akala - fire in the booth (part 1, 2 & 3) lyrics
[part 1]
yes, i grew up on the dole in a single parent family
been through a little bit of tragedy
yes i was around drugs and violence before the day that i started secondary
and that’s part of it not half of it
get the picture, the rest ain’t necessary
growin’ up, got a little caught up
but that ain’t even half of my life
i was also given the knowledge of self
that is all we actually need to survive
if you saw me aged 9, reading malcolm just fine
teachers still treated me stupid
students that couldn’t speak english, they put me in groups with
and the irony is some of the first man to give me schoolin’
you would call gangsters but i already explained, we know what the truth is
they used to say ‘don’t be like me’
yeah i got a name and dough on the street
night time comes, i can’t sleep
and that’s the part that rappers don’t speak
we don’t hit the road cos we are thugs
don’t come out the womb, wanna sell drugs
if we got the right guidance and love
would we fight people just like us?
how could i knock the hustle to get by?
how do you think i ate as a child?
judge no one, done many things wrong
i just don’t boast about it songs
but listen to my older bars
i was just as confused as you probably are
but you grow and you learn
travel and f— up
one too many man you know get cut up
one too many man that could’ve been doctors
end up spending their whole life boxed up
you learn, if you study
its all set out just to make them money
no cover, it’s all about getting poor people to fight with one another
so its logical that us k!lling our brothers
dissin’ our mothers
is right in line with the dominant philosophy of our time
but time is a cycle, not a line
comes back around you regain your mind
you be ready for the energy i channel in my rhymes
remedy the pedigree, the jeopardy of mine
when the world’s this f—ed up, lethargy’s a crime
we can all fight with our brothers over crumbs
far harder to fight the one who makes guns
we can all talk sh– and get two dollars
far harder to be the one who seeks knowledge
if we understood economics
we’d know money’s nothin’
think nothing of it
money is a means to get wealth, not the wealth itself
don’t get confused, i’m far from broke
all that you see me do i own
but i won’t hang what i make around my neck
i know from where that the diamonds came
but i do quite literally own a library
that definitely costs more than your chain
and businesses, and properties
far from starvin’, i eat quite properly
and i don’t care, just in it for the kids
who need to know that you’re not broke to listen
don’t know an -sset from a liability
they’ve never been shown or told the difference
so they don’t change situations
richest man in britain is asian
that’s significant, not coincidence
asian people build businesses
not by flossin/going out shoppin’
giving out their culture for everyone’s profit
who run’s bollywood? indian people
who owns our sh-t?
so we shake our -rs- and dance
as if racism just upped and vanished
but has it? no its right on course
you’re beaten so bad, you’re trained to ignore
let me not just make sweeping statements
gimme a second, i’ll explain it
for small amounts of drug possession there’s more black people in jail in america than there is for rape and armed robbery and murder all put together
you can say they’re just locking up thugs
imagine if they locked up every middle cl-ss kid that had ever held drugs
oh that’s right, that’d be your kids!
bigger than that what is going on with this
prison in america’s a private business
they get paid 50k per year per inmate by the state, just wait…
also legally are allowed to use their prison inmates as slaves
cheap slave labour, big corporations
they come out of jail, can’t get a job
so when we celebrate going to jail
we are literally celebrating enslavement
add to that, that the hood that you’re livin’
engineered social condition that breeds crime by design
where do you think you get your nine?
you can say that they’re just black
but i like to deal with facts
in the 1920s you would’ve found in america
black towns
prospering centres of economics and education to make you proud
but some people couldn’t bear that the former slaves would not just lie down
so the kkk and other hate groups burnt those towns to the ground
k!llin hundreds
if it ain’t understood
you think you were always livin’ in the hood?
sh-t it’s only been sixty years
since they hung blacks and burned em’
and that was so cool
day reel p-sses, picnic baskets
even gave kids the day off school
to go see a lynchin’
have a picnic
it’s fun to watch the little monkeys die
then people act a little dysfunctional
you wanna pretend that you don’t know why
if your colour means you can be k!lled
and you’re powerless to get justice about it
is it difficult to figure out how you would then end up feelin’ about it?
and that ain’t excuses
just dealing with the roots of abuses that make a reality
where a generation of young men speak of ourselves as dirt casually
that’s america
this britain
some things are similar
some different
in this country the first enslaved were the working cl-ss
what’s changed?
worse jobs, worse conditions
worse taxes, look where you’re livin’
you go to the pub, friday night
you will fight with a guy
don’t know what for
but won’t fight with a guy, suit and a tie
who sends your kids to die in a war
they don’t send the kids of the richer politicians
it’s your kids, the poor british
that they send to go die in a foreign land
for these wars you don’t understand
yeah they say that you’re british
and that lovely patriotism they feed ya
but in reality you have more in common with immigrants
than with your leaders
i know, both side of my family
black and white are fed ghetto mentality
reality in this system
poor people are dirt regardless of shade
but with that said
let’s not pretend that everything is the same
when our grandparents came here to britain
if you had a criminal record you couldn’t get in
yet that ain’t protect them from all the stupid, stupid abuses they would be livin’
kicked in the t–th
stabbed in the street
many times fired bombed our houses
put faeces through our letter box
and of course the cops did so much about it(!)
daily, up to the 80s
people spittin’ into my pram cos’ i was a coon baby
but of course that has had no effect on why today we are crazy
and none of this was for any good reason
they were just dark and breathing
to ease the guilt now for all of this treatment
constant stereotypes are needed
so if i celebrate how big that my d-ck is
bricks that i’m flippin’
clips that i’m stickin’
chicks that i’m hittin’
i’m playing my position
but if i teach a kid to be a mathematician
messin’ with the schism
how they gonna fill a prison when materialism is nothing but a religion?
what do you think we got now in britain?
just like america, private prisons
prisons for profit!
that mean when your kids go jail people make money off it
so keep environments that breed crime
build more jails at the same time
market badness to the kids in the rhymes
as long as rich kids ain’t dying its fine!
get em’ to the point where some are so lost
they actually believe that if they don’t celebrate k!llin’ themselves off
that it’s because they’re soft
was malcolm soft?
was marley soft?
tell me was marcus garvey soft?
well? was mohammed ali soft?
nah, nah i think not!
but they want us to think that the road is cool
being on road is all we can do
we don’t control the wholesale productions
who benefits from us movin’ the food?
or thinking there’s no way out of road life
but malcolm x used to hustle out on the roadside
when marcus garvey organised more than 6 million people
with no facebook or twitter
why is this something you cannot equal?
shiiiiit!
one of my homeboys did a ten straight in the box in yard
now what’s he doing?
p-ssin’ his doctorate
don’t tell me that it’s too hard!
who trained you to believe that you’re inferior?
sungbo eredo in nigeria are the remains of an ancient moat
dug 1000 years ago
20 metres wide, 70 down
round the remains of an ancient town
that’s 400 square miles around
400 square miles around
please, please don’t believe me
it was a doc-mentary on bbc!
but we ain’t studyin’ history
too busy watching mtv
and mtv said wear platinum
now everybody wanna go and wear platinum
and mtv said pop magnums
now everybody wanna go and pop magnums
if mtv said drink prune juice
you would start hearing that in tunes soon
‘hey! today i wore my cartier
is it now more important what i got to say?’
oh and i drive a mercedes by the way
so everybody listen to what i got to say
huh, does that make you all happy?
ahh but sh-t my head’s still nappy
think for myself, still some mad at me
but on the mic ain’t not one bad as me
all of this here’s good for the rhymes
put us in the same place at the same time
and it’s clear to everybody that i’m out of my mind
some of these guys are runnin’ out of their rhymes
clear to everybody that has got ears
i’m the guy that they just might fear
they wanna get near but they can’t have a peer
ah dear i’m hard liquor you’re just like beer
front on the kid for another five years
come to my shows and some cry tears
it mean that much to em’, it’s a movement!
i don’t speak for myself but a unit
black, white, man, woman, anyone that respects truth we put in
dudes are like no dinner with just puddin’
yeah you’re sweet but no substance puddin’
you could never ever be with a level on
our songs get out played out there in lebanon
we speak for the people properly
not for the old fat guys in offices
and the girls love him, it ain’t fair
he can’t even be bothered to comb his hair
anyway that’s enough kissin’ my own -rs-
back to the more important task of being so shower
i got half the hood screaming “knowledge is power”
and i ain’t saying that will change rap
but i do know this for a fact
right now there’s a yout’ on your block
with his hands on his b-lls, face screwed up
swear he don’t care, don’t give a f-ck
that he won’t let n0body caught his block
but the words go in
open up your chakra
because once that’s happened there’s no going back
once you start to see what is really happening
who the enemy you should be attackin’ is
so read, read, read!
stuck on the block, read, read!
sittin’ in the box, read, read!
don’t let them say what you can achieve
cos when people are enslaved
one of the first things they do is stop them reading
cos’ it is well understood that intelligent people will take their freedom
cos’ if we knew our power we would understand that we can’t be held down
if we knew our power, we would not elevate not one of these clowns
if we knew our power, we wouldn’t get arrogant when we get two pennies
if we knew our power, we would see what everybody sees, that we’re rich already!
but never mind mcs go run for your mummy
i’m hungry, i run for my tummy
that’s enough, back to worshiping money
i’m off, back to the study!
[intro]
yo, akala
knowledge is power
volume 1, mixtape 28th of may listen
akala music.com
tiny bit more vocal please actually
listen, knowledge is power always
listen
[part 2]
oi, mate my personal life’s great
some of you would love me more, if i rubbed that in you’re face
okay, well
let us run down the resume and have a little chat about how akala’s living today
big whip, nice yard, been all over the globe
look how many continents i have done, shows
couple little company’s, neat little office
everything going swell, little bit of profit
built a business educating kids from the blocks
so far as i’m concerned you gotta be a mug to not rate him
own my masters, still my own master
novels and scripts on the way
rap is just a part of, the g*nius in his head
and he knows it, d-ckhead, since i used to kick ball for west ham
with my bighead
back in school days wearing hand-me downs from my sister
and gal’ was still onto man, now thats some ras charisma
as just a nippa, i took my first pull of rizla
and who you think gave me that? yeah my bigger sista
so when we speak of struggle cousin it’s yours
you know the same old madness, working cl-ss poor
yeah, so, may of won a couple awards
but i guarantee my family’s just as messed up as yours
all the abuse and the alcoholism and drug addiction
uncles going to prison
this is working cl-ss livin’ in britain, it ain’t great
you gotta be kiddin’
so please don’t ever get confused by me spittin’
cos’, yes i said the ghetto’s in our head
but no i didn’t mean that if you live next to a food yard that thats in your dreams
i meant believing in the madness they spout about us
is far more dangerous than putting us in council houses
so yeah i criticize but from a place of love, never, ever
because i think that i’ve become above
every young broth, you wanna judge as a tug’
it’s me minus a little guidance and love
so i think that your the mug
and why be smug when it’s an actual fact
we all commit crime, simply by paying tax
cos’ we don’t go and tickle the people in iraq
and ask them so politely for all their minerals we extract
we blew children’s heads off, set fire to backs
were a gangsta nation get down or you get clapped, so
when you see the yout’ running around on the road with heaters
don’t be surprised, they’re just copying their leaders
long as the wars stay in places that are brown and poor
we can all pretend to be abhorred but we applaud
if you go up to knightsbridge and get violent
the police man who duppies you will probably get knighted
if i don’t wanna fight you cuz’
it ain’t cos’ i’m frightened
it’s just rather fight with those who really think they’re t-tans, sh-t
i ain’t scared of bleeding
i ain’t scared of breathing another breath in this world where everything is so uneven
where millions murdered in the congo and it’s barely news
but if a footballers wife should buy a pair of shoes
i’m supposed to give a f-ck apparently, i do not
the worlds a reflection of you’re block
and if you think a world that profit from their death, and be totally cool
and think you’re better cos’ you live here, your a bl–dy fool
look around the genocidal abuse
i swear humanity ain’t nothing but a virus with shoes
then i pick my nephew up from school, and i look at the youths
and see the love that they show each other and i’m just so confused
because they ain’t learnt yet what is their race or religion
so we’re put unconditioned but we learn to play our position
in the system
look what that does to our recognition of self
we grow suspicion of our own intuition, listen
akala’s sick but he raps about racism to much
could you imagine i gave a flying f
cos’ it’s amazing, how many wanna claim they love this music
with no respect for the actual struggle that produced it
did hip-hop not start in segregated hoods, are them hoods not still segregated?
so it’s really good
and the first nation not still on reservations where the age of 46
is the average life expectation
and fellas, i wonder where the favelas, could be suddenly knocked down
and replaced with something better
if you got sense you see fights are joined in race cl-ss and
gender are sides of the same coin
so, if you really down for justice whoever the people who suffered, whoever you are
i consider you my sisters, brothers
but call it what it is like carlin or bill hicks
not these patronizing left-wing little twits who ask me dumb sh-t
on the superior tip
and wanna act like cos i read i saw less violence as a kid
don’t make me an exception
for your mental protection
from acceptin’ the madness in the system we are left in
that was the clearest thing to come of august events
all the closet bigots started speaking their minds again
so when a jamaican or asians misbehavin’ of course it’s because of their skin
blonde hair k!lls a million people, thats just him
and it’s entertaining some people are so thick
but i prefer that to all of the fake grins
cos’ it’s the only problem people claim they wanna solve but don’t actually wanna talk about
how it evolved, you are told, this country really really yours sir?
what they did to brown people they did to their own poor first
and originally in the states, working cl-ss whites were also enslaved
still no one talks about it today
ever since the master came with the system of privileged
made the working whites the overseers mulatto the house
cos’ put the darkest blacks in the field, that mind is with us still
billion dollar industry’s, skin cream and bleaching pills
and lets be honest most people of my complexion to this very day still think they’re
better than the darker section
you say it’s changed then only educate me about wilberforce not about the africans in haiti
who beat the army’s of the british, spanish and napoleon, from the moment it was stolen
from em, there was no controllin’ em
when i was in school, she said no you never fought for freedom
no, we freed you and you were on your knees pleading
and once more did you know that we kind of saved you from the barbarism of africa
you should be grateful
and enough of our own people can’t be bothered to read
that they actually believe that we were swinging from trees
they don’t know the kingdom of congo had emb-ssy’s in italy
500 years ago, literally
ain’t heard of saint maurice or septimius severus
they ain’t studying the past cos’ they think it’s irrelevant
and attempts of pretending ancient egyptians weren’t african
nuttin’ more than pseudo intellectual lies
they obviously ain’t read what aristotle and herodotus said
about people they saw for their own eyes and
egypt’s been invaded since the fall of the pharaoh’s
not once, not twice, but many many times
and n0body wants to explain why so many statues are missin’ noses
even when those statues made of granite
it ain’t one people alone, mis-taught about themselves
we live on celtic land, but don’t learn about the celts
the same, irish people you characterize as stupid
during the dark ages some of the most educated living in europe
and did you learn the numbers you count with every day
were invented by indian people, i bet you didn’t
or how many million indians fought for britain in both world wars
still you got the cheek to call them immigrants
we don’t learn about the moors of course, for some that knowledge dangerous
is it a problem the impact they had on the renaissance?
when people take power over another group
we minimize their achievements so we can make it feel true
so if you think columbus was first to sail ocean blue
you probably believe elvis invented rock & roll too
and oh, for the record no doubt i believe in peace
but not for one second will i turn the other cheek
they slap you, slap them back and take t–th
the only way a bully ever learn is getting beat
fight, fire with fire nah fire with water
see the life you enforce is stronger than the destroyer
that’s why these mc’s can’t speak to me
no, all men are not made equally
my brains made of iron fiber, conductin’ the livest wire
my average grades higher than oxford and cambridge require
i don’t want credit, because i got a message
i want credit cos’ i’m the best mc
dead it
when i came out way back in 04
sister had just won every award
most man would have done the bait thing
put big sis on the chorus chords
that would of been a-list sure
quickly i would of been famous more
but look how i came in this ting’ raw
bang of the streets and more
if i mc’d and i heard me rap i’d be like what the
i ain’t never gonna’ be that good so
i better not push my luck
it will embarr-ss me
only insanity, would make you challenge me
better hope if we bump heads, that day that i fee like charity
if not it’s a beating and ain’t no use in searching for meaning
cuz all it means is that you are cr-p and i am a g*nius
wait i’m panama i’ll push the parameter
can you imagine a pharaoh more sicker than average
i’ll k!ll them with character
benjamin banneker
look at the marriage of stamina
damage ya
boy from britannica
got love from the whole in the calendar, so cold that i roll in a challenger
while you men roll with the amateurs
i’m too much harder
you can just call him father akala
but i don’t talk sh-t like a pastor
many know that i’m smarter than arthur
bl–dy disaster
fire astarter
probably prodigy
make you a martyr
for these cr-p mc’s that mumble
then see me in the flesh and crumble
whoever told you that i was humble
no i’m not, don’t lie
i’m so sure with my writing ability
that i feel like i’m finding divinity
sit down and every rhyme a soliloquy
my agility, timing is military
what scene? get a guillotine for the mini-me
it seems ya’ll fiend for the the mimicry
your team couldn’t dream of this synygy
that i be when i scheme on a wicked beat
there he goes again with the big words, bare syllables
get your dictionaries out
that’s what i’m about
clowns wanna shout
thrash him, smash him in the mouth
bl–dy professor
man of the letter
i’ve read and i’ve read and i’m sure that i’m better
never regretting the endeavor to dead an oppressor
i think that they’re lepers that think that their pleasures are better endeavors
don’t know about precious but
see me? born in a rage
maroon blood, coursing my veins
as you can see i was born for the stage
but, i’ll never be their cultural maid
some say that we’re political
cos’ what they’re doing isn’t
don’t they preach a political doctrine called materialism
but, for all the italian clothes that you wear
or german cars that you drive
or french champagne that we buy
we’ll still be monkeys in their eyes
so why you are beggin’ it
who knows, italians fight to wear jamaican clothes?
italians call their own women hoes?
for everyone’s entertainment bro?
but hey, what do i know
i’m just the one with the coldest flows
all over the globe baddin’ down shows
but still don’t oil my chest and pose
pose a threat to the power structure
not because we’re anything special
but because were the people together
and that’s the only way things changin’. ever
[hook] x2
absolute power corrupts absolutely
but absolute powerlessness does the same
it’s not the poverty
it’s the inequality we live in everyday that will turn us insane
we live in everyday
yo, listen
in a scheme of livin’ my life wasn’t hard
but as far as britain goes sh’t i practically starved
sleepin’ in a track suit, gas meter runnin’ out
electric cut of as well, candles lighting up the house
lookin’ in my mother’s eyes i see how she feels
the strain and the pain of just paying bills
it ain’t real and that’s how i grow like so many more
and i was part of who i am
i am very sure
you wanna’ know the rage i feel in my stomach
knowing my mom and dad split up when i was still in her stomach
and not everything that happened i will put in 16’s
but i will tell you enough so you know what i mean
my boy’s mother got cancer the same time as mine
but his mother died and mine survived
it was crazy back then
when i was like 10 already had the mental strength
more than many grown men
it was a couple of years after my step dad left
did he really know all the crazy mess he left
because mum done recovered from the lumps in her neck
but being poor and alone couldn’t cope with the stress
her and my big sis for
so much so, that i hadn’t left school
when she left home
i was 13 by now still a little kid, innocent
next couple year though would turn ‘to a militant
that is the result of no food in the fridge
and every other day you gettin’ searched by the pig’s
plus these patronizing teacher doe’ my grade sick
trying to emasculate me yeah turn me into a f’cking ana
don’t mean no woman please let me be clear
i mean been a spineless man because what do they fear
more than the working cl-ss brown male with a brain
and when our energy is harness everything changed
look at ‘pac, look a marley, look at hendrix, look at garvey
this is the potential that is wasted on a daily basis
a racist cl-ssist world that we live in
still we comin’ from nothing and we educating millions
i see why it scares you its like how dare you
overcoming the obstacle that we have been careful to
place in your way, every step of the way
in this so called democracy were kids get sprayed
black and the asians, turks and the chavs
crowded in council flats, living like ants
and who’s more confused than so called white trash
talking this madness about they want there country back
it never was yours, you should read more
what they did brown people they did to the own poor
but people’s memory short so much that i’m seeing
black and asian kids cast eastern-european
no pot to p-ss in, makes compet-tion
i fail to see how this is a effective system
when cats and dogs in america and britain
eat better food than most of humanity
and we spend our technology only on k!lling
how is this more than sophisticated savagery
it was once said the world is a stage
each persons is just a actor with a part to play
like the middle cl-ss kids and the kids of the rich
that have everything but yet still p-ssed and on c0ke and ketamine strong hat on
i ain’t generalizing look at the evidence
so go to glastonbury any year
you will see but unlike carnival it won’t be crowing with police
this is london the kids on the very next street
had a very different life experience from me
and in my experience the can’t help but be smug
after lifetime of what they think is just good luck
but still more anxious and more thankless
unearned privileges ways like an anchor
it’s why they copy what we do, tyna’ be what they not
they will grow up though and get better jobs
and maintain the system that they claim they hated
they can’t fight against it, they got a stake in this matrix
hip-hop is just a fad to them, you didn’t know
but for us this is our living breathing soul
and yeah they might back pack in south america
or even volunteer in a african village
but all said and done, when push come to shove
and sh-t hits the fan they’re middle cl-ss and british and i ain’t even dissing
that’s just how it is most rich brown people just as full of sh’t
so much more concerned with our cars and jewels
that most of the world poor luck just like you
so much more concerned being privileged few
and who knows maybe me to
[hook]
knowledge is power!!!!!
[part 3]
whoever’s more human must have the right to do the abusing
i imagine that means you then
or are you men just as clueless
foolish fools, thoughts of a tortured soul
bought for a quarter of gold
one little sand n-gga slaughter it whole
why not? they don’t have souls
they love their children less than we do so they are less than equal
they abuse women so we k!ll them cos they are bl–dy villains
that’s right, we are the feminists
for the women of the world, k!ll terrorists
liberate them from their burqas
they feel more free with their children murdered
i know that it sounds absurd but lemme explain it a little bit further
we’re so superior our missiles whistle until they tickle
little itty bitty grandchildren and make them giggle
but their laughter sounds like screaming i told you that they were demons
they pretend to be dead to make us feel sad
put bullets in their head to make us look bad
but we’re never anything other than glad
when those that look funny end up in a body bag
but if a hair is harmed on sally or brad or
even a dog we cry like mad
a dog is a man’s best friend, not a girl
women are abused all over the world and children are raped
every place, every religion or creed or race
even fathers with daughters, uncles with nieces sweep it under the carpet
rape is a weapon used by power, and we don’t wanna look like b-st-rds
so manufacture hero complex, a reaction to nuttin’ more complex
to organise m-ss rape of the state, don’t wanna hear about m-ss graves
cos i hate to relate to a shade that’s darker than you
one that prays under a different roof
has less dollars or pounds, crowns or gowns or crowns
fill ’em up with rounds
if they mess with the way that things are constructed
obstructing lines of production
you can buy anything, liposuction, seduction, just buy it from us, men
buy lies, can’t buy truth
no-one’s selling it there is no use
there is no customer base for the product
we’d rather buy some celebrity trollop
cos our life is about getting one-up
on everybody else that we p-ss on a come up
we don’t care what force bring the sun up
but lie in the sun every day gettin’ bun up
lie to the point that it’s part of the culture
tell the truth it’s only the result of
a double lie
cancelling itself, their pride cancer in itself
cos virus is normality living in a world that is built on vanity
more salaries, more calories, more thieving, more charities
picture a moor on a horse with a chariot speaking some kind of african arabic
teaching mathematics with spaniard when maths had not got to britannia
can you picture mind scripture
thats designed for the mind to enrich you
are you blind can’t you find the riddim pratt?
cause your timing alignment is on crack
it’s hard to be as far off the rhythm as you are, it’s like art
hard to have so little charisma, i swear that you try to be sh-t
to make me look even better than
everybody knows that i am already
i’m a pedigree that can’t be touched like leprosy
have a rapper like the beatles begging me to let it be
and i don’t need no referee
i play the game on my own, it’s my own sport
and you can’t take a king to his own court
you can’t take a king to his own court
you ain’t the throne sort
you’re the type to rap for five minutes
and complain your throat’s sore
while i’m so sure that my stone jaw
is the coldest on road since ’04
but these silly little boys think their so raw
make a bigger bit a noise but we know you’re
you ain’t up the game, you ain’t match fit
you ain’t even got the brain for the tactics
you ain’t even on the bench you’re a ballboy
one l!ckle send out yout so just sit down
i am the big mic man with the crown
super cat de pon sting with the sound
who are these silly little
wollies?
think they erupt with enough of the guts to be on it
their the version of me that i didn’t wanna be
i’m the coldest i wrote since admiral zheng he
i’m the fire in the booth, you a wet rag
you ain’t the real ting like a step-dad
i’m the best so rest where the rest have
don’t big up your chest, let your br–sts sag
i’m the best dad look, i don’t even beat my sons
i let them shine
even when they got no talent to rhyme
insist on doing it all of the time
all of my spine is re-enforced with a kind
of carbon that hardens the thoughts in my mind
of course you will find that i torture a line
i’m born with bars, no-one ever taught me to rhyme
the portion that’s mine, don’t touch it
furthermore, don’t even discuss it
i know that you heard
britain’s biggest export is weapons of death
that ain’t a theory or a guess
take another breath and your country is next
unless you remind ’em whenever you’re rhyming
you’re a beast on the mic with impeccable timing
they will think you’re in the league that i’m in
but that is most absurd
i turn a stanza to a cancer with banter
for those between the gangster and a panther
i know you seen me these man dem with their tantrums
like kids when i’m off on a tandem
cos they don’t know what a tandem means
so rather than use a dictionary they talk sh-t and badmouth me
when i’m only tryina elevate your mind, g
but i don’t watch that the love is more than a grands worth
you should see when i roll through handsworth
elders see me, cross the road, talk to me and it usually goes
we love how you bus up da ting, spread knowledge
bunfire pon them babylon college
we salute you, you’re the future
all the bigger man have time for them yout deh
what i’m saying it that the respect’s worth
more than the chain on your neck
when it’s not that it’s somebody’s mum
saying that she feed me to her son
cos she wanna come get his mind out of the slums
akala is smarter than arthur your dumb
regardless the bars are retiredly dumb
what the raises and the raated a part of my lung
take out a whole clique that chat’s do do
pic up a mic, we can see who’s who
i’m fire in the booth, you dry wood
your flesh best taste quite good
so smart but he still move quite hood
see him on the road but don’t think that i try should
that’s a wise -ssessment, kind of like land is a wise investment
especially land that’s recently blessed with
in excess of one million deaths in
and the castle you rest in, that’s a next ting
built on the bones and the flesh of the wretched
throne that you pose in, only protected
cos we regret that only deceptive
things that we like, and only reject it
when it feels like it’s truth were digesting
so
get in with a blessed king
whose crown is the rounds that he fought
therefore you ain’t gotta deal with the fraud
of all these picanees of whom i’m bored
my worst, stronger than their best
aura alone stronger than their flesh
all that they known can’t compare to his guess
usually don’t ever dare to spit next
it’s clear the reason is fear
even the worst mc has ears
but we can’t hear where the beat is
the time is his flow with the kick and the snare
when they hear me they know life ain’t fair
god bless some and some get air
like these conscious heads that cry
that i get big headed and i don’t know why
cos i, i have always been this guy
ever since mum sent for the sky
i decided that that was too low
so i’m astral travelling to another zone
you won’t ever get on the dog and the bone
cos i don’t ever really wanna answer my phone
zone that i’m in is high vibration
see the future with mind meditation
your peeps, poor libation
for all the peeps that get above their station
i place them in the right placement
that is to say i erase them
ain’t no-one above nor adjacent
still these mugs they want to get feisty
but face it they don’t really wanna face me
i don’t run so you can’t ever chase me
and i been through tings on the pavement
but don’t beg road fame cos i never made it
my uncles, cousins and friends have done everything that yours have mate
but i don’t tell their story i tell mine
that means i’m real and you’re fake
that said, i don’t mind a bit of fiction
if you did tell your story well
but your raps are dryer than a dead man’s top lip
after six years of living in h-ll
you meet a nice girl, you just might gel
might be wifey, you can’t quite tell
you know why? cos the only b-tch in the world
is a man and his ego he hides in a sh-ll
mine is harder than my uncles foot back
who don’t even need to wear shoes
who only eats pounded yam and stew
with hands like a can on a man, i refuse
who said mum never raised no fools, your mum raised you
you’re a plonker, a plank, a donut, a tool
you make me think that mother nature’s cruel
then i get back and remember
life is a gift even when it don’t look like it is
and everybody thinks that they’re cold in a booth
got no friends to show them the truth
put the pen down, become a spectator
go get a day job, there is no shame in it
we need doctors and architects
not more cr-p rappers that are p-ssed their best
and if the cap fits you wear it
if it fits your friend too share it
i know it ain’t the role of a parent
to take my child’s confidence and tear it
but it is my role as a father
to show my son about life and it’s harder
when you got a dad named akala
those are big shoes to fill, be your own man
have you own plan, your own destiny
just don’t ever mess with me
preferably bun these fools for their treachery
definitely those that put us in jeopardy
especially foes that wanna pose next to me
n0body ain’t testing me
it’s the versatility that is k!lling them
so road but i teach kids william
listen to my albums i actually write songs
and of course the bars are brilliant
we can do politics, spirituality
or real life road reality
or do this ting here with straight up vanity
either way, n0body can’t battle me
much less shackle me, the maroon
one man army, an entire platoon
they’re like “won’t he run out of breath soon?”
“how does he do that? is he human?”
look man, it’s the spirit of boukman
back in the flesh in a terrible crook man
the law won’t like me, ain’t it obvious
i ain’t a paedophile, now a colonist
i’m the mc that you don’t wanna bother with
to gauntlet is thrown down, who’s crossing it
hmm, that’s what i thought
you can have your whole life to retort
still won’t think up the things that i thought
when i was age four
strach that before i was born
in the womb when i was yet to be formed
before that in a past incarnation
when i set fire to a thieves plantation
me and sam sharpe hid in the cane fields
two weeks straight totally stayed still
with nothing but a blade of great steel
jumped on our enemies what a great k!ll
self defence is not violence it’s common sense
the first rule of nature, self preservation
to let people k!ll and abuse you is just self hatred
turn the other cheek, why?
no-one ever got their freedom that way, lies
when the oppressed say an eye for an eye
they talk this cr-p about the world goes blind
just don’t attack us in the first place
and everything will be just fine
in the mean time train hard
read nuff, stay sharp
and don’t diss the sisters, are you barmy?
you are putting down half your army
any evolution without the women in the middle is no revolution at all
trust me you could be back through them all
women were there ready to pop tools
but we have become so cowardly that
rather than fight back we attack
the only ones that ever had our back
and that is a actual fact
and i ain’t saying that i ain’t ever done that
i’m just saying that it’s time that we bun that
so don’t put my name in the same sentence
as real revolutionaries, i’m offended
real revolutionaries spend their life engaged in revolutionary acts
and as cold as i am on the mic
thus far, i just rap
that said there is no comparison
to cold for the way that i carry on
these vultures feed off carrion
come along now, carry on, carry on
roll up roll up, two for a pound
bun down mc’s bun whole sound
bun your whole clique i bun the whole town
take a stroll at the speed of sound
who said the speed of light was the fastest thing
never knew the speed of darkness
a black hole absorbs all light that there is
so how could light ever get past it?
i studied the masters and sages
secret teachings of all of the ages
i don’t know, i can’t explain it
the knowledge ain’t mine yet i radiate it
it’s why they write sixteen lines
and i write an essay that rhymes
and i never went uni neither
but my mind works just fine
in fact no need to be modest
my mind’s a fine instrument if i’m honest
and i promise that i’ll show you where the bodies at
burying mc’s my l!ckle hobby that
and mc’s don’t bite me
they ain’t got the technique to even copy that
i think i made my point
in a manner that is more than adequate
let’s put all the boasting aside
i do know that i’m just channeling
this thing, what is it?
inspiration, the source of the spirit?
not a man in the sky
but a force that animates all things that are living
dali’s brush, akala’s lyrics all things
ain’t explained by the laws of physics
cos you’ve been down on your life
don’t mean you’ll ever be on top of it
cos for this force right here
there ain’t one that is equal and opposite
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