I just had to do another Jehst track. I was looking at a lyrics database and just read the lyrics of this particular track without listening to the song first, and I was impressed with the way it was written and intrigued as to how he flowed it. The tracks is China Shop Taurus from Falling Down, one of his first albums. When I listened to it and read along it was even better (of course) and I loved how laid back the beat was but how energetic it made me feel at the same time, very inspiring!
Here is the video followed by the lyrics (the video is not the best quality and lyrics are courtesy of contributors at UKHH) I strongly recommend you listen and read at the same time to get the most out of it!
The sun sets over cityscape silhouettes
Bright lights flicker
Cigarette smoke pirouettes
It’s the addictive kiss of death in effect
I’m a little stressed
Spittin liquor breath introspect
Hot like triple X
Getting lost in the mixing desk
Sweat glistens like glitter-balls reflect
Recollect on the dreamscape
Escape the freebase infested police state
Teenage protesters riot in the heatwave
Fire in the streets
Place bets on the sweepstakes
Check how the greed shapes their mindsets
The beast clockin like Timex
Flexin their biceps
[CHORUS]
There’s nothin out here for us
Negative forces force us to live lawless
And spit rawness
I’m like a china shop Taurus
I talk of torment
And pen chorus after chorus
BNP berserkers bent on murders
Teens taggin for a sense of purpose
Streets is tense and nervous
So bait it’s bound to tempt the serpent’s appetite
Parasite paradise
Po-lice patronise
Lappin up a pack of lies
Macho guys
Turn hermaphrodite by candlelight
Still they wanna scandalise mine
Cos I spit rhyme
I’m tryin’ to scrape the paper and escape
Quick-time
Get yours
Utilise your get out clause
Outlaws on course for the great outdoors
I’m way out like Cheech Wizard
Keepin’ warm in the winter blizzard
Bangin’ my head like Lynard Skynard
I’m havin nightmares
I’m naked in my groundfloor flat
Grippin a baseball bat
With the backdoor open to night-time predators
Crack heads high like heaven gone wrong
Watchin’ back street revellers
Revelation of the devil’s messed up messengers
Sin is effortless
Yet effecting us
In fact infecting us with disease
Beast inspecting
Expecting us to mess up
Muck up
Leave you bruck up
You ll get beaten the fuck up and cuffed
Some even got snuffed
Others live on to puff another bag
And brag how they’re mad tough
Man I’ve had enough
There’s nothin out here for non of us
[CHORUS]
Post-modernist
Pre-apocalypse
Livin in this rotten metropolis
Existing with broken homes hearts and promises
Park bench politics
Soapbox soap-bar smokers acknowledge this novelist
The broke pocket economist
On a mission
Fists clenched for the opposition
Sittin tight like Taliban in Tora Bora
The last stand
Now we’re livin in the land of the lost
And the age of Sodom and Gomorra
Divide and conquer
You re blocked by the border
Locked by the law and order
The war reporter walks streets
As the cycle of suicidal thoughts repeats
In the minds of the poor and meek
A meat market of morbid freaks
And freebase heads speak to inform the beast
A bleak picture
The cycle of war and peace is crazy vulgar
Sick as the kids that killed Damilola Taylor
And Jamie Bulger
My heart broken open and beating slower
The cold-blooded grow even colder
In a globe so rotten
Like teeth in cola
No hope of mending
A culture of violent endings pending
Our pens become government scapegoats
But no guns bust at my stage show
So yo it’s like…
[CHORUS]
“The sun sets over cityscape silhouettes
Bright lights flicker
Cigarette smoke pirouettes
It’s the addictive kiss of death in effect”
Here is the beginning and the first line already sets the scene, and that is an urban scene. And it is not represented as an elegant city, because lights are flickering and people are smoking! Pirouettes, as far as I know, is a particular ballet dance move where the performer spins in a perfect circle without moving from position (you should know what I am talking about, we see it in movies all the time). How cheerful! (/sarcasm).
“I’m a little stressed
Spittin liquor breath introspect
Hot like triple X
Getting lost in the mixing desk
Sweat glistens like glitter-balls reflect”
And he places himself in the midst of the scene. Stress; alcohol seems to be a way to deal with it but also doing his thing on the mixing desk (remember he is a music producer too) as a form of escapism.
“Recollect on the dreamscape
Escape the freebase infested police state
Teenage protesters riot in the heatwave
Fire in the streets”
As Canibus once said “The dream-state is the playground of the supreme” 
. “Police state” or “Big brother” state is another word used for one of the countries that has a high concentration of CCTV cameras. Teenage protestors and rioting (I can relate that to the recent anti-fees campaign) can either be showing his support for youth movements, or jesting and making fun of the youth stereotype in the media; take yer pick.
“Check how the greed shapes their mindsets
The beast clockin like Timex
Flexin their biceps”
The beast was mainly a biblical reference to the anti-christ in the book of Revelations (correct me if I am wrong) but now it is also used to label the current capitalist system which rules the world. Notice how he refers to the beast as a collective as in their biceps not his/her biceps.
The chorus reminds me of one quote: If you make peaceful protest impossible, you will make violent revolution inevitable. What does it remind you of?
“BNP berserkers bent on murders
Teens taggin for a sense of purpose
Streets is tense and nervous
So bait it’s bound to tempt the serpent’s appetite”
BNP as berserkers; I don’t think he likes them much. Teens looking for a sense of purpose may be referring to the problems that some have with their personal identity, especially if they find it difficult to relate to their parents or culture. And we also have another biblical reference; for those of you who haven’t even heard of the Genesis creation story, Satan is referred to as a serpent there. Metaphorically speaking, the worst of us can come out in chaotic times.
“Parasite paradise
Po-lice patronise
Lappin up a pack of lies
Macho guys
Turn hermaphrodite by candlelight”
Parasites and “po-lice”; clever, no? And instead of simply mentioning hypocrisy, Jehst would rather make a clever rhyme and say that Macho guys turn hermaphrodite by candlelight (meaning private lives of course), not that he has anything against hermaphrodytes in particular, just anyone who pretends to be what they are not inside, I guess he just dislikes hypocrites from all walks of life.
“Bangin’ my head like Lynard Skynyrd
I’m havin nightmares
I’m naked in my groundfloor flat
Grippin a baseball bat
With the backdoor open to night-time predators”
The image of Jehst being naked in some flat with a baseball bat looking this way and that made me chuckle, but on a serious note that is one way to reflect the hectic and unpredictable life that some may endure (or enjoy, it depends). A quick search revealed that Lynard Skynyrd is a famous rock band that was formed in the 1960s. Being a rock band they are likely to be banging their heads, so using them as a metaphor is suitable…lovely! (Jehst may also be a fan of this band, would be interesting to find out).
“Revelation of the devil’s messed up messengers
Sin is effortless
Yet effecting us
In fact infecting us with disease
Beast inspecting
Expecting us to mess up
Muck up
Leave you bruck up
You ll get beaten the fuck up and cuffed”
More beasts, devils and sins! Mind, it doesn’t mean that he is a devout christian. Like other artists he recognises the potency of using such metaphors. This part sounds almost like some prick watching you until you make a mistake just so they have the pleasure to beat you and cuff you. Kind of like the quota system prevalent in Police in the USA, check it out.
“Livin in this rotten metropolis”
What did I say in the beginning of this? The city is represented negatively, and here it is,more obvious this time.
“Sittin tight like Taliban in Tora Bora“
Yeah, erm, they do have the tendency to be controversial these aritsts! This is the equivalent of someone slapping you so you pay attention, well it was like that for me. Tora Bora is an area in Afghanistan which basically is a cave complex. A battle took there in 2001 shortly after 9/11. The CIA (Central (lack) of Intelligence Agnecy) thought that Osama Bin Laden may have been there, but he wasn’t (surprise!). Anyway that important part is that it was a long and hard battle…
“Sick as the kids that killed Damilola Taylor
And Jamie Bulger“
Two horrific murders used as a metaphor to describe the nature of war. I remember reading about the Jamie Bulger case before (may they rest in peace). It really shocked readers/viewers/listeners all around Britain, making this connection of shock to wars that are happening countries away is a really good tactic.
“Our pens become government scapegoats
But no guns bust at my stage show”
A lot of people do blame mainstream/commercial rap for a lot of society’s problems because…well if you watch a video it will be obvious. Encouragement of violence, selfish materialism, drug use and even abuse can make strong impressions on young children. But Jehst excludes himself from this, there are no guns at his stage show unlike those wannabe Gs flashing their toys.
