day job,
you don't need be a pilot, you can take off
What you afraid of? money or the small talk
it aint about the dough,
what is this bake off?
Who the hell said don't quit your night shift,
You're a painter by trade, working as a typist
You're a great writer and they got as you waitress,
Throw the plate down quick, be that escapist
|
||||
5. |
||||
November rain keeping memory lane treacherous
my recklessness meant many to chose to make an exodus
asking where the exit is, soon after our entrances
repeating it for emphasis, my demons had no exorcist
except the microphone, you might just know i'm meant for this,
I don't know where Memphis is, but still I get some messages
from fans over there, so aware of all my sentences,
saying that they dig it, just like Stanley Yelnats did,
holes in my arguments and holes in my shoes -
cobble my blues together, singing until my soul can improve
it's been a long road since the barbecues on the beach
when we were teenagers cooking up a future to reach
some of us got there, some of us are washed up,
like driftwood on the tideline, I find its down to pot luck -
one second playing pool with my mates,
next second in the pocket of a beat on a stage
and it's crazy, I was never meant to make it,
I was never set to take it, everything I ever wanted,
now I claim it, payment rolling in for all of my arrangements,
came along way from the pages in the basement
Sun rising on the city its a beautiful dawn
setting off to the horizon with some music to pour
Into light rays, and thunderbolts, i'm moving it forward
fire flying your dark that's what i'm doing it for.
October sunshine reminding me of good times,
108 Hes lane, the kind of place to unwind
We were five guys, sharing a slice of Five Guys
pizza, playing Fifa feeling luckier than nine lives
hating on the girls that played our mates,
hated by the girls our mates had played
the cycle won't abate, and no debate, I don't relate
if you see yourself as a saint, even Francis of Assisi
spent his youth getting laid, frankly i'm to blame
for every ex that i've estranged, the next letter
is y, but alphabets I rearrange, avoid the question
learn my lesson and I tame the stranger in my brain
that's telling me to lose again
nearly 24 years i've been here
plenty more tears till I see clear
plenty more scars till I won't bleed
and there'll never be a day a healing of that I don't need
and it's crazy, I was never meant to make it,
I was never set to take it, everything I ever wanted,
now I claim it, payment rolling in for all of my arrangements,
came along way from the pages in the basement
Sun rising on the city its a beautiful dawn
setting off to the horizon with some music to pour
Into light rays, and thunderbolts, i'm moving it forward
fire flying your dark that's what i'm doing it for.
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6. |
||||
Me and my own dad used to watch the football
just down the road at Filbert street,
it was the Saturday Routine,
Blue scarves, blue coats.
When the only other sport me and my mates played was to knock on doors
and sprint into the distance… into the distant past.
Way back.
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7. |
||||
Life passing by like,
flights passing high like,
comets in the twilight -
I watch em on my balcony, concoct my alchemy
turn them into souls I believe are watching out for me,
Give em names like maurice and sean, bernie and lillian
It's often at dawn, the amber colour will remind me of talks
in front of fires on the nights where the storms,
swept the city clean, Leicester city team the only thing that mattered
on a saturday, me, dad and grandad clapping in the rain
it's sad, the stadium was knocked down years ago,
wading in the past waters, waiting for the tear to flow
inevitable, with every fall my skin grew thicker,
way before I knew liquor, way before we rap battled in the school corridors
saying who's sicker, through a half-chewed snickers spitting bars
that would stick a-round, for a minute, then dissa- pear into the mirror?
Is it clearer who you really are?
My career interfering with my heart
I've just done two shows, not far from my home,
said I was too busy left my Grandma alone, and only spoke of her in poems
instead of showing
up to her living room, more like the surviving room
what can my writing do, won't help you know me
Philomena Foley lonely still a dreamer slowly sinking on her old knees,
I was meant to be there in order to support her back,
instead I was performing the wrong sorta supporting act,
it's important that, I don't let my pride distort the facts,
yeah I was at Abbey Road recording tracks
that don't make me John Lennon, and Celia aint Yoko
reminding its loco that my vocals might be global,
only local at the moment, the opponent to my ego
she knows my arrogance is cancerous to talent
bank upon the fact, that there has to be a balance
and Natwest don't care about who raps best
so yeah i'm pretty broke, in a city full of pretty folk
dizzy heights, busy lives and gritty smoke
drifting on the wings on the easterly wind
moon lining to the sun, like the queen to the king
Above the world still dreaming for the freedom to ring
these are lyrical mementos, pitching up the tent poles
camping in nostalgia, and the gardens of a lost world
rarely got girls, we'd watch Jurassic park,
mix coke with menthols, our version of firearms
playing knock and run till we all got tired arms
I take it back, take it back
Back to the spine,
of a story unread,
way back in a time
when, the novels untold
now the pages unfold
too quick for the chapter
to back and rewind
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8. |
||||
Dad came to watch a show, the first time that he saw me so,
guess it was a shock to him, to find out how the story goes
switching it up with all my flows, picture my book with all the prose
talking about what he was like, leaving our family on our own
but I muted that material -
time to slow it down
loop this on your ariel, save it for a rainy day -
then we'll clear the air, about the way that you said cheerio
So home had a hole like cheerios, I was 14
still teary though, cry into my cereal i'm hardly fucking gangster,
aint no point in milking it, i'm silky with the stanzas
still scanning for answers through the green tint of a Heineken,
soberly I rhyme again, hold up - let me find my pen
Need an autograph? Need that signature style you find in all my raps,
got you twisting the dial now even more perhaps
you're thinking i'm a big deal
all you say is dough like a certain guy in Springfield,
labels want to take me the table, do we split bills? then shit mills
I'm hungry like I skipped meals - tell me how a hit feels?
Get an agent on the steering wheel, i'm clinging onto the wind shield -
scratch that, back track, I don't want to back scratch
just to sell my rap batch, everybody gonna want it -
like it was the last laugh, flash back,
back when I'm a kid, in the back seat of a hatch-back
way before the cross hatch potent power of a fucking hashtag
Mum was getting money out the handbag, just to buy me notepads
probably made my Dad mad, use to miss my matches,
I was caught up in the pattern of my rapping as it happened -
when he left I gained my words and through my verse i'm re-enacting
everybody hurts like REM
Are we men? Or are we mice?
I'm the scientist and lab rat upon the mic,
I tried to write you alpha to omega tracks
ended up with something like nostalgia for my Sega raps
no I take it back, player haters hating that
time to face the facts, like email aint invented yet
my messages are sent direct but yet to get into the sets
of DJ's on 1 extra decks, i'm next to wreck assumptions
I got the gumption, to use a word like gumption
on the smoothest of productions, here to move you from the dungeons
of the mind that you been stuck in
I'm looking from the stage at a crowd of five thousand
all wanting food for thought, like provide it to us now son
My Dad is in the front row,
he came to watch a show, the first time that he saw,
so, guess it was a shock to him, to find out how the story goes
Part II
That rain man...
It’s kind of beautiful though.
It’s pretty quiet on a Sunday,
used to be the day that Dad would take off on the runway
we’d sit there in the car park,
waiting till the wings clipped clouds in the half-dark
fly away on jet planes
piloted by time’s hands
silently it’s explained - that wasn’t a return
and now i’m turning like the tides can.
Place my back to the past
but when I write tracks then its back to the past
there are cracks in the glass
of the photos on the mantelpiece
its hard to be composed like a Handel piece
so we can’t handle peace anymore
looking for reasons to war
while the heartbeats and the seasons are four.
That’s when the clock strikes midnight on the open road
ocean for the lonely souls, swimming through the unknown
I come home and everything’s the same
except for maybe me, I know that everything has changed
except for maybe you, I know we’ve never been afraid
to swap the small talk for the big chats
like who you broke you heart and why she did that?
Let’s get the pints in, here’s some money for the quiz man.
That’s how the nights pass in fact...
Kind of like quick sand, we sink into the bar seats.
Wonder if in ten years time we’ll be switching them for car seats
married to the girls we pledged our hearts to at 23,
met them at the parties where everything was a blur
except the artist playing but park life I prefer
where we learned to ride our bikes
and play five a side in the dirt
Dad came to watch a show, sitting in the front row
I thanked him for putting me upon this earth
(sample) (Julia’s phonecall)
Childhood hoodie with your Sega & Tapes
Remember the days, still playing the game (x3)
It’s pretty quiet on a Sunday,
these are mornings that my Mum prays
driving to the church in a clapped out Hyundai
that still, got us where we needed to go
and we rode through the storms, and the sleet and the snow
told me Christian there’s one thing you’re needing to know
Who you are, ain’t who you are but what you leave when you go
i’m glad it wasn’t Mum that was leaving me though,
she slowed down, took a left as we came to home
with her right hand, she pressed on the radio
it was a song that she said she hadn’t heard in sometime...
It was Bill singing Aint No Sunshine.
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9. |
||||
Feels liks Bill Withers, still with us
I know the flowers still wither in the chill winters
Sitting on my window sill, I still shiver
When the wind blows, will you still give us
Sunshine when we climbed over Primrose hill
I was young and you were young
I felt your lips go still, frozen in the moment
Felt your grip grow, steel, cold steel
On your tip toe even in those heels, gold peels
Of orange summer dreams wouldn’t seem eclipsed by real
Life, we had a way of running out,
Like time does, with a sudden shout,
Looking out, the skies blood, dripping out silver
The rain came like whipping ropes
Tipping over carriages, tripping on the slipping slopes
Of living close, a little soaked thinking most marriages
Are prison boats, plain sailing simply is a hoax,
I miss you though, last saw you sinking
Even when we’re swimming, I remember it with different strokes
Now what you talking about?
(sample)
Felt like Hugh Grant stumbling through Notting Hill
I was a new man, wondering where you got to still?
In the market to replace us, said you wanted space
I gave you charming acres, harvesting the faintest
Hearted feelings, I’m a villain how I faked it –
Raking up the past while you break another glass
Dress spilling out the cases, how hastily you pack
For a long vacation, said you’re never coming back
And you didn’t
I may as well have the sunshine to do bidding,
I may as well have asked the moon,
To readjust the rhythm
Of the ocean always kissing on the shorelines
Of Britain
Hitting promenades and strolling on the coast,
You see the couples coupled up, and cuddled up
Against their coats, while the boats ride the tide
With the patience of a lover, I sank a couple up in my time
I pray that I don’t sink another
Thinking of her, realizing I was never really in love,
With anyone before her, it was all mirages in clubs
Smoke screens, alcohol eclipses, planetary crashes
In the patches of her lipstick, this is –
Shine all inside your song...
and ain’t no sunshine, until you find your brightest one...
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10. |
||||
We all live under various clouds, and in Leicester it rained most of the time,
in Yorkshire where Mum was from it rained even more,
Now in those days we had those old games consoles
me and Hannah, we’d crowd onto this patchwork sofa
and watch Crash Bandicoot die a thousand deaths, yes we weren’t that good.
We had to share a room, she got to choose the tapes.
It was was all teen angst stuff, Jacqueline Wilson, the Illustrated Mum.
Tracy Beaker.
Dad was still with us in those times, but he worked away.
We saw him mostly in the departures lounge,
so between my mum and my sister, I saw myself becoming
the man of the house in those times.
Still, women held up half the sky.
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11. |
||||
Guess I found a window to be sober,
under your influence, and will be till its over,
from the moment that you stroked me on the shoulder,
Guess we rolled a double six in dice games,
juggled sixty mind games, lucky that I like pain
struggle not to call you when i'm drunk, and in the light rain,
Walking home, I get creative with my right brain,
and tell you where my life's at, I'm not so sure you like that,
Not so sure what me write that,
I should probably give my mic back,
My grandad bought it for me just to keep me on the right track,
Now where is his advice at?
I know that I could do with some, dad you raised a foolish sun,
that's probably not to do with mum,
She told me leave my print upon the world, and that's a rule of thumb
Cool, I'm done.
Only joking I got more to say,
keep the ball in play,
I show my soul exposed in raw display
Dancing in the pouring rain,
call my name.
Guess I found a window to be sober,
under my influence, I guess that i'm a loner,
still everything is Kosha, measure my composure
I got a lotta drive but it aint getting me no chauffeur,
No sir, I wrote this on my sofa with some whiskey in the coaster,
Christian the boaster, pissed off and he's hopeless
I wonder if you notice? I wonder if you know this?
I've thrown ten punches in my lifetime
Only hit the features looking like mine,
Used to hit the beaches for some peace so I could write rhymes,
I dedicate this to my people with a like mind,
Life is something you can remix, but can't rewind,
So play it something like the Phoenix, you can start to rise
This is not a man's world, you'll know it in your heart in time,
That's when the stars align
(sample)
Women hold up half the sky
Mum taught me, women hold up half the sky
|
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12. |
||||
If women held up the sky, then the other half was caving in
see one rainy evening Dad walked when I must’ve been about 14 -
and he’d never live under our roof again
so no matter how much sunshine our island had, it was never warm enough
plus we couldn’t pay the heating bills.
He left his computer though and me and hannah created fictional families
on The Sims, I bet you played the Sims too.
We always created with four. I think about that time now.
Quite a bit, as I come home from the classroom, with students in East London
and each one of them has a single mother keeping the lights on.
I wonder why is no one holding a candle to this shared darkness?
|
||||
13. |
||||
Welcome to the valley, where a shadow of breath,
Blows winds that are carrying death,
And the angels have no chariots left,
Too many children who are stabbed in the chest,
Too many mothers wearing black and regrets,
Rappers are back in effect to glorify this human lack of respect
They could catch you in the back of the neck,
Dramatic hacking in a panic like a manic Macbeth
Life is a gamble like roulette with the black and the red
So play to win, the world's dark depending on the way it spins
Chorus
We used play the sims, to recreate a family,
Added in the Dad, he wasn't present in reality,
Save your sympathy I never was a casualty,
Had a strong mother, and she nurtured my morality,
Taught me any dream I had deserved my hospitality,
Without her, probably would've lost my sanity,
I hope my students have a similar figure,
So they never know the glimmer of triggers
While their cold blood's flowing in its shimmering rivers,
Each drop is like a billion mirrors,
Reflecting how we're living, aint no miracle with us,
Jesus Christ,
I worry bout them when I sleep at night,
On the streets where the girls sell for an easy price,
You'd be surprised at how cheap is life,
I turn to beats and mics to try to find some peace of mind
Read between the rhymes I need to cry most times,
Imagine you inside a building, with suicidal children,
Who am I to try to heal them?
I came from broken home,
That kinda shit hits the marrow of your bones,
Chorus
We used play the sims, to recreate a family,
Added in the Dad, he wasn't present in reality,
Save your sympathy I never was a casualty,
Had a strong mother, and she nurtured my morality,
Taught me any dream I had deserved my hospitality,
Without her, probably would've lost my sanity,
I hope my students have a parent that cares,
Parents evening, rarely any parents are there,
Barely aware of whereabouts of their son,
Who'll soon be graduating from a knife to a gun,
This cities reckless, some kids are never given breakfast,
Or any kind of love and now their living with a death wish,
Wake Mr Cameron like slaps in the face,
He might realise the issue of these Hackney estates,
Shackled to hate, and far too trapped to escape,
The only thing you have is forming gangs with your mates,
Of course I can't understand the pain,
But young boys who are man of the house, I did the same
Chorus
We used play the sims, to recreate a family,
Added in the Dad, he wasn't present in reality,
Save your sympathy I never was a casualty,
Had a strong mother, and we worked to get normality
Taught me any dream I had deserved my hospitality,
Without her, probably would've lost my sanity.
|
||||
14. |
||||
From humble beginnings to arrogant middles
I’d kept on writing, and I believed that I would be known for it
Mum kept telling you’re going to be famous, you’re going to be...
Be careful what you wish for though, because when you get everything
you ever wanted, all you can do is lose your grip,
and the more I get, the more arrogant I become.
I have strained relationships, I have lost touch with mates
and all of this in pursuit of keeping my mind on my tongue
while my heart is thy drum...
|
||||
15. |
||||
Cue the opening titles,
Just desserts for the fat cats choke on your trifles,
Just a verse, on a rap track, but know that its vital
Treat my, poem recitals like they are spoken to the scope of a rifle,
One shot, then it's sayanora
Two shots, then I drain my lager,
Ten and a half more, find me on the bar floor, talking star wars,
Arguing about my favourite saga,
It's either that or bout my vacant father,
It's either that or bout my line of work
Working on my lines, and still, finding time to flirt
Probably aint major news, but i'm a minor jerk
I know the beats won you over, guess the rhymes are perks
they at least turn the sober to the quite berserk,
four leaves on my clovers, fortune I deserve
Lady Luck about to kick me out and it might just hurt
Peace if you keep your mind on your tongue
Hit the right notes, don't worry how highly you're strung
Keep watch and see my timing will come,
Swapped my casio for wings just to fly to the sun
Chest puffed like lungs with a bicycle pump
Pride of a lion cub loving living life on the run
Ego giant like, Kobe Bryant at the height of a jump
Mid flight for a dunk, high as a pilot in the sky with a blunt,
Now i'm just rhyming for fun, what's the subject?
matter, realise that your subject matters,
I speak about the universe, my subject's matter,
warp the laws of physics when I subject matter
to mic skills, radiation at unsafe levels,
Dropping science, like way back with my A-levels,
Take it straight back to day one,
Everything was all good we were A1
Writing billions of words, afraid to say one
I wrote millions of songs, hoping you play one
Peace if you keep your mind on your tongue
Peace if you keep your mind on your tongue
To succeed I wasn't billed as the likeliest one,
Still aint making dough though, its like i'm fighting for crumbs
In the city where its hard to survive when you're young
Capital gain is the capital game, L-O-N-D-O-N
the capital name, trying to cap it all with some capital fame,
my applause, thunder clap and the rain
I sit in cafe's and I scramble for change, barely paid
on the capital wage, tear the scrap of a page,
Planning deep cuts, I could barely manage a graze
Scribbled my vision and imagined the stage,
now i'm here and the stakes are dramatically raised,
turn your hand to a wave
Peace if you keep your mind on your tongue
Hit the right notes, don't worry how highly you're strung
|
||||
16. |
||||
Best be careful what you're claiming
I treat my limits like a challenge,
that applies to alcohol as equally as talent,
look my conscience in the eye, say we should be embarrassed,
Rashid, good job you pulled me out the road,
and shit, lucky the police drive slow -
I'm a sucker for the flashing lights,
Acting like a dick, now I got a little bragging right
Appetite for attention, not satisfied by a mention
I grab the mic with a vengeance - like look at me,
don't just like me, fall in love with me,
what's up with me? the question is repeated
messages deleted, festivals on weekends,
arrogance is peaking, I get cold looks and dizzy spells
like Everest adventurers, though I aint climbing shit
I failed, the mission of being grounded,
Mum rings me up, like don't get too proud kid,
I saw you in your sound check, in a very loud outfit,
Talking about yourself - its speaks volumes to me
Just remember how I put you through uni,
Night shifts at the hospital, over time at the ward,
If you only say, how sick you are -
I'm getting bored.
(Best be careful what you're claiming)
I watched myself on the tele
like, there's a kid with fire in his belly,
silver on his tongue, shit trainers on his feet,
just kicking phrases to beat, and wanting praise in the street
Truth is, i'm not even that the guy you came to see
i'm not even the guy I claim to be -
Selfish, and irresponsible
Cowardly and dishonourable,
Looking for a pure heart, I'm probably not one for you,
I'm only human, and that aint saying much,
So vein, I check the camera wonder how my face looks,
I don't share my bad side all over my Facebook,
Dear listener, I don't who you are,
but maybe you are similar, every soul assimilates
good and evil, most the time we're spinning plates
I serve you food for thought, regardless of the taste
finish take.
(Best be careful what you're claiming)
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17. |
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I'm an arrogant bloke, you know I always show it,
Probably why my girl would rather go and see George The Poet,
I've got a big ego, and I'll be sure to grow it,
More heroic than the suited superman, courting louis
That's my kryptonite, she's on my hip tonight, she's on my lip tonight
Got tickets to this hipster night, I'm probably bound to pick a fight
All I'm ever good for is starting shit, and ripping mics -
Tricky right?
And when I'm down, I'm outta sight, like that missing flight,
And i'll down more than you think, I'm like a different guy,
to the smug winner, smirking on his album cover,
Use to skip my chores by saying 'i'm working on an album, mother'
Mum replied it, it better go and sell
I shipped it to a label, but I never the saw the sails,
A few thousand pirates, a few drowsy eyelids,
Sleeping on me, thought I couldn't fucking story tell
(chorus)
I got flaws and i'm racking em up
I got flaws, understanding and love
I got dreams and I'm stacking em up
I still dream of my Grandad above
I get deep like tuba choirs made of scuba divers,
I get deep in drunk convo's with uber drivers,
Spend my nights with alcohol burning through my fivers,
Spend my days hungover trying to manoeuvre skivers
Back to cold schools, I rap to old school, the gold rule
is every track is told true, I told you, when I was just a teen,
That I would trust this dream, I wasn't in your spotlight
But now adjust the beam, I must have been fortunate
Having wise Grand dads, who always taught me this
You don't know how to love anyone else,
until you learn you gotta love yourself
I got flaws and i'm racking em up
I got flaws, understanding and love
I got dreams and I'm stacking em up
I still dream of my Grandad above
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18. |
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19. |
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Has the success changed you Muz, it has to,
not really mate, my mum still buys me clothes from asda,
there's your answer, and as for,
Kids who acted well vicious, now their turned to well-wishers,
saying come and chill with us, maybe you could rap a bit,
and can I get a ticket to your show, that'd be fabulous,
I'm like no, if only for the principle,
My headmaster tried to stop me rapping my initial flows,
breaking up the crowds that would gather by the English block,
Really pissed me off, I knew that i'd make it, I kid you not,
Back then, the future was a kind of joke,
I never took it serious, apart from all the rhymes I wrote
But I'm lucky that I'm rising
Ate my Weetabix, so none's of it surprising,
Remember sleep-overs I would sneak into the lounge,
While you were playing FIFA, I was dreaming up my sound
So I'm lucky that I'm rising
Ate my Weetabix, so none's of it surprising,
When a girlfriend's asleep, I sneak into the lounge
Just some to find some peace to write the right now
Single mums do double the work,
I'll pay her back when I start to make some money off verse,
She had my back, acting like the cape of superheroes
allowing me to fly, since I was like a year-old,
Crash, staring out the window of my uni lectures,
Got a phone text that hit me in the solar plexus
My sister told me Dad was in an accident,
His car got smashed up but the reaper wasn't having him
I thought about the man that made me all that I am,
not by being there, but not being there, understand
I was angry at the guy for walking out his kid,
i'm 23 now, I should let you walk back in,
I'm glad that you were fortunate to see another day,
Maybe use it as incentive, you could live another way -
I'm doing a hometown show, October the 2nd
I can get you a ticket, I know you never heard me yet and,
I reckon we could work upon a plan B,
Cos what's success, coming from a torn down family?
But I'm lucky that I'm rising
Ate my Weetabix, so none's of it surprising,
Remember sleep-overs I would sneak into the lounge,
While you were playing FIFA, I was dreaming up my sound
So I'm lucky that I'm rising
Ate my Weetabix, so none's of it surprising,
When a girlfriend's asleep, I sneak into the lounge
Just some to find some peace to write the right now
Life is built on luck, I mean right from the conception
you are a perfect example of right time, right place,
Even if some parent's don't quite see it like that,
Dad always said he wasn't ready for children,
but he was pretty good till we were about eight -
Just lucky we had our mother to raise us,
Lucky like four leaf clovers, touching the last lamppost
seven times, picking a penny up, seeing a black cat,
hang on that might be bad luck,
My point is that lady luck, she's the one woman
you need to impress, it's just that she works on a random basis,
When I stand on stages and you ask me how I got there?
It's good luck. I know that luck runs out,
I know that time runs out, I know you can't ride your luck
like its the sure winner in the Grand National,
Hedge your bets, cos I bet some hedges will have your luck
crash and burn like the butt end of benson and hedges,
Yes this world spins on luck, and its only luck
that keeps an asteroid for making our own problems
seem quite minuscule, and if you're still in school,
looking up to the good luck lucky hip hop poet
who wears shirts from asda, all I can say,
Is apart from good luck, success has one secret mix.
Breakfast of champions.
Eat your Weetabix.
But I'm lucky that I'm rising
Ate my Weetabix, so none's of it surprising,
Remember sleep-overs I would sneak into the lounge,
While you were playing FIFA, I was dreaming up my sound
So I'm lucky that I'm rising
Ate my Weetabix, so none's of it surprising,
When a girlfriend's asleep, I sneak into the lounge
Just some to find some peace to write the right now
|
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20. |
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21. |
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Jumpers for goalposts
bikeshed kisses, you know what this is
swing never misses,
fresh up out the kitchen,
back when you would have to pitch in
with the dishes,
or your mum's getting straight up vicious
Jumpers for goalposts
bikeshed kisses, you know what this is
ignorant of blisses,
Back to the school days,
raised on the wishes,
of everybody, but you
Pray, you never listened
The vietnam frontline was nothing on the school bus,
the backseat thrones, that was only for the cool ones
sitting by the driver and it's who the fuck are you bruv?
I was in the middle, the inbetweener, who moved up
couple of seats to be seated with my school crush
us kids in the Midlands, we never said too much
I learned to rap by miming in the mirror with a toothbrush
feeling too fresh, like any year 2 does
(sample)
Years went by then I was living on an island
Looking at the kids as the bus rolled by,
when I didn't know a soul, remembering my first day
ripping up the midfield up football at first break
still hanging round with a couple of my first mates,
still embarrassed now at the struggle of my first dates
trying to skirt chase, like what the hell is first base
got there eventually like well it aint the worst place
My first kiss getting married soon
we're getting old, and now we bruise
easier than yesterday, let's just say
that's how we move -
in tandem with the cycles
of life, I was falling off my bike
next second, now they call me to the mic
like say what you like
Right - then I take it into those days,
bad haircuts, break ups and close shaves
lose your V cards, boast like we killed it
try your first rubber on, barely even filled it
Mum giving me lectures on how to be a man
Probably would've been better if its coming from my dad,
but he ran, marathons and kept going
while his son kept flowing, flowed all the way here
2015, raise beers, say cheers, toast to the great years
Jumpers for goalposts
bikeshed kisses, you know what this is
swing never misses,
fresh up out the kitchen,
back when you would have to pitch in
with the dishes,
or your mum's getting straight up vicious
Jumpers for goalposts
bikeshed kisses, you know what this is
ignorant of blisses,
Back to the school days,
raised on the wishes,
of everybody, but you
Pray, you never listened

|
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22. |
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23. |
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Remember I was skin and bone
Little boy hitting the coast,
Sitting and skimming stones,
Picture them as flying saucers
Return home for dinner time and dodge the flying saucers,
Mum and dad were plate spinning,
Radio was playing the rap that told me hate women,
Fuck is that about, my mother was a hero, she always had my back
And her advice had my earlobe,
I listened hard for a while but single parenthood is hard for a child,
Check the shipwrecks I'm harbouring now,
Knight in shining armour with the metal hardly dusted,
Not true it's rusted, you know I can't be trusted
The years roll by like scenery from a train window
Arrive here, don't seem to be the same kid though
Must have been changed by baggage I brought
Must have been changed by the damage I wrought
Mum used to meditate to pan pipes,
I'd see her from the garden, silhouetted by the lamplight,
while I'd be swinging at the fireflies, trying to fight
imaginary war scenes, not knowing that the real ones
would cause screams that would echo through the trees,
bordering the house that I planted when I was three,
back when I was a seed, spending hours by the sea,
with the breakers bringing power to the beach in the breeze
Freeze,
It was nippy in the north wind, walking the peninsula
watching out for dolphins, on a pier called St Catherine's,
it's back when we cracked tins of cheap cider,
beneath the gulls who were easy riders - on air currents
that had travelled from America, small car radio listening to Erykah,
Badu, in the dark hue of blue colours painting
every evening, a picture to be framing.
At my Christening, mother wrapped me in a white cloth,
skin glistening and dripping holy water,
recorded on that old camcorder, she kept the tape,
she kept her faith, and mine evaporated,
her and dad debated, religiously the list of my names,
went with Christian James, we prayed as kids,
begging for change, certain situations
every time a bridge was a flame, cry me a river,
try me and shiver, its a cold world recite to your mirror,
the promises you promised I could deliver
I got them right here, five years old, grandma's dying
and you were writing, 'Dear God, save her,
why you need to take her?' saw you drawing on the paper,
pale-faced woman, accompanied with angels
with solar-coloured halo's, rising from the room,
while the moon lets its face show, where did the days go?
I dream of grandad on many nights
I wrote to you in hope that you would pen advice
I took the letter, sailed it down the river Liffy
Drank so much after you passed that now my livers iffy.
We spend January to December blue.
I pray daily that Grandma will remember you.
But Dementia eventually is merciless
I ride the number thirty bus avoiding glares like Perseus.
For I see your ghost here in other faces,
instead of fourth dimensions,
heavens, skies and other spaces
I set two places in the dining room
Ate alone then I wept and wrote this rhyme for you.
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24. |
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I see a thousand ghosts leaning on the lamp posts,
Of old streets we danced on, making all our grand boasts
I come back now and then to stand close
Watching the wind where all our plans blow,
My gran grows quieter
Wonder if she knows how we cared for her nightly
My grandfather was her guardian, his heart was mighty
Carry her upstairs, though his back was hardly sprightly
Hold her tightly in his arms, while he questioned her politely
Like how’s my wife feeling?
He kept his mind willing, even though his body turned cold
It was spine chilling, the whole time he kept her alive
Giving everything he had, he was expected to die
he used to wear tight shirts to hide the tumours on his chest
crying out from the pain in his room when he undressed,
lying next door, I could hear him stifling the tears
but I couldn’t intervene, he’d wanted privacy for years
like the last song said, Goodbyes are heartbreaking
spiritual rituals so difficult to partake in
at least I got the chance, Bernard died in his chair
Sean died quick taking flight in the air
How do I write to you there?
Wish that you could hear this
Jumpers for Goalposts, a letter to my dearest
Capsule of my childhood, message to the fearless
watershed moment for the formerly tearless
Here this is 24 tracks for my time living
a day in the life of 24 year old giving
glimpses in the window of the building where we're sitting
listening to voices of our loved ones and reminiscing
when I was a kid I thought the stars would forever glisten
Now I give them your names and so they're never dimming
I made you all this album, and its the final song
after the goodbyes - and i'm gone
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