Yo, I was just a kid
I was barely sixteen
Couldn't tell a man what this shit means
To shoot a man on a fucking split screen
Take a life that was kinda pristine
Uh, I wasn't listening to Christine and the Queens
I was listening to fifteen
Young men like me kick a sixteen
Full of pain in a city, let the shit stream
Deep in the consciousness
Down south where the monsters live
Abandoned houses and consequence, yeah
Heart breaks, it was common sense
Don't sit on that shit, man, we jumped the fence
Uh, 'cause certain areas are tense, yeah
That's why I'm never at events
Uh, 'cause I was tryna make pence
Doesn't make bread, doesn't make sense, uh
Mama, I lost a friend (ayo, it doesn't make sense) (I lost a friend)
Mama, I lost again
Uh, it's the L, won't you pull it?
The destination of the bullet
The man living life to the fullest
Can't lie, yo, at times, was the purest
Uh, but now you're in another city like a tourist
The prayers can't cure this
Deep rain, hop in the ride
I closed the door, told the cabbie to drive
Uh, late at night, see the mother that cries
The bullet whizzed past my face
Saw her son as he died, my eyes wide
Yeah, uh, shaking up my belly from inside
Uh, I shoulda stayed, shoulda lied
Yeah, I shoulda prayed, shoulda tried
Trust but like his mother, I cried
When they took the boy's life 'cause he's from the wrong side
Shit, I know I should have thought twice
Uh, washing off the blood from my Nikes
Mama, I lost a friend (I lost a friend)
Mama, I lost again (I lost again)
Uh, so I grew up
Scared of the night bus
Scared of the boys that look like us
Uh, no wonder why they want to fight us
They think the same, give a second and we might buss
Squeeze, buss caps, spray, say it's a wrap
I wish I'd given him a hug and a dap
Wish he could've felt my son on his lap
And seen life's for the living, to be done with the trap
But it's a fact
Live for today, fuck tomorrow
No tomorrow if your life's feeling borrowed
He needs the money right now, fuck the sorrow
Spend it right now, right now feeling hollow
Then save it for a rainy day
If every day's grey
And tomorrow might never come his way
Uh, just another man went astray
The hate, tell him get from out my way
The impact of knife crime on individuals is undeniable
And while politicians wish to police their way
Out of the knife crime epidemic, it is simply not possible
We must focus on the root causes of knife crime
Poverty, inequality, austerity and a lack of opportunity
We must petition the government to put reason over rhetoric
Compassion over indifference, equality over austerity
As knife crime claims more lives within our country
Never has so much been lost by so many
Because of the indecision of so few
---
Blood On My Nikes - Loyle Carner, Wesley Joseph and Athian Akec
