25 KEYS

it's hard for me to open up, and say all these things/
I grew up in a different world to most of you, you'd all think/
I was sick in the head, but when I was kicked in the head/
beaten up and stamped out, left shiting my bed/

on a morphine drip, unconscious in intensive care/
waking up for 4 days later, and nahh I weren't scared/
of what I see on the other side, the nurse told me that I died/
I died twice, and was resuscitated back to life/

the only man the nurse had ever seen/
to discharge himself, pull his drip out, take a wheel chair, and leave/
she said I could die, and I looked her straight in the eyes/
and with a smile I said, third time lucky right/

it's wrong to think like that, looking back now I know/
but i'm leaving in a wheelchair, and I haven't got a home/
i'm back out on that road, bagging up them Oz/
and karma got them faggots back, well, so i'm told/

the police couldn't catch a cold, without a snitch it's a fact/
and if you live the life I have, and fuck with pigs, you're a rat/
posing with guns in your pictures, then writing up a statement/
I hope all you snitches end up, bleeding on pavements/

'cos I was just 21, when a judge gave me life/
for doing the shit these rappers talk about, in there rhymes/
I remember being on remand, praying he don't come to court/
and when that blue screen went up to protect his face, I just thought/

it's over for me, but I took my sentence like a man/
got my head down, studied hard, now here I stand/
living proof, of what you can achieve with a dream/
I ain't talking rap, i'm talking facts, know what I mean?!/

so what i'd jack dealers, and kick off doors/
'cos Christmas was coming up, and my family were poor/
and I had to get my brother some clothes, and that Pikachu toy/
we never had a proper Dad, and Mum don't favour her boys/

i'm living between houses, 'cos my kids Mum's a cunt/
messing with my head, she wished I was dead, and gets what she wants/
suicidal, can't even think straight, minds fucked/
so tell me how normal wrists look, mine's cut/

drinking like an alcoholic, hitting rock bottom/
I was in a cell for 5 years, the whole time I was forgotten/
even now, I barely see my own kids/
and it ain't, got a fucking thing, to do with, the shit that I did/

even my kids know now, she's just a bitter bitch/
who can't handle rejection, and that's what it is/
but they both know that I love 'em, and they know that i'm honest/
this CD's my life, that's why, I put both of them on it/

still struggle with depression, something out of my control/
I may have a roof over my head, but still haven't got a home/
try going to the council, they don't even wanna know/
the story of my life, I do it on my own/

now i'm here, so close, never though i'd see the day/
I could save away, enough money, to try and get a place/
from working on a push bike, on estates, shotting eights/
always running from the coppers, always trying to bust a case/

but I worked the streets, got a 5 from them/
it's now 9:55, I flipped 5 to 10/
now 10's nearly stacked, I gotta flip it to 20/
20 percent of 100 grand flat, couple years, i'll be ready/

to get that mortgage, leave the streets, buy to rent/
it's been a long term dream, but all the time I spent/
getting to the position that I am/-
it's only right i'm earning clean money, without dirtying my hands/

and I hear people say, they thought Age would rap that grime talk/
but why would I, no comment police, then tell the world my crime for/
it doesn't make sense, and besides that, i'm legal/
and I don't rap for the roads, I rap for my people/

the people who understand what it's like, to have to carry knives/
'cos there's mother fuckers out there like you, looking to take your life/
so you stay ready, hands on that tin of gas in your pockets/
drugs ballsed up, on your way to go and shot it/

I was born boxed in, the system would never let me win/
Red or Blue, it don't fucking matter who is in/
I hate the government, so when I can finally afford it/
i'm gonna make housing benefit, pay off my fucking mortgage/

and if you dare say it's working mans tax, you're dumb/
use Google for something other than porn, you stuck up cunt/
read the figures for yourself, before you're all on facebook/
welcoming Prince George, and see how much you pay, look/

i'm just gonna do the best I can, playing the system and I am/
in a position to look at the bigger picture, and fully understand/
fight for queen and country, get chewed up and spat out/
I've had 5 friends in the army, all of them are back now/

everyone's a criminal, the money we use is stolen/
it's not a conspiracy, it's basic history, i've spoken/
to a lot of educated people, then studied it my self/
religion is a mask of war, the real cause of it is wealth/

and yes your tax, helps dossers, but it also kills kids/
but you'd rather ignore them facts, ignorance is bliss/
and I understand it all, and understand it properly/
you think the fat mum, with 6 kids, is the cause of our economy/

people out here, on these fucking estates are poor/
they buy a second homes, whilst sending us to war/
'cos there are no jobs, shot drugs or sign up/
or work a dead end job with no hope, 'till your times up/

it's a generation of stress, and certain people are blessed/
to be born in to a family of home owners, 'cos the rest/
of us estate mother fuckers, have barely gotta chance/
how fucking sad is it to dream, of being middle class/

and fuck anyone that don't agree, with how I live my life/
I done the crime, done the time, now i'm getting mine/
and only the real people of the struggle, will see what I see/
and understand, I drop a 100 bars, and called it 25 keys/