Braintax was a British hip hop artist and producer. Joe Christie had also recorded or appeared under the pseudonyms Brando Flux and Joey Brains. All of his releases were on his own record label, Low Life Records.
Originally Braintax was a duo, consisting of Christie and DJ T.E.S.T. (real name Aaron Harrow), who also contributed vocals and production. T.E.S.T. departed following the 1997 release of the Future Years EP and Christie retained the Braintax name; it has since become synonymous with him as a solo artist. On the track "Monsoon Funk" on Panorama, Christie explained Braintax means "we can all get busy if we use our brains." Braintax's lyrics have made multiple references to spirituality, healthy eating, the state of hip hop music, environmentalism, and politics. On Mr. Scruff's 2002 album Trouser Jazz, Braintax was featured on the song "Vibrate".
In 2008 Braintax suddenly announced his retirement with the release of his final album titled My Last And Best Album and also the end of Low Life Records to the disappointment of many UK hip hop fans.
Braintax:
You wont catch me on commuter trains at half past 8
I freeline at half 9 and Im still not late
Youll never see me after work pouring money down my throat
Talking shit, gaining weight, for the sake of a joke
Or with the other suits in the gents hittin the coke
I like a smoke but I always keep an eye on my notes
Yeah you can call me self-righteous but I'll never lose hope
Youll never see me 9 to 5 getting over to cope
Not a typical life, I dream wilderness ways
I resisted being villainous back in the days
I was the one, seen my friends twocking for fun
Ripping car radios out then...run!
Im up the ginnel quicker than the rest because I didn't smoke
Full belt round the corner, shit! this is no joke
Seen the helicopter buzzing overhead its
Time for me to be out, time to get selfish
I can't be getting nicked for what someone else did
Blended with the bushes till shadows melted
And when the sun came up it was less hot
Stepped off down the cobblestones at a trot
Im off to write rhymes, and I made the right choice
And I know a lot of people take issue with my voice
Even though were all equal see me make my cream
Fuck a British state of mind and the American dream..
Its peer pressure
You make your own mistakes
But don't drag me in, Im tryin to elevate
Mystro:
Course I aint happy bout what's happenin now
Stuff aint goin too well for you so now you're dragging me down
And that is just foul so play fair, stop acting like you don't know
My struggle in this jungle is just standing on my own toes
And most wont accept the fact that times are hard
I say they..kinda are but still life is large
And Im planning to make it big you know - rhyme with stars
And have major companies bidding for me buying me cars
Be in my own shows pedalling across the Earth
People I don't know begging me to drop a verse
But what's this worth ? you ask, I say not everything mate
But it's where Im tryin to be at so don't get in my way
Just stay in your place
Don't grab on me when problems are invading your space
Cos as for me blood if I make a mistake
Ive only myself to blame plus Ive dealt with pain
And the sunny sides always better when youve felt the pain
So deal with it - your umbrella is your mental state
I can't be the only one that's keeping my friends awake
And I know you aint told me everything you meant to say
But we can set things straight cos that was yesterday
And day out and day in you might notice all these strange things,
But realise Im going through the same thing
The art from the start is maintaining and training your brain
And of course like they say with no pain there's no gaining
Its peer pressure
You make your own mistakes
Brando Flux:
Down and out in San Marino on a roulette binge
Im trying not to cringe watch em tow the Bentley off
6 AM cold, yawn and gently cough
Never been a toff, self-made
Double 0 style gambling habit got played
I watch the sun rise, park bench thoughts
From San Moritz via Cannes, left my yacht in the port
Got a ticket, harbour master strangulation left him in the shed
Shit! I fled, 39 steps, I hope he's not dead
Jehst:
From cream tea at 3 oclock with the Duke of York
To my photo-fit picture on the news report
Whod have thought ? I caught glares true to form
On a nudist resort selling shares in porn
Brando Flux:
And I was stepping out casinos like The worlds now mine!
And now Im sitting in the sun with my cardboard sign
And weak pleas, and all day looking at knees
And me and Jehst rifle restaurant bins for free cheese
Jehst:
Sipping on vino, flicking through a copy of the Beano
Me and my amigo Joe in the casino
With only 5 bucks in my snow white tux
Most times I rock a t-shirt that says Life sucks!
Brando Flux:
We went from hotel to motel to sleeping on the beach
drinking cheap wine laughing at you slurring your speech
Jehst:
Pop the cork fill a glass, Anthill Mob with the illest cars
Still doing bank jobs in a gorilla mask
So I can buy my other half a chinchilla scarf
Chilling with my honey-dip in a vanilla bath
How you like me now ?
Im off to hustle in the sun if Im down and out
Play the gent, tell lies cos Im Brando Flux
Till the heat dies down well be down on our luck
How you like me now ?
Im off to hustle in the sun if Im down and out
Quick change, switch names, now Im Brando Flux
Low Lifes sport a tux when were down on our luck
Brando Flux:
The jewel thieves know me at the Intercontinental
Knowing that Im just down on my luck and not mental
it's a funny scene: me and the gang with Peter Sellers
eating breakfast at the beach with a Swiss bank teller
Jehst:
it's that fella sucking ash out of last nights lagers
In my flip-flops and pyjamas
Stranded somewhere off the coast of the Bahamas
The bandit with banana clips and balaclavas
Brando Flux:
Riviera Joey Brains steps credit card flex
Bad scam, high society discovered who I am
They got suspicious when I passed on the ham
At the buffet in Cannes, with Prince Albert of Monaco at the soire
Damn!
Jehst:
I wanna parlay man, yeah you know those cats
that rock black suits and bowler hats
Playing Jack Jones tracks in our stolen Jags
Holding stacks of ice like the polar caps
A new night another heist better guard your stash
Run upon Guy Ritchie for his cards and cash
that's the snatch! Paparazzi can't relax
Al Fayed wont rest till my yards been trashed
Ive been drinking all day but Im hardly smashed
On safari, asking where the partys at
Brando Flux:
Im coming with a box of stones
The Pink Panther does the picking and he spots the clones
Im like amazed, give him props and accept the cash
Im off to hustle through the Alps on a ski resort dash
Watch the name splash: Howard Marks, deposit box, same bank
Say thanks security the safe cracks open, last bash
Now Im stood looking at my last cash
And Im considering the options I could load some hash
In Morocco at the stash by the customs check
I thought Yasser paid em off but Im a nervous wreck
I take a valium or two and we relax, sail back
Me Speaking From The Land Of The Lost
Southern Hemisphere - Land Of The Adopted Cross
Strange Temples In Th Jungle To The Holiest Mosque
We Seek Refuge, Running From The Western Frost
I Came Down Here With A Truck Load Of Folks
Sixty-Eighty In My Rucksack
Covered In Smoke, We All Choke
When The Cities Got Too Much, Loves Collapsed
All The Time Even The Rich Got Touched
They Should've Thought Of That Was Back
Infact, The Should've Thought Of That Before They Started Fucking With Gas
Cos Science Moves Faster Than A Nature Evolves
An Industry Abused It Till The Coast Dissolved
Heating Up The Planet, A Cooling Whats Hot
Cause And Effect
Its So Simple But Nobody Gave A Heck
Cos Ice Sheets Break Down Here
Its Not Real Just A Freak Change In Weather
Or An Act Of All Mighty Powers
Everybody Flees The Acid Rain Showers
And Here In The Future We've Been Traveling For Hours
Im Making From The Truck Camp Seat
Im Hungry, Its Friday
We Be Passing The Equator Next Monday
Im Outta Breath, Pause A Sec
This Pressure Air Is Fucking With The Glands In My Neck
I Feel Bad Now
This Exodus Is Gunna Kill The Other Half Of Whats Left On The Globe
Demographics Of Death
Exodus [x2]
From The Town Crop Looking On The Forest Road Below
The Convoy Creeps Westerners With Lives In Tow
Its And Irony
I Guess When We Made A Whole Mess
The Was The Very Thing We Breed Becomes The Price In Progress
You Know What?
We Could Take This Air And Bottle It
And Take It Back And Make A Mint
But For What? What We Got?
My Home Got Swallowed By The Rising Sea Levels
Then The Year Long Ground Frost Came And Left The Crops Disheveled
From A Century Before Last
And I Was Casting What Was Made Form Sugar Cane
And The Slavery Passed
A New Bridge, A New Town All Around
A New Mill, The More Pollution
More Money, More Work And Less Skill
First Gap In The O-Zone, Nobody Gets Ill
Greenhouse Effect, People To Needy To Chill
So All They Ever Did Was Ban Cfcs And Aerosols
And Now We've Had To Leave I Wonder If I Ever Cared At All
The Rich World Transpanded To The South
Leaves Skin Cancer, Asthma, Acid Rain And Drought
Its Warming Up South America And The Philippines
Exodus, We Bringing Nightclubs And Currency
Coca-Cola And Coke Defined From The Plants
In The Valley We Pollute
While We Set Up Camp
I Didn't Mean To
Germs Kill Better Than Guns
The Holy Year Aband America, Fucking With The Sun
It's Only Just Begun But I Can See It Cant You?
As Far As Im Concerned Theres Only One Thing To Do
Move Away Not, Move Move Away
I'll Be On The Bus
Mad Max Style Travs
Braintax:
Im all up in your brain like[drugs]
Robbie Burns-style chilling in these winter woods
Kinda humanist, all I really want is good
I feel hate sometimes but I suppress them thoughts
Now some people don't and their face contorts
And other folks wont, it's their main support
On the pavement screwing at the slightest nudge
Petty grudge, harsh words, so quick to judge
Everybody here whispers on the bus
Paranoid eyes look away
If you cause a fuss still get away
No-ones up for looking out for whos next door
Want a quiet life rather never see the poor
Spare change? Not likely we can just afford a glance
By the cashpoint tramps with the drunken dance
And wed like to help, but Im trying to get rich
And Im going for self and yeah lifes a bitch
Don't you know it - we feel ashamed but wont show it
Is the difference I take my chance and you blow it ?
I do believe in the power of choice
But through the outside pressure can you keep your voice ?
Im only here cos Im tryin to get out
Im only certain that Im living in doubt
Move yourself, wake up like know yourself
Stay you then grow your wealth
I know the negative shit don't help come on move yourself
Living with the aftershock of a million woes
Now whos quick to mock like their heart just froze
And waves splash the rocks like the land erodes
Like the liver rots slow when the brandy flows
Or egos melt when you're all alone
And your friends are props that nowadays don't phone
Debt strips men down, takes away your house,
Disregards your class and anulls your credit rating
We sit debating whos playa-hating
And think lifes hard cos the heatings broke
So the colds penetrating while Im tapping on the Playstation
Its all relative
We stay neutral and never give
That Sky Digital shit is like a sedative
I watch the news and stay thankful for how I live
So why the hell can't I help this man
With the nerve to approach me with an empty hand
Put some money in them little envelopes for charity
It could be me in 5 years clinging on to sanity
The only truths that there is no truth
So don't judge me and I wont judge you
Im only here cos Im tryin to get out
Im only certain that Im living in doubt
Weak minds can't advance
But I'll jump for the money given half the chance
Cos no matter how good you get, you get dragged down
Big competition and I wanna opt-out
Wanna be where I m rich if my pockets in drought
Not running through life with the silent movie shout
And give to the needy cos society is wicked
But Im still Braintax saving for a plane ticket
I have to make a point, don't like it ? stick it
We all live selfish lives, come on admit it
And our morals catch twists talking plastic chat we live swish
Fat cats trying to feast on fish..
Im only here cos Im tryin to get out
Ahhhh yeahhhh, hocus pocus
Open sesame... Abra Kadabra... And all that shit
[Verse 1:]
You know we got to put a lead in it
Braintax putting Leeds in it
Made another album and it sounds so good
C.E. coming through like you wishing you could
And I'm the game keeper leading you all through the woods
All good? Nah I'm better than that
You can't figure my rap, you figure me out - and then you might figure to clap
Understand what I'm saying from the start
And if you do not know what I'm saying, start again from the start
I remain, don't forget it
I wrote it, you read it
Emcees are off the hook - no credit
Call a medic (huuuuuh!)
I got that Northern tinge
I used to rep the underground but nowadays it's fringe
Wait I'm jokin! Now Colin put the lead in
Braintax in the booth definitely weeding (da dit... da dit dit...)
[Chorus:]
It goes last is best, and my best is last
So I quit while I'm ahead, now consider me the past
See finishing ahead has got style and grace
I got accolades for ("Mic brains... check
Check? What the heck are you talking about? ")
[Verse 2:]
And yeah we had to put the funk in it, the most necessary additive
Money motivates, proving points is the catalyst (Joey!)
Mr Brains with Emmanuel, came with more than beats and loops
Like [? ] and Miralles taking over modern guns and booths
Winning hearts with my ideas and I'm staying aloof
I can't be bothered with some paranoid petty squabbles
Why do you think I even care though? The mind boggles
The new, the new 20, yeah it's true
Didn't feel like an adult 'til I hit 32
So play catch up, I watch the markets, seen the dollar slide
You better change up your change, it's so 005!
I'm so 008 or is it 009
They say don't say the years, that's how you transcend time
I transcend mind by making classic shit
Heads keep asking for the HITS like passifists
What the fuck am I then, asterix!?
Popeye on the track with a tin of spinage
Magnum on crack, Lewis Hamilton on speed to the finish? ha
I play no brains, I set minds free
Freebanging albums remind me
[Scratches/Samples from Biro Funk {Colin Emmanuel on the decks}:]
"It's like a long walk to China tryna reach these heads"...
[Chorus:]
It goes last is best, and my best is last
So I quit while I'm ahead, now consider me the past
See finishing ahead has got style and grace
I got accolades for days, fuck collapsing in the race
It goes last is best, and my best is last
So I quit while I'm ahead, now consider me the past
See finishing ahead has got style and grace
Braintax:
First of all for all the heads who don't know by now
Im gonna start from the top and break it all right down
My moniker is Braintax when Im spitting on wax
Or when Im making a track but when Im sending a fax
I sign J Christie on a licence contract cos Im on my own label
And it's called Low Life
Putting records in the shops since 92
A lot of people don't know and think this heres brand new
I gotta shout out Destiny from Catch A Groove days
For buying in my records trekking round in a haze
Through the West End, back then me and my best friend,
But now Braintax is a one-man scheme
And all my friends contribute to this solo team
I know I mean what I say plus I know what I mean
Do you know what I mean? This is Biro Funk
And it feels like a giro and a henry of skunk
See I - got the beats from Harry Love I do shows with
And me and Mystro got flows and now you know mate.
Ive been rapping since the Toxteth riots
So you new jack, American-wannabees need to stay quiet
Im mad at life cos I don't really wanna be here
My Benny Live track will make you see clear
Like The Grip - Jehst beat - politics, know the dark shit
Low Life is depth, dopeness we start shit and show paths
Not in it for the laughs
And looking after business though I still hate maths
But I love cash, every 20 notes a brick
In my house in the sun that's why Im up at half 1
I swore to stop writing punchline nonsense
And now it takes longer but I penetrate your conscience
(Whos this?) No-one else sounds like Brains, you get me ?
Braintax:
You know it's truthful when you hear me
Real name J Christie, born 73
Deep down Im probably just like you
Deep down you're probably just like me
My ambitions to be free
My favourite colours green like the land
Second favourites blue like the sea
And the sky I see most
I have a vision of me sitting happy on the coast
The blue water crashes down, the ocean sound
By a lighthouse; image that I felt in a book
My children play together on the sand,
I look, can't see their faces yet
I love her deeply even though we haven't yet met
My futures far from set
At times I forget to live for here and now
Im in a dream-world, cliff-top, my private sundown
And if the wind comes and tries to blow me off the ledge
Ill be falling still clutching my dreams until Im dead
And how I feel today, tomorrow wont apply
Landed in a rock pool, survived cos I refuse to die
Now, what this Braintax thing is really all about is:
Utilising your brain can give you more clout
My mind keeps me positive when the world gets me down
I close my eyes and orange dots melt my stony frown
I stay looking ahead like a figurehead
My ship drifts, bouncing my physical while my mind lifts
Its all about a vivid life, more colour, it's a new day,
Snap your skull, chase the blues away
We splash lime, scales climb and diminish
Creating every image off the top of me
And times never stopping me
Therapist tried hard to be a hedonist but only Earths rockin me
These drugs are good though they're blocking me
They're nice when they're free
And help ease the pain when it feels lifes knockin me
Ill get the roof terrace and the olive grove,
The swimming pool, home in the sun
Somewhere on the globe there's a place
So Im a ship in the night
Braintax:
Im all up in your brain like[drugs]
Robbie Burns-style chilling in these winter woods
Kinda humanist, all I really want is good
I feel hate sometimes but I suppress them thoughts
Now some people don't and their face contorts
And other folks wont, it's their main support
On the pavement screwing at the slightest nudge
Petty grudge, harsh words, so quick to judge
Everybody here whispers on the bus
Paranoid eyes look away
If you cause a fuss still get away
No-ones up for looking out for whos next door
Want a quiet life rather never see the poor
Spare change? Not likely we can just afford a glance
By the cashpoint tramps with the drunken dance
And wed like to help, but Im trying to get rich
And Im going for self and yeah lifes a bitch
Don't you know it - we feel ashamed but wont show it
Is the difference I take my chance and you blow it ?
I do believe in the power of choice
But through the outside pressure can you keep your voice ?
Im only here cos Im tryin to get out
Im only certain that Im living in doubt
Move yourself, wake up like know yourself
Stay you then grow your wealth
I know the negative shit don't help come on move yourself
Living with the aftershock of a million woes
Now whos quick to mock like their heart just froze
And waves splash the rocks like the land erodes
Like the liver rots slow when the brandy flows
Or egos melt when you're all alone
And your friends are props that nowadays don't phone
Debt strips men down, takes away your house,
Disregards your class and anulls your credit rating
We sit debating whos playa-hating
And think lifes hard cos the heatings broke
So the colds penetrating while Im tapping on the Playstation
Its all relative
We stay neutral and never give
That Sky Digital shit is like a sedative
I watch the news and stay thankful for how I live
So why the hell can't I help this man
With the nerve to approach me with an empty hand
Put some money in them little envelopes for charity
It could be me in 5 years clinging on to sanity
The only truths that there is no truth
So don't judge me and I wont judge you
Im only here cos Im tryin to get out
Im only certain that Im living in doubt
Weak minds can't advance
But I'll jump for the money given half the chance
Cos no matter how good you get, you get dragged down
Big competition and I wanna opt-out
Wanna be where I m rich if my pockets in drought
Not running through life with the silent movie shout
And give to the needy cos society is wicked
But Im still Braintax saving for a plane ticket
I have to make a point, don't like it ? stick it
We all live selfish lives, come on admit it
And our morals catch twists talking plastic chat we live swish
Fat cats trying to feast on fish..
Im only here cos Im tryin to get out
Im only certain that Im living in doubt
Braintax:
Im stood waiting, waiting for this girl to appear
Its been 40 minutes and Im still here
The last trains due and that's just like you
Im in the station - hard, concrete fridge
By this pieced-up bridge
Shes always f#@*^n late and doesnt't't't even see the pisstake
Been 2 years and Im still living in my first mistake
Im standing here with a stray frost bitin
And December air stinging my nose
My grip tightens on my stone hands
See, I know she isn't with another man
She just takes her time because she really doesnt't't't give a damn
And when she's finally here she's all smiling
No apology, I could have been chillin on my island
But how am I ? You don't know cos you don't even care to ask
Arrogant, assuming that Im happy and were gonna last
And fail to see the way you mess with my head
I feel to dis you - call out my exs name in bed
Now, defeat you or attack you ? Do neither I play statue
For every wise response, a sly remark, I can't match you
Cos logics out the widow and reasons out the door
Im looking hard at it like tracks by Main Source
Of course Im vexed, you say I want you for [what !?]
Were going nowhere, moving round in circles, jogging on the spot
Its all so familiar now but back then
You were bringing up things I said way back when
Flashing all the right smiles trying to twist my friends
Why is the way you act so irrational ?
Its like talking to a brick wall about the price of cement
Demented ways of acting that defy all sense
Not your time of the month it's just your time to waste time
Letting off steam, breaking shit, trying to rip my rhymes
Put the pad down slowly please take a step back
And don't even think about going for the multi-track
You got a temper like Flashman, bully-styles late night
My mum and dad are in the next room, stay quiet
You give me more shit than teachers did
You need to smoke some of this and calm down quick
Arguings an option but there's got to be a reason
And by the way, I don't respond to blackmail either
See Im a true believer in some self-respect
And Im about to call your bluff if you're threatenin to jet
I can't stand slanging matches, I retreat into my shell
Only cos you wont listen while you're giving me hell
Id like to call an analyst or just record the conversation
Just to make you listen to it and point out the contradictions
Im tired of listenin, you can't believe Im faithful
Youre pissed off cos Im not eternally grateful
Youre the funny type, then again, similar to many of my friends
Same shit, different girl, time and again
The same hassles, the same game and the same end
The same blend, the best ever when it's time for bends
A firework, ready for war with me
But Im just tryin to write a rhyme right now and drink my tea
Why you startin on me ?
See, I was thinking we were team-mates
And don't be tryin to tell me that it's over cos you're too late..
Im not psychic
"You can't see us... BUT YOU CAN FEEL US... " [Colin Emmanuel on the decks]
"So you listen to me. Listen to me!
Television is not the truth
Don't you want the truth?
Go to your gurus, go to your shells!
Because that's the only place you're ever gonna find any real drama! "
[Verse 1:]
Kissing you already, Matty seen with blonde
Show guru buys hammer movies and goes on
(Farewell) close to tears at the final curtain
(Woops) God [? ] already, adverse [? ] find Matty
One million for topping foes
Sidebanks in TV, plead to Spanish, she vanish
Turn the page over, British brain overload
Killing [? ], rape case, church, falls asleep - here's your cell
Not quite the Paris Hilton steeze [? ]
Terror swoop, that's 2 wives in one house up for
Mortgages, mortgages, property feature
Loyalist shamed [? ] perve, catch that creature!
It's a whole load of gossip
Called up against two strikers, Henry's lost it - I don't care
15 years for bank gang - I don't care
I Guess I should care, but really - I don't care!
My immediate media's music
The media hype might mess with my music
My e-media media's music/media/hype might mess with my mentality
TV biz, any jive will do
There's love in the mud for Tara, there's a land you'll ever store near YOU
[Hook: x4]
"You can't see us.
But you can feel us."
[Verse 2:]
I'm like an underground news channel
Most music out is just an ad break, from real-made [? ]
A hodgepodge of consuming, non-thinking parasites
Comparable with Channel 5, coming out your satellite
A sad state of affairs, lots of people in the world un-aware
People say it doesn't matter, I'm like "Yeah."
It's kinda like a crime indeed
The stuff TV producers ignore and what they feed us instead...
It's all celebs and what they doing in bed
They could be making people think instead
Just to sit back and hold up your hands is no excuse
Feed us brain-dead crap - it's turning(?) our mouth to abuse
They say "What about the ratings? " (I say "What about morality? ")
They say "I'm tryna keep my job" (I say "Check your mentality")
So concerned with a move up the ladder
Where your salary and your life is all that really matters
A career in the media, a nation in tatters
From your fierce bred [? ] and trivia, and tabloid patter
You beleive what they can 'til you give em a change
Checking the range of channels man, it's funny and strange
You got a whole load of choice (Really nothing is on)
The content of these papers (Man something is wrong)
It's no coincidence white vanman in middle England
They're talking about immigrants tits and peodophilia
While steady killing the world, not recycling
The agenda that the media's setting is kinda frightning
And no one got done over [? ]
But they don't put it on the front page, I guess it's really not surprising
My rage is far from staged like Big Brother
I'm the real reality - put Joey Brains on your cover
Braintax:
We lost touch, wish I didn't think so much
What we hads now faded way beyond my clutch
Drifted off with the wind, warm breeze through big streets
Summer time in the city but I feel weak
The airs thick round Oxford St., fountains running by Centre Point
Where we used to meet
Its all changed now since they paved the roads
And closed the area to traffic cos when bombs explode -
Cars cause havoc
Meanwhile, in the area around Piccadilly where I first caught malaria
For 5 years we felt the temperature soar
Caught a stale water droplet off a roof on my bottom lip
You can feel the air thick around your body
The sun looks hazy, enough to drive me crazy
Stop! Wait! Somebody quick I feel sick
There's poison in the air you need to get me fixed up
No food or drink please, I'll only sick it up
No credit down the oxygen shop, I'll have to stick it up!
There's something not quite right though
Politicians let it go and let it grow, now the fog glows
Kinda eerie, the tourist trade dried up,
The Japanese are home all wired-up - virtual holidays
So why the f#@k dyou want to come here ?
Its 2052 you could put a headset on and disappear
Who me? Im just passing,
Paying homage to my loved ones who were struck down in action
Like Lee and Lisa who were hi-tech geniuses
They robbed banks to fund the rallies for air rights
Sabotaged the building of the London Roof
Lee fell from a crane and maimed Lisa on the way down
Freefall, screaming their slogan - Tear the roof off !
They scraped up the bodies for whatever that was proof off
Its like The Day of the Triffids, the day the virus took a grip
Worse than AIDS, reminiscent of the plague in 26
And still throughout the city I can feel the devastation
Headed to the airport, beggars at the train station
Cant accost me, they can't see me just my reflection
I scare souls setting off the sniffer dogs
Messin up the x-ray detection I move unseen
Untouchable spectre still I feel unclean
Shanty towns fly by like spots of colour
Corrugated iron makes a comeback this summer
Heathrow looks grim, fields of tents
And families who can't remember if they came or went
Hold my heaven-breath here cos I smell the scent
H2O changed formula and floods the gents in terminal 4
I pick through the mouldy floor
Ive seen enough here, going on my global tour
So my plane takes off from the sickly smoke
Its just me, other ghosts and bunch of rich folk
On the last flight, heading off to die in peace
And see sunshine, I guess well all soon meet
As the air pressure changed I could feel the sense
Of the water on my neck dripping down through the vents
I feel strange - somethings wrong here!
Acid rain, cold as ice, see me slumped in the seat
Braintax:
You know Im moving on a positive course
In the future plan to have a 100 acres of sorts
On my ranch in France, barbecues in the summer
Cash Moneys on the decks cuttin up Funky Drummer
My kids run around freestylin with their friends
Me and my girl plus my friends and their wives get the bends
Smoking prime marijuana picked straight off the stem
Breaking competition and my son scores a 10
Everybody to the lake at the top of the estate
Lifes great! Me and my Brazilian mate Joselito
Bought a crate of the finest live bait
So we push out the boats, just an hour to wait
Fresh skate on the barbi everybody congregate
Fresh fish that's my favourite dish, pass your plate
Cos tonight we watch the sunset contented
Everybody saying Peace and I know that they meant it
Ill leave my spirit in the garden like Marlon
And bury me up in the orchard but leave at least a yard on
Ill be growing still, absorbing knowledge at a crazy rate
Analyse the soil contemplating on my lazy state
Yeah Im chillin down here with the worms
Now Im gone though, I don't have to worry about germs
Im spreading out my carbon giving back to life
Spreading heat through the ground to my kids and wife
Its not the afterlife, it's just the way we still affect
Piece of pie, peace of mind plus a helping of respect
Focus on the wide sky, white wine
Rising early with the sun and watch the stars all night
Yeah the futures bright
The futures Resting On Your Godly Breath - Inner Vision
(Rainbow) that's if you get my drift
I feel my sense like Im sitting with my son on a cliff
Watch the sunset and face the wind smoking a spliff
Peace like the time you wake up and you can lie there
And feel well-balanced irrespective of the nightmare
Todays another day kinda like the other 6
Weetabix..check my emails.
J Christie soundscapes, you fill in the details
My thoughts spark pre-sales
Im trying to get off this rock before the sea swells
My peace gels better everyday if I save
But if I spend it all at once heading for an early grave give me..
Saturday afternoon, (Retail!)
Two for one, (Retail!) Three for five
[Verse 1:]
We go Tesco, Virgin, Argos, Asda
Monday to Sunday and all days after
What you take me for, I'm like you
Down brain cross looking for a pair of shoes
Got caught up in, causual shopping
Get dragged in by the tele I'm watching
Get dragged in by the lights of the circus
That make me want shit accidently on purpose
We go Tesco, HMV then Asda
This guy down my street bought a brand new Mazda
I went down to lake side to buy some car accessories
Woman pulled out of the car park too quick, hit him!
Ohh what a mess it is, guess she was distracted by the effing kids
Fighting in the back seat, (why?) All the toys they've got
What a stress it is, all for a day at the shops
[Chorus: x2]
It goes (Retail!)
Everybody shop 'til you drop
There's so much stuff to buy
There's so much stuff to purchase and probably it's all worthless
Modern-day churching circus
[Verse 2:]
My local shops went bust
Cause of high street chains, big names and such
Fifty years in the game, I grow sudduct
British cities all look the same - and that sucks
Got Dixons, Tesco, even Star Bucks
Golden Arches - but I don't eat that muck
What the harm is, do you really have to act?
Promoting broccoli to kids now a thankless task(?)
Or where the farm is, sheep with a blue tongue mask
A sad reflection of their fate, check the suicide rate
In the country farmers can't live like before
Ain't free-trade great? Buy it all from abroad
[Chorus:]
We go Iceland, Waitrose, Marks and Sparks
Colour in some mean? numbers 'til they glow in the dark
I read small print and leave with zilch
Tryna do my weekly shopping, coming out with just milk
("oooo... we all night shopping by baby! "...)
("oooo... we all night shopping by baby! "...)
[Verse 3:]
We go Primark, Jigsaw, Zara?, Topshop
Cheap shit by the crate shipped out of job lock?
Straight out the sweat shop
She wanna be like Posh - but you'll be lucky if it lasts three washes
I follwed so many girls around stores
Nowadays I just wait and find a seat by the door
It's boring boring... why you asking me?
I don't have an opinion - we've been here since three
How many more ten quid tops do ya need?
Is it down to the mags you read?
Is it down to the fact it's a weeeekend
And all week we work, get the wages then we - spend
My brain hurts, there's so much stuff
And no matter how much it's never enough
Let the planet heat up, don't think it won't
Matter of fact - you ain't gonna need that coat
Down at PC World, should I wait?
Any appliance I buy next year, it will be slow and out of date
Just after the warranty my flippin iPod broke
Shopaholiks raise your hands and take note
[Chorus:]
Retail! Everybody shop 'til you drop
There's too much stuff to buy
There's so much stuff to purchase and probably it's all worthless
Modern-day churching service
Retail! Everybody shop 'til you drop
There's too much stuff to buy
There's so much stuff to buy
There's so much stuff to buy
Braintax:
Its like a long walk to China trying tio reach these heads
See the world around your body makes you stay brain-dead
Standing round in sick traffic just inhaling some lead
Im in a phonebox breathing up a strangers breath
No change left, I fed my last gold Queens head
Youre busy now is all the message said
Let me leave you, let your brain cook
Mobile, you're agile but still hearing cancer rays till you're off the hook
My mind state stays steady taking shelter in a hut
On a mountain side ready for the wind and the rut
I see a storm blow past with economic avalanche
There's trails of rich, fat nations trying to cling to every branch
Me Im playing mind-chess then monopoly with stress
Playing snap by the log fire with thoughts of death
Got a years supply of Bics, hiding out in deep sticks
Ill emerge in 20 years when there's no cash left
But for now Im back to basics, spilling out raps
Freestyling in the snow while Im laying squirrel traps
Its survival but really none of us could pull it off
Just filling up the silence with my fresh-air cough
See I got the theory locked but now Im losing my mind
Cos the poisons in my blood are trying to make it to the outside
Outside: money and cars and more waste
De-tox, Im displaced fighting craving for that city taste
And like I said, Im all in it like on Life Thru Life
Paranoia strikes creeping out the forest at night
I like to sit back, holed-up, sharpen my knife
Learning all about myself but Im missing the hype
Its survival, the helicopter left me with a rifle
But it rusted up, now Im on the snow and berry trifle
I sing aloud in my hideout cos no-one can hear me
And natures looking bigger and it doesnt't't't fear me
Or any of my city ways
Haven't said a word for one month,
Hear my snow boots crunch through the wasteland
This could be a parallel to city-scapes
Where tree towers overpower and isolate many souls
Natures like a friend until they turn cold
And icy looks are icebergs on my tent poles
The Imax is now live from the Arctic
You can call me Braintax now my verbal films started
Reindeer in target on the hill by the tree-line
I move quick, this reminds me of the free-line
Its simple, hunt and gather rules still apply
But we never turn to greed and deaths a catalyst to life
[talking: man]
... to face the fact
That in a democratic country, we are responsible for what our government's do
And the only way we can expiate that responsibility is to
Use every breath we have, everything we can do
To demonstrate our utter rejection of the criminal acts of our government's
[Verse 1:]
Apartheid on West Bank - nobody cares
Shots coming from the left flank, the kids unaware
Refugee camps a death camp, live by the flares
I'm here to treat me like I got opinions nobody shares?
My politics is more than just 'fuck Tony Blair'
Gordon Brown, David Cameron, that's why I'm still standing
I'm more inclined to expose Israel to their apartheid
Bring on your excuses, the truth is you can't hide
Even when our politicians in the West act righteous and piest
Doing what they do best - start talking all about road maps and shit
While Israelis are busy busting caps and shit
Got the bulldozers out and constructing shit
This place another farmer but that land is his
When Hamas fired rockets Israel rebounds
Kills five times more, locks the checkpoints down
How the fuck you putting checkpoints there to start with?
When that land's Palistinian, it's known and it's chartered
Collective punishment, they dish it out daily
So I hate Israel but I don't hate Israelis
Do you get that? Think a little bit before you get pissed
And is it any wonder Gaza kids adopt a death wish
And don't beleive that being Jewish is the same as being pro-Zionist
That's a Zionist game to make you think cussing Israel's a racist view
I don't think so, but I'll tell you what racists do
To make you think that other people's are stupid and mean
And get to killing 'em - Like Sharon did in Geneve
Start provoking 'em - Like Sharon did at Temple Mount
Same way Bush is always calling Muslims out
Same way the Home Office over here is always calling minorities out
Calling you racists out
Fuck some 'baby baby' shit, some 'get go fuck a bitch' gravy gravy shit
BRAINTAX GAVE YOU THIS
You wanna be like "I was too serious"
I'll say stay ignorant and I'll stay curious
[Chorus:]
Ask the rest of the world - The beast is us
Wanna buy another weapon - The beast is us
Wanna get away with murder - The beast is us
We're the West and the beast is us
Ask the rest of the planet - The beast is us
Want to buy another missile - The beast is us
Yesteryear we trust bombs from Russia with love
But nowadays I guess the beast is us (The beast is us)
[Verse 2:]
Short memories allay [? ]
Spit 'bout crimes we forget for the sake of our own little tragedy's
Incidental maladies
Irrelivant like a fucking Akon balladist
The biggest shame of this society we live in
While we act all spiritual when we're money driven
It's the way we forget in a hell of a rush
Like 'If it ain't affecting me then I ain't too fussed'
Then there's bombs on the street and us Brits get shaky
But how can we be shot - Check our leadership lately?
They're rattling to save us, talking 'bout Jesus
Fundementalist believers acting like crusaders
Memories are short over here
The zeitgeist is a truck that the media steer
So we ain't on the streets protesting - We're stuck in front of TV sex digesting
Forgetting about the lies and the unfound weapons
Suggestions, the questions we should be asking journalists a second
I'm (BRAAAIIIIN) taxing - the opposite of asprin
Blood is on the streets and the East End soaking it up
Bush making me a target - and I'm not too pleased
There's no peace when the beast is us
[Chorus]
[talking: woman]
... We see other families in the area suffer very heavy casualties
Perhaps 160 wounded were taken to Gaza City Shifa Hospital last night
There are more than two dozen still in hospital
Head wounds, fractures, burns from flying pieces of metal
Among them are many children
The very high civillian casualty toll from the assasination attempt
Has really fuelled the fire of revenge here
People are saying that Hamas is retaliatory
That strike against Israel is inevitable now
Ahhhh yeahhhh, hocus pocus
Open sesame... Abra Kadabra... And all that shit
[Verse 1:]
You know we got to put a lead in it
Braintax putting Leeds in it
Made another album and it sounds so good
C.E. coming through like you wishing you could
And I'm the game keeper leading you all through the woods
All good? Nah I'm better than that
You can't figure my rap, you figure me out - and then you might figure to clap
Understand what I'm saying from the start
And if you do not know what I'm saying, start again from the start
I remain, don't forget it
I wrote it, you read it
Emcees are off the hook - no credit
Call a medic (huuuuuh!)
I got that Northern tinge
I used to rep the underground but nowadays it's fringe
Wait I'm jokin! Now Colin put the lead in
Braintax in the booth definitely weeding (da dit... da dit dit...)
[Chorus:]
It goes last is best, and my best is last
So I quit while I'm ahead, now consider me the past
See finishing ahead has got style and grace
I got accolades for ("Mic brains... check
Check? What the heck are you talking about? ")
[Verse 2:]
And yeah we had to put the funk in it, the most necessary additive
Money motivates, proving points is the catalyst (Joey!)
Mr Brains with Emmanuel, came with more than beats and loops
Like [? ] and Miralles taking over modern guns and booths
Winning hearts with my ideas and I'm staying aloof
I can't be bothered with some paranoid petty squabbles
Why do you think I even care though? The mind boggles
The new, the new 20, yeah it's true
Didn't feel like an adult 'til I hit 32
So play catch up, I watch the markets, seen the dollar slide
You better change up your change, it's so 005!
I'm so 008 or is it 009
They say don't say the years, that's how you transcend time
I transcend mind by making classic shit
Heads keep asking for the HITS like passifists
What the fuck am I then, asterix!?
Popeye on the track with a tin of spinage
Magnum on crack, Lewis Hamilton on speed to the finish? ha
I play no brains, I set minds free
Freebanging albums remind me
[Scratches/Samples from Biro Funk {Colin Emmanuel on the decks}:]
"It's like a long walk to China tryna reach these heads"...
[Chorus:]
It goes last is best, and my best is last
So I quit while I'm ahead, now consider me the past
See finishing ahead has got style and grace
I got accolades for days, fuck collapsing in the race
It goes last is best, and my best is last
So I quit while I'm ahead, now consider me the past
See finishing ahead has got style and grace
I got accolades for days, fuck collapsing in the race
Braintax:
From the furthest point East to the wildest West
Powers travelled round the planet on a bloody conquest
European kings and priests with omnipotence
Soldiers freakin out in foreign lands killing citizens
And worse still spreading germs and plagues
Now is so much a result of those bad old days
From the town hall, to inner-city architecture
From the money in Surrey to sweatshops up in Leicester
Casino alcholics in the Mid-West,
Junkies in Brazil feel the effects of mass death
The urge to learn killed by a greed for piles of gold
And churches justifying lives being sold
Though the culprits change, control rarely shifts
Only China comes close to even f#@*^!g with this
This world we call Earth and the system I dis
A lifestyle full of work where we barely exist
Look at Chile now - decimated native populations held down
The rich, white powers holding on
With British backing like Malaysias arms buying
The same gangs running the show
And Im trying to see through this and not become a lone hitman
Out to kill that bitch Maggie Thatcher with a sick plan
Sick bitch, supporting Pinochet in extradition
On telly, she put my brain into a strange position
So do you come to terms with devilish ways?
Or do you try to escape, run away or start to pray ?
I try to think about the positive things
One Love, no queen, one god, no king
I wish I had the will to fight back
Be at the World Trade Centre all dressed in black
Me and an angry pack
Instead I just rap and give back
And see a rich life and think..I still want to live that
Its so subtle how they muddle us
Now life is so complex we let the small things trouble us
And revolution ? Forget that for the one fact
We don't have the arms to even try to compete
Its even easier to keep your head down and stay asleep
And while you're lying there counting see your face in them sheep
And that's deep but not as deep as losing a child,
Seeing his teeth crushed by the rifle butt by your village hut
Pure grief, thanks to far away beef
Fried in messed-up religion half-baked in belief
So I wont stop rappimg till you get my drift
That were held in the Grip getting sorely dissed
Capitalists are we, we pretend were not
Buying better trainers each year, connecting dots
We go from first job to next job, to mortgage to kids
Make it harder to be happy 9-to-5in to live
Me Im striving to give but I'll hustle like mad
Just to get ahead in life
I need money so bad, yeah Im pissed now
So do you get my gist now ?
If hell existed, half the worlds already in the lift down..