Not Like Before

Ha, not like before

We're gonna tell a little story (Feelin' grime now)

'Bout me, 'bout he, 'bout we

Not like before (Yeah, check this)

Yeah, yeah, take it back, the Owls

Man, I only went school to sell weed at lunch time

Two gurners on a tub, mine crushed up fine

Losin' my mind, sniffin' lines, no attendant sign

Made the habit mine of any drug I could find

All I knew about was crime until I dropped few shrooms

Made a few tunes, "Me and Bva comin' real soon"

And then it dropped, and nobody listened

The "Lost But Not Forgotten" was the beginnin' of this mission

I used to be livin' on the floor with Freddy T

One of the reasons for the malnourished Leaf that you see

He gave me the PC, I used to make the beats for this CD

Got passed the torch from Razzy and Cool G

Much respect for that, and high focus is the future

See, I've got your back, no shotty in my backpack

Got my queen, ain't no need to chase rat, you're behind

While I slowly take over the map

Watch the owls attack, ah

Many things have changed since the old school days

Runnin' round on train tracks, sprayin' up the trains

Pickin' up an eighth bag to blaze it in a day

Now I smoke a little less, but it's Hindi Kush Haze

I'll take you back for a lesson

Way back to the Brixton mass open mic sessions

Avarice spotted me, thought that I was reppin'

Then we met a little later at the speaker's corner mecca

He took me to a studio in Queens Road, Peckham

Recorded force-fed imagery, it seemed that it was destined

I ain't seen him in a couple years, because he's still my bredrin

Can't forget about the man who put you in for a second

Like Verb T, certified G, the mic veteran

Runone blessed me with beats from his collection

Got mad nice on the decks at every damn event, son

Also Cash had our back, we rinsed up the shows and that

Supported R.A. the Rugged Man, that was classic, fact

Reminisce, reminisce

Remember lacing tunes with Kimo up in Brixton lab

Then he moved it down to Whitechapel, place was nang

Lay exterior rang, man, it went to plan

Since then I'm high, focused on the prison fam

Make music, move units, stay reppin' that

Make music, move units, stay reppin' that

At school, I never used to go, and stay at home high

That stoned and zoned guy, the same and you know why

Then college, I wasn't really concerned with that

Mainly went to sell ten-pound sacks and chase rats

Dropped out and went back, but I still wasn't focused

Started rappin' on beats about how we be the brokest

Drop "Lost But Not Forgotten", then was "World War 3"

Then the war ended, and we still hadn't dropped the CD

But now things are different 'cause kids still pump and listen

To the CD that we give 'em three years ago on a mission

Still leave the page written, hit the stage with our spittin'

Got a contract and learned how to make our shit thicken

Cleared our own path like a snow plow

Gained the knowhow on how to get exactly where we want

And never go down, and now we're that storm on your horizon

With more tracks laid down than a fifty-year-old whore that's still ridin'

Ay, yo, it started back when I heard Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh

I was eight, used to play the vinyl when I dub cassettes

I spent my teen years weeded out, past high

With Gang Starr, Wu-Tang, Tribe, and the Pharcyde

I can't lie, I was shy hittin' open mics as a kid

But the studio, I was smashin' it

I had my first record out, I was eighteen

Tour with Phi Life Cypher, for that was like a daydream

Shedded my innocence then started to grow wise

And grow flow-wise, I hooked up with Low Life

Got some guidance and applied it, had confidence

With Kashmere and Ghost, toured the country and the continent

But still I had to keep a 9-5 to keep the bills paid

And quit the weed just to try and keep my mind alive

Sixteen bars is not enough time to write my entire life

This is just one installment

Now I'm a proud father, grown, responsible

Learnt over years, hate kills, love conquers all

So I look to the future after steppin' back

Make music, move units, stay reppin' that

Make music, move units, stay reppin' that