[Intro]

Knife crime is at a near-record high

With more than forty blade offences every day in London

At a youth club in South London not far from where someone was stabbed less than twenty-four hours ago

He outlined a direct link between violent crimes, social exclusion and austerity

A study by City Hall found that London has seen an increase of 71% in victims of serious youth violence since 2012

The Mayor says this is linked to an increase in poverty

With the highest rates of violence taking place in somе of the poorest boroughs (Look)

[Verse]

I bet thеm boys think I'm panickin'

Check what my young G's are carryin'

His blade same length as a javelin

I don't know about B-ball or what's happenin'

But know that it's fucked if he's travellin' and we see him

I can't lie, I was depressed at phases

I was nineteen when the team nearly left him faceless

Hopin' that we never left no traces

You know when you're so damn tired in your house

But you can't sleep cah you got pendin' cases

I used to love temptin' fate, but now it's temptin' faces

For half my career, I was part of that

My best friend got a burner, and it's lookin' like a artifact

Put it in your puffer or your Prada hat

Like fuck panic, that's a heart attack

Yeah, it's like, life's so fucked in the time that we're in

We're fightin' the world, and we're fightin' within

Somali dad ran away from a war

Now his son's in a war, that's the cycle we're in

I know niggas that didn't do time in a bin

That have never had freedom of mind, are you sick?

Round here, main way to provide for your kin

Is in a flick blade, little push-bike and a sim

In London, a place where it's nicer to live

Is only five minutes out from the guys on the strip

Where man make yay' work, heard he a soldier

I know that nigga hasn't got balls like Grey Worm

As I grow older, change of perspective

I gotta stay loyal to my girl, that's the trait she was blessed with

Restaurants, raves with my bredrins

Life's too short, so we gotta turn up

Man talk on my ting for the 'Gram, it's intrusive

I never really thought 'bout taking a life

Till I found out my ex-girl's dad is abusive

I felt, "How could I be a man and not do shit?"

I'm on the way there now, and I don't wanna lose it

But fightin' her battle's only hurtin' the girl

How can I protect her from the world

When I couldn't even protect her from myself?

On my grandmother's grave, shit happens again

I put a knife through a family friend

Most the women that I know had shit happen to them

So innocent till guilty, ain't somethin' that I have to respect

I think back to my youth, and I was so ungrateful

How many of our parents had dreams they abandoned

So they could put food on the table?

Intelligent, worthy and able, that's somebody's parent

You know?

And that affected the way that I see shit

Nightclub toilet, you peed on the seat

'Cause you don't know how it feels when your mum's gotta clean shit

And her boss treats her like she don't even mean shit

And she gotta wait for the bus in the rain, and it's freezin'

And Miss said that you won't ever be shit

And you don't wanna cry about dad, but you need him

I grew up so fucked, but I didn't even deep it

I'm numb to the feelin' of grievin'

And man gettin' birded

African mums on the floor, just screamin'

It's mad cah I try so hard

Death's got to be easy, cah life's so hard

I was twelve wishin' that I was a white man, hard

Cah if I was then they probably wouldn't life man's dargs

I was dead broke, fam, I couldn't swipe mans card

And time might pass, but I still gotta stay with it

It wasn't his beef, but I see him try claimin' it

That's why he caught a bullet with another man's name on it

Now he can't do leg day or put strain on it

Every time you hear me freestyle, I put pain in it

I used to wonder, "Does God have favourites?"

Touch me, it's dangerous, I wouldn't play with it

'Cause you can go sleep, and have a different type of wake for it

I miss my dogs

Unstable, you violate Chris? Then rah

Turn Chris Benoit

Have him hit from far, nah

Fill 'em up with bricks and glass, nah

My young G's will grip, then blast

Have you tried in the street

Fuck findin' my feet

I could ride, but it's better when I'm ridin' a beat

My emotions are peak, it ain't a sign of defeat or the weak

I would **** you, then cried in my sleep

Dropped Juss two racks and told him, "Buy the machine"

I'm LeBron in Miami, I provide for the heat

God strike me if I'm lyin', I ain't cryin' in this beef

Unless the tear's comin' tatted on the side of my cheek

I provide for my peeps, the Lamb' white in the seat

So I'm literally a wolf disguised in a sheep

You have five-figure dreams, I have five-figure sleep

Five hours more than enough time that I need

Man want a fair fight, but I ain't on it when we see him

Fuck honour, this revolver is onomatopoeic

Let it stut-tut-tut-tut-tut-tut-ter when you see him

Free Scalez, Free C and free my niggas till I see 'em

I wouldn't wanna be 'em

My OG's roamin', I don't need a Colosseum

You see it?

So I'm playin' it good, let hood politics stay in the hood

Fuck the internet, you see this new generation

They're Insta'-beefin' and I ain't into speakin'

When I ducked down

I had him runnin' in a Lyft like he missed a meetin'

There's no good reason to risk your freedom

The yutes dem snitch and them bitches sneakin'

She don't wanna talk 'bout friendship

She just wanna deal with the pipe like I'm fixin' leakin'

And sleep with a legend like Chrissy Teigen

Where I'm from, the word "Life" has a different meanin'

Man smile in your face, but them niggas schemin'

Try involve me in a flakey dealin'

Sistine Chapel, I'ma paint the ceilin'

I've been violated and I hate the feelin'

That's why nowadays, man hates the preachin'

We smile in the visit, cah we ain't defeated

The Supreme Court's where my mates appealin'

I can't breed that girl, that's torture

South London, it's just slags on the corner

And influencers tryna bag them a baller

She a gold digger, I can tell from her aura

Her socials say princess, she a pauper

When it's time for it, need more for my daughter

Call me a talker, but man are gettin' lined like lambs in the slaughter

It's life-threatenin' and I can tell from the borer

Cut through a nigga like a knife through flora

Feds got the guys on a case and they stalk us

It's a conspiracy, like tinfoil hats and a new world order

Touch me, you better have a life insurer

Bloodthirsty, I got sharks in the water

And trust me, I know a killer well, no orca

Have you ever seen a nightmare brought to life?

Where I'm from, you get cheffed on a normal night

Man talk on my name, but it's porky pies

I'll really put it in a prick like a porcupine

Little bro wanna save for a .45

Go board a flight, there's more to life

Yutes on the M6 all the time

We don't need TfL for a northern line

All the best politicians been taught to lie

Where do they buy cocaine when they're snortin' white?

Are their dealers safe or on the borderline?

It's ironic, cah we don't know where to draw the line

Man see Blue Story, they're mortified

Man see Scarface and it's glorified

'Cause when you're Black, everything gets scrutinised

That's why they call it "Urban", it gets euphemised

South London, man are gettin' euthanised

I see a yute's demise, I wasn't too surprised

He got soaked, but his right-hand scuba dived

Don't die by a sword that you used to shine

You can drown for your king, you don't know about Ophelia

Cah we got iron, I don't know about anaemia

I took the hard road, we don't know about the easier

One bag of whores and drug paraphernalia

When ends got sticky, had a flicky with Emelia, I mean Olivia

This ain't Libya, this ain't Syria

You act sillier, we let it seep in your skin like Nivea

Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, I won it

Never done a gameshow or trivia

I done Wandsworth, Erlestoke visitor

I done Springhill, Grendon, Swinfen, Whitemoor, Swaleside, Brixton visitor

I done M-way trips, done shit that I wish I never did

Becah I could have been a prisoner

Is this the shit that appeals to the listeners?

Road ain't no amazin' life

The ends full of snakes and jail's just a waste of time

I tell my young G's, "Take your time"

Fuck Jazz, you could really see a major nine

Yo, I'm so ashamed of how I used to get figures

Man sell you a dream like the road ting's lit

And then they leave out the parts where you're buryin' your niggas

Or in jail, wonderin' who's puttin' dick inside your Mrs

I'm so fuckin' determined

I was in intensive care when I was born, mummy fell down the stairs

Whether I was gonna live or not was somethin' uncertain

I used the word "Fell", with the commas inverted

You see, growin' up I had it far from perfect

But nobody did, so I'm a normal person

I gotta be grateful, we all have demons, and all see angels

Or maybe it's me

A Black yute's more than a face on a screen

A number on a laptop or name on a sheet

We got stories to tell and got places to be

From my heart, that's the makin' of me

[Outro: Juliet Doris Omoregie]

I was selling, look, I was selling tomatoes

I sat pon my two hands

I struggled 'cause I didn't want to suffer again

**** I just wanted, it just make me so upset

Three times, I tried to come here

I went to Hanover, they sent me back

I tried so much, he has not seen anything yet

I was in detention camps for months and years, I didn't give up

I was not even twenty when I left Africa

I was determined to survive

I was determined to succeed

I didn't know anybody, nobody was ready to help me

Even when you were born

You were six weeks old, this one is not even Africa, it's this nation

I was on the streets for three years

I have three babies in my hand

Nobody let me in, nobody in this nation

I couldn't pay my rent, deported gangsters carried—

I didn't give up, I carried my babies everywhere

And now this is how **** pay me back for all those pain that I go through

Every day I lay in my bed, I'm in pain

You see what he's doing to me

**** want to kill **** want to kill me