Layer Cake - Intellectual

[Intro: Michael Gambon as Eddie Temple]

You're born; you take shit

Get out in the world; you take more shit

Climb a little higher; take less shit

Til one day you're up in the rarefied atmosphere, and you've forgotten what shit even looks like

Welcome to the layer cake, son

[Verse 1: Kano]

Check, check, check, check

I’m two albums deep, a thousand shows in

Cause I fight for my right 'til the towel gets thrown in

We hustle down here, knuckles 'round here

Never stays pretty when you're raised in the city

It's a place full of hatred where they wanna stick me

Cause I'm making my status and they think too quickly

I'm a victim to criticism, menace to society

Cause I’m in a position where many do admire me, ha

But there's always an obstacle

Just move left but the stress ain't optional

It’s all bless but nah, you forget

You've gotta do better, you can’t do your best

Crucial how you move 'cause you'll lose your breath

And this music will follow you 'til death

Do us part, now you're married to the game

With no footsteps to follow: pave the way

Eh, that's the layer cake, play your position

It's too fucked, let me explain how the biz is

Too real, you feel that you're in control

But you ain't, you're stuck in the layer cake

[Hook: Michael Gambon as Eddie Temple]

The Layer Cake

The Layer Cake (Welcome to the layer cake, son)

[Verse 2: Kano]

The layer cake's like being stuck in the system, just for existence

To be someone coming up as an infant

We seen it in Scarface

The road to the top the fucking hard way

But you know how the music is

Gotta pass a few layers before you get rich

It’s a hustle, gotta struggle just so you can shit gold and you still owe

That's why they get rich and you get broke

But I'm still writing

It's never gonna stop until you're fucking with the cherry on the top

But I'm still trying

The road think I've blown but I ain't nowhere near the icing

Obviously the radio fears my writing

But my ideas are frightening

So I'm still stuck in the layer cake, taking my chances

They're trying to put me in another box: "grime artist"

And I'm trying to see the cream in the middle

That's the money, I ain't just speaking in riddles

I ain't trying to be part-time dealing a little

Or trying to see hard times, stealing in Lidl's, but

Things just ain't what they seem

I'm on the grind like Banner said

From pirates to mainstream, and still not that ahead

Feel I should knock it on the head

Cause I'm in the industry, man, in England

Where I never sell more than an indie band

You don't even wanna know the ins and outs

But let me tell you how it goes down

[Hook: Michael Gambon as Eddie Temple]

The Layer Cake

The Layer Cake (That's the layer cake)

The Layer Cake (Welcome to the layer cake, son)

[Verse 3: Kano]

Uh, layers and layers of bullshit, the game's fucked up

But you've gotta play it, you can’t pause it

And you can’t forfeit, as an up-and-coming emcee

Trying to bust but your pockets' empty

I work hard, never a night off

Watch "Fabulous Life of..." and see all things that I want

But I don’t think UK's ready

My tune's on heavy rotation cause it’s got Mike on

Ever since So Solid dropped "21 Seconds"

The charts ain't really had anyone reppin'

So can you get to the top of the top? "Pow"

#11: still no Top of the Pops. How?

Said I’d probably get nominated

No disrespect to Lamar but I think I should have gone to take it

But fuck this, fuck the BRITs

Get pissed, take the piss out this Paris Hilton bitch

'Cause I don’t belong here (It's the layer cake, oh yeah)

I’ve come a long way, it’s been a long year (It's the layer cake, oh yeah)

And I’m so near but yet so far (It's the layer cake, oh yeah)

Climbing the ladder to this rarefied atmosphere...

Welcome to the layer cake (it's the layer cake), son

(Ooh yeah, it's the layer cake)

[Outro: Michael Gambon as Eddie Temple]

Welcome to the layer cake, son