city of light restrung

i'm from the city of light

with a sky of vanilla

known as the city of churches home of the serial killer

and in the summer it feels like a hundred degrees

where i'm from you might see suffa mc

walking the traps trying to escape the map

ninety one was my shit i'm trying to take it back

to when writers ran the line and transits ran the gambit

my memories the paint

let the track be my canvas

thirteen sitting in a park

sipping wine casks

watching whole cars as they went flying past

i couldn't paint so i rhymed to the writers

they'd laugh

light up a smoke

and get blinded by their lighters

'nasty arts' ran my line evading cop cars

and we looked up to them like they were rock stars

paint stained hands and fame like manson

that's charles not marilyn

a city held to ransom

cans and markers

country road parkers

hands of an artist left the landscape enchanted

until the government pigs had all the paint washed

from our city walls

end of the renaissance

and so the walls where the colours once played

were replaced by the buff

now a sullen blunt grey

white washed

shitty

all grey

all black

waiting for the kids of this city to take their walls back. i'm from the city of light

with a sky of vanilla

known as the city of churches home of the serial killer

and in the winter

the city sleeps dead in the freeze

where i'm from you might see pressure mc

walking the traps trying to escape the map

ninety three was my shit i'm trying to take it back

got kicked out of school but i would have left in time

with nothing but an ego and rap to get me by

i swept floors

packed orders

when poor racked from porters

liquor store just to score me a four track recorder

fifteen

sneaking in the back door to the gig

thought i could rip

bro trust me i fought for this shit

cos the city's darker than a starless night

and treats a starter like a fresh piece of meat

greet the carving knife

till the day came when i'd scar consortiums

i'd lay waiting

train stations and parks my audience

before we had our beats made

before we had a dj

we'd rock to a beat box

before that shit was cliched

you see mate

i refused to lay low and gave those

better years of my life to pave roads

live as hell

we did it by ourselves

the only secret to this shit is one that time will tell

so breathe in cos the city invites

jealously

pity and blight

you're in the city of light.