Lowkey - Blood, Sweat And Tears

As lightning strikes and thunder pounds,
Over the grey skies of east london town,
Prophecy k returns from the underground,
Signified by the peoples crying, trumpet sounds,
Yeah the system it tried to shut me down,
But i been on my ting before onyx was flinging guns around,
Blood, sweat, and tears for years,
It feels like my careers been in the dumping ground,
Yeah, this is how hunger sounds,
And i'm the hunter now, 'lash the lion heart,
A.k.a. the man behind the iron mask
For ten years straight, i've been raising the iron bar
Tryna breathe the life back into this dyin' art
So why try and par? when you'll meet the same fate as that lion scar
This game is fake; full of two-faced lying ras.
Who would sell their soul and arse just to climb the charts
Yea, but me, i put in too much time in the graft
Refinin' my craft for labels to sign me for a minor advance
Picture k'lash, mimin' on trance
Now picture dr. dre beats/'lash rhymin' with starks
It's all fate and i got mine in my grasp
They're all snakes, let 'em die in the past
But who knows what the future holds?
These n.w.o. soldiers will probably shoot me cold
All because the truth was told
You should know i did it from the heart.

I'm still here, pushing after several years,
I'm still here, standing strong, never in fear,
I'll be still here after the dust settles and clears,
I'll be still here after the blood, sweat and the tears,

I don't do this for the happy ravers or the aggy haters
I do this for the warriors and the gladiators
Do this for those whose lives you never cared about
Can't pronounce their names, their origins or their whereabouts
Those brought up around tragedy and sadness
Who adjusted and found normality in the madness
Fight the power 'til i'm out of breath like malcolm x
You empower the powerful, i empower the powerless
They'll play you on the radio if you rap about a gucci belt
But rap about the government; you might as well shoot yourself
Industry fairies say i rap about conspiracy theories
Just to hide the fact that they lyrically fear me
Got that eye of a tiger, the heart of a lion
The mind of a lifer, my stance is defiant
I rise like a phoenix, immediate from the ashes
My existence is inconvenient for the masses
Though we are equal, i despise an imitation
I live for my people and die for liberation
I stand as a visionary; some have got plans of killin' me
To literally vanish me physically like aborigines
Hannibal with the mask, an animal with the bars
I'm grappling with my shackles, i channel it through my art
Feel it in the ambience, champion, heavyweight
My life is nothin' but my pride is somethin' that you can never take
They think i'm elusive or think i'm a nuisance
I swear these major labels must think that i'm stupid
Keep your 360's you're convincing these dudes with
Like i'll give you the blueprint for pimpin' my music...
I say that like k'lash, he's another lion,
Every hardship from getting scarred to my brother dying,
Spit all of it with or without a big audience,
Through the blood, sweat & tears i stand victorious!

I'm still here, pushing after several years,
I'm still here, standing strong, never in fear,
I'll be still here after the dust settles and clears,
I'll be still here after the blood, sweat and the tears,