[Intro] Yeah… Grey skies, red bricks, chip shop smoke in the air… Essex council estate life… But we still made it ours. This one’s for every kid still kickin’ ball in the rain. Listen— [Verse 1] Born in a block where the paint peeled off, Dad’s on the night shift, Mum’s stressin’ in the loft, Council flat cold, but the warmth came from mates, Shared a can of Panda Pop, playin’ knock down the gates. After school telly — Fun House, SM:TV, Dreamin’ of the day I’d own my own CD, Game Boy screen glowin’ under covers at night, Pokémon battles by the flicker of street light. Craigie lost his brother, moved away in the spring, We scratched our names in the swings, just a council estate thing, New kid Jamal moved in, wore his cap on lean, By summer we was brothers, runnin’ wild as a team. [Chorus] We had bricks, we had beats, Pavement dreams under busted street lamps’ heat, From the fights to the laughs to the heartbreak scenes, We was kings of the ends with them 90s schemes. Yeah — Bricks, we had beats, Hand-me-down creps and ripped-up jeans, From the loss to the love to the everyday grind, Still the best damn days I’ll ever find. [Verse 2] First crush — Kelly with the scrunchie hair, Shared my Walkman tape, thought she might care, Two weeks later she was holdin’ hands with Dean, I was back on my Mega Drive, losin’ on Streets of Rage 3. School was a battleground — Ms. Clark with the glare, Detention for a joke, she said “Life ain’t fair,” But in the playground we was dodgin’ all the beef, Kickin’ ball ‘til the dinner ladies yell “leave!” Mum pulled a double just to keep the lights on, Dad fixed motors, came home with oil on, We never had much but we made what we could, Hand-built ramps from planks in the neighbourhood. [Chorus] We had bricks, we had beats, Pavement dreams under busted street lamps’ heat, From the fights to the laughs to the heartbreak scenes, We was kings of the ends with them 90s schemes. Yeah — Bricks, we had beats, Hand-me-down creps and ripped-up jeans, From the loss to the love to the everyday grind, Still the best damn days I’ll ever find. [Bridge] (spoken, over mellow beat) Council estate taught me patience, taught me fight, Taught me how to hold my own on a Saturday night. Friends come, friends go, but the memories stay, In the smell of fried onions on a cold match day. [Verse 3] By sixteen, I’d seen more goodbyes than hellos, Watched the block change faces, watched the weeds grow, But we still had them late-night bench-top talks, Planning our escapes while the foxes stalked. Sarah left for uni, Lee joined the Army, Jamal got nicked, but he still writes to me, calmly, We all took our hits but we learned how to stand, Even when the world felt colder than the land. Now I walk past them bricks, see the ghosts in the rain, Kids with the same fire runnin’ through their veins, I smile ‘cause I know, even through the struggle and fight, Those 90s estate days were the best of my life. [Chorus] We had bricks, we had beats, Pavement dreams under busted street lamps’ heat, From the fights to the laughs to the heartbreak scenes, We was kings of the ends with them 90s schemes. Yeah — Bricks, we had beats, Hand-me-down creps and ripped-up jeans, From the loss to the love to the everyday grind, Still the best damn days I’ll ever find. [Outro] (scratched vocal sample of “life was sweet… even when it was hard”) Council estate raised me… Essex, 90s… never forget. Bricks & beats forever.
