Jamie J

Hard on the Roadside

Yeah from the positive
The hood is where we gotta live
It’s getting crazy in the ends of Whitley
And I can’t believe I lost my best friend Lee
And yeah trust me there’s plenty more
How about when he used to live right next door
He was the kinda man you couldn’t ignore
In my mind every time
I talk about it I get a chill right down my spine
And I didn’t expect to write this rhyme
And I hope it gets to your heart before your spine
And it broke my heart ripped into 2
This goes to Lee this goes to Dermott too, missin you.

Yo – rest in peace Lee, rest in peace Junior, rest in peace Dermott
Look – I’m not the Preacher I won’t be sayin it twice
But these guns and shit they be takin your lives
In your arms house because you waving a knife
At the end of the day you be payin the price
And now I’m old I got the Lord to take hold of me
He needs to bless in me I need to be the best in me
When Lee died he took half and Junior took the rest of me
It just ain’t sinkin in, and when I hit my pillow at night
That’s when I think of them, think of them, reminiscin
And when I pray at night I hope that you’re listenin
Man I’m so upset I’ve got to mask my face
I’ve got my eyes shut when I walk past the place
To your Family, they gotta stay strong fam
It’s not just about rollin round in a strong gang
I say to God every day you took the wrong man.
Yeah - that’s all my rap bars man.

These lines, also from Jamie, describe three friends of his who have died, Dermott in a car accident and Junior and Lee in stabbing incidents.

‘Lee was my next door neighbour, and he died like 21. I was only 14, 15 and I used to look up to him. He got into some trouble with this boy, started fighting, got rushed to the hospital. We thought he was going to be all right. Everyone came to my house innit. I was sleepin, everyone came in crying, saying Lee’s dead, Lee’s dead. . .

‘Dermott wasn’t drivin he was in the passenger. They was drivin around these country roads, and the car just flipped, kept flippin. He must have come out the car window. People were allowed to go in and see him, but I didn’t want to go in. They were comin out sayin his face was swollen up like a balloon. It just wasn’t him.

‘He was a good person. All three of them people that I’m talking about, they were all good people. They didn’t deserve to go the way that they did. That’s why people need to buck up their ideas man.’