Thank You

I was fourteen and thought by now
I'd be a superstar
I was eighteen and knew
I had to choose a path
I was twenty on the bus
Dreaming of supercars
Twenty three and all my dreams
It seemed they grew apart

Twenty five, I know success
Ain't promised
I seen enough give it their all
End up with nothing
Million to one
It's probably smart to be discouraged
But me, I put my heart into the music
Cos I love it

When I was recording on Audacity
Hide it from my family
Couldn't rap on beat but still
I thought I made a masterpiece
Kept it to myself
I know they'll laugh at me
The kids in school I know
They're gonna laugh at me

Until I showed my mum a track
Couldn't believe it for a second
Showed Naqieb he said
Stop it bro you're gassing me
Thank you for the confidence
You had in me
From that day I knew
Nobody catching me

Still the first show had me panicky
Crowd of kids I knew who sit in class with me
I was bricking it man naturally
Mum's spaghetti and that
Bud loaded up the track for me
Next thing I knew
They clapped for me

Dylan was there too
Me and his mates were cool
Then he said he makes beats
Now we wanna make our own EP
But see we didn't have the tools
Aint got the money for a studio
Dunno what to do

But Bud ran a youth club
After school for the kids
It had a mic and a computer
He said that for a couple of quid
We could come through and
Use it round six
Weren't no engineer
We're doing our own mix

Headphones broken
But we made it work
I'd be down there every week
Trying to lay a verse
Thinking lyrics every night
From morning
Feeling like I might've
Found my calling

See I was showing up at shows on my ones
I really been the sore thumb
Out of place and keeping quiet
At the side of the club
Got my hand on the mic
They showed me some love
Steve told me bout cyphers once a month
I should come

Thanks Steve
Good times at the Hold Up
And Pryme Cut
They done an open mic
I went over to sign up
When they saw what I could do
Next show right on the line up

From there became one
Of a tight bunch
Never made a penny
Just did it for my fun
United by the feeling
Someday someone could be something
I had big city dreams
Went to uni up in London

Spending most my summers
In my home town
I'm at Hub Fest
In 2017
Performed my latest set
To a stone crowd
Something ain't clicking
Need to switch up my whole sound

But someone shook my hand
Said I was sounding pretty good
And he was making beats himself
I should come over to cook
That's where my work with Minas
All grew from
Same Minas
Who produced this song

Who would've thought
That we would work this long
Go this far
And still not stop
When things got hard
Still stayed on job
I'm proud of you bro
You've stayed so strong
For real

Hear the passion in my story
Through the mic as it records me
Know they used to tell me
Rapping wasn't for me
Now they stand and clap
When I'm performing
Couple times I bombed on stage
And it still haunts me

Took it on the chin, worked harder
Look what it taught me
See people I love all round me
Look what it brought me
Music brought me peace
When I was scared
Music brought me dreams
I wouldn't dare

I was too shy to speak
In my class
Now I hold the mic and I
Can reach for the stars
Teachers wouldn't believe
If they could see me now
My mum came to my show
I know she's really proud

Sometimes I get caught up
Putting pressure on myself
Gotta get it all to sell
Forget to check my mental health
I know the feeling well
When I get terrified I'll fail
Know the music can be heaven
But the selling it is hell

See I dropped Pantomime around the time
I barely left the flat of mine
Numbers running up
I hit my flattest line
Couple real ones checking up on me
I had to lie
Hard to talk about the feelings
That I had inside

Closest to the edge
I lost all confidence
Couldn't even see outside myself
See what the problem was
My writing
Getting bitter and negative
But one friend loved me
That I could tell anything

Talking about it
Helped me better than anything
Meant so much that you could
Love me through everything
And now I write these words
To share my love with no hesitance

Love has changed my life
I love my life as a fact
Music changed my life
Made me the man that I am
Aint been glamorous but man
It's been a magical path
May be eager but I feel
I got some people to thank