[Intro - Piano] Looked older than I was. Felt younger than I let on. [Verse 1 - Reflective hard rap] Put ten more years in the way that I walked, Put a whole locked door in the way that I talked. Nobody saw what the confidence cost, Mistook all that distance for not giving a toss. Still wanted my dad, still needed my mum, Still had a boy's head when the hard nights come. But being a kid wasn't paying the rent, So I acted like adulthood was somewhere I'd been. Kept the chin high, didn't ask for a break, Had a hand full of scars and a smile half fake. If you saw strength, you weren't entirely wrong, Just didn't see what I was holding it on. [Build] Fifteen. No rewind. Still hear that kid in the back of my mind. Let him speak— Let the whole room rise. [Chorus - Huge chant] GROWN BEFORE MY TIME! STILL HERE TONIGHT! I WASN'T BUILT FOR IT— I LEARNT TO FIGHT! NO MORE HIDING THE BOY I WAS! HE DESERVED A HOME! HE DESERVED THAT LOVE! [Verse 2 - Accelerating flow] Don't need pity, need the story told right, Don't make a legend from a frightened kid's life. I did survive, and I'm proud of that fact, Still wouldn't ask another kid to walk my track. Keep what helped, let the poison unwind, There's more to a man than how early he fights. I can be tough and admit what was missing, I can be grown and start properly listening. This is the start, not the whole of the book, Next part's choices that I made once I could. Before that page gets the bass and the rhyme, Remember who grew up before his time. [Bridge - Piano] I'm older now. I know what he needed. A place to stay. Someone to mean it. [Final Chorus - Maximum drop] GROWN BEFORE MY TIME! STILL HERE TONIGHT! I WASN'T BUILT FOR IT— I LEARNT TO FIGHT! NO MORE HIDING THE BOY I WAS! HE DESERVED A HOME! HE DESERVED THAT LOVE!
