Estelle 1980 Lyrics

[Verse 1 : Estelle]

I grew up in the 1980's
In a 4-bedroom house
My family, my Grandma,
3 or 4 Aunties
Uncles and Brothers
In and out of prison daily
At certain times when there was no heat
We stay under covers
There was life like u never seen
Grandma taking extra people in
Come dinner time It was tippin' 18
Boil a big pot of water on the stove to take a bath
Rub my face with Olive Oil
All my mates used to laugh
All my Cousin's moved out
We all got divided
As i started to get older I seen God providing
I've seen £50 last 3 months solid
I got my first pair of nikes we were still eating porridge
Me and my cousin used to play Mel & Kim
Practising dancin'
Coming down the stairs and ting
I touched Africa and came back darker
Knowing myself
Feeling my roots a little bit harder

[Chorus]2x

1980 year that God made me
89 I started to get by
99 I started to write rhymes
Walk with me reminice my life

[Verse 2 : Estelle]

So then we moved up
I thought I was the Fresh Prince
Dynasty was re-runs and Dallas was faded
With 3 beds this time and 6 kids
we got a doggy that dog loved to s___
My brother got his first pair of LA Gears
He thought they were to take pictures of instead of wear
I started hanging out and my jeans got tighter
My weird neighbours set their own house on fire
Church was All day every day and every week
That's where i learned how to sing
Hearing that pastor Preach
Benediction was all we went for
So we could run home and play connect 4
Mum worked late and we learnt to cook
Rice peas chicken and stew pea soup
In the room watching Kung-Fu films
And Cleopatra Jones
Wishing we were cosby kids and the match stick girls.

[Chorus]2x

[Verse 3 : Estelle]

The man downstairs was dead for 3 weeks
His own cat started eating him
The house starts to wreak
That's when we moved out
And our house was bigger
We had a large garage and the attic was killer
We used to pray for 3 hours in the mornin'
Sitting on the school bus
Believe we was yawning
All our hair was stuck down to our foreheads
Jam curls, splits, dorags and pin curls yes
s__y boys walking round showing interest
In what i don't know coz we all had flat chests
Don't think we never mastered the Kid n Play steps
Doowop for days in the bogle yep
But this is just the beginning of my life right,
9 kids a house and one life time
Yo, the beginning of my life right
9 kids a house in one life time

[Chorus]x2