Money For Music

Nobody's got money for music
Everybody's got money for weed
Everybody's got money for five quid pints
Nobody's got money for me
Nobody's got money for music
Everybody's got money for weed
Everybody's got money for five quid pints
Nobody's got money for me

Yo, I got 5K from Kickstarter. Thanks for that
And 5K turns to 4K fast as crap
Then add to that the fact that suppliers were flaky
As pastry and 4K's eaten at great speed
Charged a tenner for exclusive shirts and shit
Printers took ages and charged me thirty quid
What have I learnt from this?
You will get burnt from this
There's no money in rap verses kids
You might be the one in a million that blows up
How many successes then end up with no luck?
You're stuck
You gotta have a contingency
Cos ain't no such thing as an industry
Just a who-shook-whose-hand-and-who-remembers-shaking-it
What is it you're trying to make when you say you're making it?
Well for me I just wanted to cut even
While at the same time having creative freedom
I know a few musicians, most would not survive
If music had to be their job for life
And we've seen what happened when the music stopped playing
The government said, "your option is to retrain"

Cos nobody's got money for music
Everybody's got money for weed
Everybody's got money for five quid pints
Nobody's got money for me
Nobody's got money for music
Everybody's got money for weed
Everybody's got money for five quid pints
Nobody's got money for me

Merch buying listeners are Gods to me
Cos online streaming is robbery
You can do some decent cash with lots of streams
But listeners drop from millions to none in weeks
And then what do you do? Advertise?
Give Zuckerburg an Asda carrier bag of fives
To show your tracks on them time-bastard-lines
If they stop chatting enough to click that they "like"
I'm aware of my stats and they're crap
We all wanna be Prodigy or Massive Attack
Solid body of work and our class intact
Not some unknown random act
But as for that, what are my choices? I should be happy with my little bit
I was privileged enough to have the time to finish this
Some people can barely fit in a shit
Between getting up, working and feeding their kids

But nobody's got money for music
Everybody's got money for weed
Everybody's got money for five quid pints
Nobody's got money for me
Nobody's got money for music
Everybody's got money for weed
Everybody's got money for five quid pints
Nobody's got money for me

I give it Mr Mr Mr Ow Much then pay for a haircut
And spend more on that than buying my mate's stuff
Breathing in through my teeth at records over twenty bish
Then buying a takeaway that never sees the fridge
Never touched the sides, strange what I decide
Isn't worth a tenner and what isn't worth a five
Try buy local, not from massive lizards
The socialist with a Samsung, Amazon visits
Hypocrite lyricist trying to do correct
Anarchist with an admin list that I need to check
Still got this to do, still got that to do
Bills and tax to do, killed my attitude
Still the rap's for you... and a bit for me
No point competing in the little leagues
Made 19K from my music in three years
Spent 18K on my music in three years
Trying to balance the books, but the rapping is just
Not a hobby, that's too noddy, but I have to be blunt
If I relied on my music for feed
I wouldn't just be hungry to succeed
I'd be famished for actual nourishment
Government's no encouragement
Art stays undiscovered
Unless you're good at sucking up
So I'll just keep working in a job that's not related
If you bother buying it, believe that I'm elated

But nobody's got money for music
Everybody's got money for weed
Everybody's got money for five quid pints
Nobody's got money for me
Nobody's got money for music
Everybody's got money for weed
Everybody's got money for five quid pints
Nobody's got money for me