1980

They say that everything you go through in life

It's what you become

If thats the case yeah

I'm becoming number 1

Listen

It's Estelle

Yo yo

I grew up in the 1980's

In a four bedroom house

My family, my grandma,

Three or four aunties

Uncles and brothers

In and out of prison daily

At certain times when there was no heat

We stay under covers

There was life like u never seen

Grandma taking extra people in

Come dinner time it was tippin' 18

Boil a big pot of water on the stove to take a bath

Rub my face with olive oil

All my mates used to laugh

All my cousin's moved out and we all got divided

As i started to get older I seen God providing

I've seen 50 pound last 3 months solid

I got my first pair of Nikes we were still eating porridge

Me and my cousin used to play Mel and Kim practising dancin'

Coming down the stairs and ting

I touched Africa and came back darker

Knowing myself, feeling my roots a little bit harder

1980 Year that God made me

89 I started to get by

99 I started to write rhymes

Walk with me reminisce my life

1980 Year that God made me

89 I started to get by

99 I started to write rhymes

Walk with me reminisce my life

So then we moved up

I thought I was the Fresh Prince

Dynasty was re-runs and Dallas was faded

With three beds this time and six kids still

We got a doggy that dog loved to ****

My brother got his first pair of LA gears

He thought they were to take pictures of instead of wear

I started hanging out and my jeans got tighter

My weird neighbors set their own house on fire

Church was all day every day and every week

That's where i learned how to sing

Hearing that pastor preach

Benediction was all we went for

So we could run home and play Connect 4

Mum worked late and we learnt to cook

Rice peas chicken and stew pea soup

In the room watching Kung-Fu films and Cleopatra Joans

Wishing we were Cosby kids and the match stick girls

1980 Year that God made me

89 I started to get by

99 I started to write rhymes

Walk with me reminisce my life

1980 Year that God made me

89 I started to get by

99 I started to write rhymes

Walk with me reminisce my life

The man downstairs was dead for three weeks

His own cat started eating him

The house starts to wreak

That's when we moved out

And our house was bigger

We had a large garage and the attic was killer

We used to pray for three hours in the mornin'

Sitting on the school bus

Believe we was yawning

All our hair was stuck down to our foreheads

Jam and spritz, durags and pin curls yes

***y boys walking round showing interest

In what I don't know 'cause we all had flat chests

Don't think we never mastered the Kid'n Play steps

Doing what for days in the boggle yep

But this is just the beginning of my life right,

Nine kids a house and one life time

Yo, the beginning of my life right

Nine kids a house in one life time

1980 Year that God made me

89 I started to get by

99 I started to write rhymes

Walk with me reminisce my life

1980 Year that God made me

89 I started to get by

99 I started to write rhymes

Walk with me reminisce my life