(♪ GENTLE FUNK)
(PLAYGROUND CHATTER)
BOY: Are you trying to defend, as well?
Whoa! Come on!
I won, I won, I won!
(RAP) ♪ We had to move We had to fend
♪ We had to choose again and again
♪ Ugh We're rising lots but it's not the top
♪ And it's getting me pressed
♪ The pavements are cold It's stress
♪ And I'm slavin' till I see us bless
♪ Cah back then when the green was tense
♪ I'd stretch a fiver, tryna make it ten
♪ I don't sit on the fence, that's dead
♪ Instead, I'll pick a side and back it
♪ I'd rather walk alone than walk with dem man
♪ They can't hack it
♪ See my bredrin, know I'm safe
♪ And likewise, I know they're the same
♪ I'll take beef off my buddy's plate... ♪
– Wha' gwan, you man? – Wha' gwan, Reeks? What ya tellin' me?
Man like A1, you know. See the new jacket and that?
– Yeah. This is hard still! – Love for that, bro!
Ay, please tell me you saw that video last night on Snap?
I did, you know. Bro, my man got pressured differently!
Bro, did you see the size of that Z-K?
How did the man even walk around with a ting that big?
– (ALL LAUGH) – Are you listening, though?
What you sayin', SK?
We're linking those tings from last week, bro.
One of them was even on you!
What are you saying? You coming?
Can't, bro. Man's got one ting from Snap already.
Eh, show me.
Oh, it's killing me, bruv.
She must have sent man a couple of nudes, you get me?
Forget that meady ting, bro. She is clapped I lie!
(LAUGHTER)
Reeks is buggin', bro.
You man are mocking it, fam.
Eh come, let's cut fam.
(CHATTER)
(BELL RINGS)
Reeks, hear what I'm saying, yeah.
You may as well roll with us, allow that dead ting, bro.
Can't, bro. You man go, innit.
– I'll tell you about my ting tomorrow. – Yeah?
Say nuttin, my boy, in a bit.
Man dem come we out.
(♪ UK RAP)
(♪ CLASSICAL)
Mm.
My precious son.
How are you, darling?
I'm very well, thank you, Mother.
– Hello, son. How was your day? – Oh, I had a wonderful day, Father.
Splendid. Just so you know,
your mother and I will be leaving early in the morning.
So here's some money to tide you over.
But, Father, I still have money left over from the £50 you gave me yesterday.
Well, all the more for you then, son. (LAUGHS)
Thank you, Father.
Do you know if Esther's home?
Yes, she is. I believe she's in the billiards room.
Great, must dash.
If it isn't the want-to-be gangster!
At least I have friends, you loner.
I would rather be a loner than resort to falsehood in order to be accepted.
When those boys find out who and what you really are,
I would not like to be you.
– That's all I'm saying. – They won't find out.
They can't find out.
I like being with them. I feel good, I feel alive.
Yes, but that's not who you are, or how you were brought up.
We have all that we could ever want.
But it's not like that for everyone.
We live completely different lives. Our worlds do not mix, they collide.
I know, I know.
But I so crave to be like them,
and not live in this nice house and have all these things.
It doesn't feel right.
What doesn't feel right is you pretending to be somebody that you're not.
All right, please. (SIGHS)
I'm finding all of this very hard as it is.
It takes a lot of my energy.
And to be honest, I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this.
Just tell them, Richard, before it's too late.
(HE SIGHS)
I can't, Esther.
I just can't.
Yo. You got the time?
Yeah. It's 1:30 still.
Yeah. Calm, calm. What phone you got?
I don't have a phone.
You don't have a phone? You're wearing a smartwatch.
Run the phone, fam.
Run the phone, fam! Hurry up.
(TENSE MUSIC)
(MUSIC FADES)
(UNSETTLING TONE PLAYS)
Cut, innit.
(♪ UK RAP)
Literally!
Ay, Reeks.
I swear I see you in a big whip the other day.
What? Nah, fam, not me.
We stained one yute the other day
and I could have swore I see you in a beamer, you know.
Nah. My dad drives a dinger, bro. It couldn't have been me.
– Say mum's. – Mum's life, bro.
Bro, furthermore,
why do you always get a different bus to us, man?
I thought you lived in the ends?
No, I live a bit further out still.
Hear what I'm sayin'.
Us men are out here tonight. What, you on it?
I can't, Bro. I gotta do something for my mum.
He's always busy.
Man are out here, but you're always ghosting.
It's true, bro.
It's not that deep. I'm just busy, innit?
Allow it, you man. If man's not allowed out
and has to do chores for his mummy, leave him, innit!
(LAUGHTER)
You man are mocking it.
(MUZAK PLAYS)
(GENTLE CHATTER)
Or, what about this?
– (PHONE RINGS) – Hello?
Yo, is this Reeks?
– Yeah, bro, it's me. – Bro, you sound different!
– We're in Stratford... – Is that Reeks in there?
– Reeks! – Who's that girl with him?
Is that his sister?
Nah, I ca...
I can't, I'm afraid. I have lots to do at home.
He's wearing the same clothes as his little brother, bro.
Some joke man, I lie!
Are you listening though, you're busy, yeah?
Saying nuttin'. I'll see you on Monday at school.
Looks kinda nerdy, man.
(ESTHER CHATTERS)
– Oi, SK... – What?
This guy's a capper, bro. Look at the yard.
Reeks has got bread, fam!
Yeah, but bro, look at his sister. She's a sweet one. Watch.
I'm gonna find that ting on the 'gram, slide in on a quick DM, and then, boom!
– You know my ting already! – Pattern up, you man.
See Reeks, he's a good yute, you know, tryna be road.
You see, Monday,
man's gonna show Richard what road is really like, you know.
– You done know, man. – (KISSES TEETH)
What you man saying?
Should be asking you the same thing, Richard.
What's going on?
You know what, man's always rated that jacket.
I was even going to cop one, you know.
Now I ain't gotta. Take that off.
– What?! – Take off the jacket, bro!
And I see man's rocking a tax-free cap and that, yeah.
Time to pay up your taxes, big man. I'll take that.
Hurry up man.
Why you lot doing this, fam? We're supposed to be friends.
Friends? You're a capper, fam. Should smoke you, right now.
– You think I don't see how you're living? – Nah, you man are tapped, fam.
Brudda don't talk like that. Who said you can chat like that?
You're just one posh yute, fam.
– I see how you're living. – So what you man on?
Big man, you think this life is a game, fam?
You're just some posh yute, living in one big yard,
and my mum's out here, struggling, trying to pay our bills,
and you want to be like us!
Furthermore, run your phone, big man.
– Wait, wait... – Run man the phone, blood.
I need the phone to call my father after school...
(MIMICS) To call my father. Shut up and run the phone!
Yo, posh boy. Come over here, my bro.
– How much bread you got on you? – (STUTTERS) Listen.
I'm really sorry if I offended you guys. I just wanted to fit in.
I really like being around you guys. My life's boring in comparison to yours.
You're a dumb yute, man! What, you think we chose this life?
This life chose us, cuz.
You think you can't get smoked out here?
Man said he's got a bill.
Reeks, go chill with the neeks.
You know if I found out you snitched, you know where I hide my ting.
Chop-chop-chop-chop.
Keep it moving, big man.
(MELANCHOLY MUSIC)
(GENTLE R'N'B STARTS UP)
(HE SIGHS)
♪ See, I was just a young 'un Losing focus
♪ I was following the crowd and I didn't notice
♪ Yeah, I went down the wrong path, started falling
♪ And before you even knew it, I was all in
♪ Mama told me that I shouldn't do this
♪ Mama said, mama said, mama said
♪ Now I'm out with the shooters and looters
♪ I feel like I am losing my head
♪ If I could start again, all over
♪ I'd tell my younger self
♪ Just be yourself
♪ Don't let them change who you are
♪ I was on the block hitting shots
♪ Trying to be all that I'm not
♪ I was on the block hitting shots
♪ Trying to be all that I'm not
♪ I was on the block hitting shots
♪ Trying to be all that I'm not
♪ I was on the block hitting shots
♪ Trying to be all that I'm not
♪ It should all be so simple
♪ But I make it so hard
♪ I should've known better
♪ And I know it, I know it, I know it
♪ This is my open letter
♪ Mama told me
♪ Mama told me that I shouldn't do this... ♪