We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Verseday

by Jack Flash

supported by
L
L thumbnail
sdr_1
sdr_1 thumbnail
/
1.
Monkey On Your Back 01:36
lyrics
buy track
Back again And it’s academic I top the class In a time when it’s common to be a copycat I’m the iconoclast Rap has become a comedy act And I could cry but you’ve gotta laugh At them, and hold back applause Get on a track and then snap Like velociraptor jaws There’s nothing I endorse About being mediocre I push the glass ceiling Until I fatigue my shoulders I know we’ve become a culture Addicted to serotonin And you’ve let your phone Completely control ya There’s a monkey on your back And it keeps leaning over Checking for likes from people That don’t even know ya Every hour take a photo And put a post up Popularity vote Who gets the most love? But I’ve always been opposed to Trying be a poser Not quite the poster boy For this dystopia Pardon the Charlie booker impression It’s just I find myself stuck On this question How come we’re dependent On something as dumb as Wanting attention And looking for mentions And what’s the obsession With what is trending? But if I was to be honest with myself This crazy world Is gonna make me contradict myself Coz ill write this, record it Film and upload it And be absolutely gutted If nobody takes notice Are all of us just seeking approval? A continuation of teacher and pupil? Is that what we’re content To be reduced to? ‘Cause I believe in being authentic And being true to Your inner vision, your intuition That’s everything You’re trying to stand out But you’re only blending in Don’t be a hard rock When you really are a gem ‘Cause you only ever win When it’s truly genuine
2.
4U 01:56
lyrics
buy track
The way that you inspire me Puts me in touch with a higher me Your words have always been like a seed The way that they took root inside of me You said the day I decide to be Who I’d like to be Unimaginable change will happen silently I didn’t quite believe what you said But I tried to be open to it You said ‘Go and do it Give it a try, you’ll see’ I had that young stubborn pride in me But I think I get you finally ‘Cause now on a night when I try and sleep The irony I’m kept awake by a dream And its only ‘cause I observed ya For many a year On my own I’d have definitely swerved Lost control Hit the central reserve And exploded But you kept me focussed And set me to work And it worked ‘Cause I was in a strange head space May as well have been living on Mars But when I needed to be Brought back to Earth again You would do it with a kick up my arse That tough love Gloves off, knuckle up Bust up Lesson is hard learned But it stuck good You set me on the straight on and narrow Taught words are weapons And that gave me ammo You told to me never waste an arrow Prepare for war and embrace your battles And on them nights When I staying at home Your influence pours out While play piano Crazy I know In a way, a collabo How your legacy Is integrated into my flow And if there’s an inch of me That hints at greatness, I owe It all to you And I just wanna say it so ya know I just wanna say it so ya know I just wanna say it so ya know I just wanna say it so ya know
3.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Rhyming 02:10
lyrics
buy track
I only write what I know Show my life when I flow Every line’s a window You see inside of my soul All the highs and the lows And all the driving to shows Spending nights on my own Spitting rhymes on the road The freestyling, the poems The piles of notepads I go back through ‘em View ‘em as memories It’s like they’re photos I’ve got my nose to the grindstone I’ll take it if you’re not giving Not quitting yet, you’d have to Take away my oxygen I’ve done my share of door banging And lock picking I learned that when opportunity knocks Listen, open up The plot thickens Leave the blocks quick And I’m sprinting ‘Cause the clocks ticking Do not quit and I’m gripped by the mystery of life My intuition kicking in Convincing me I’m right As inch by inch I see the light That which was depleted I plead to return to me That energy, that urgency That burning desire, that fire and furnace heat That perseverance That work ethic, that perspective That passion just to try something And not perfect it That curious journey That willingness to be confused in your thirties That humility to embrace a skill That’s new and to learn it Those conscientious moments of Gently spoken compliments That compliment that Non-judgemental openness That magnum opus, that classic That creative habit, that became automatic That patient craft and That spontaneous magic That irresistible idea That persistent inspiration That pain, that anger, that fury That conviction, that impatience That blind faith That ignorance to drive on And never apply brakes Convinced the road you’re on Is the right one
4.
I Hear You 01:35
lyrics
buy track
In a world that you feel lost inside And ostracised Your hope’s been demolished by The routine of a constant grind You’ve been robbed and demoralised Your ideologies compromised You’re suffering from a loss of pride Your mind is boggled And you just bottle that all inside There’s no-one there to apologise Or reassure you its all alright Then them familiar thoughts arrive And they reoccur in your tortured mind What have you done in the last year Wait What have you done in the last four or five You could have been back Through college twice Retrained and got qualified But whether you’re a scholar Or blue collar This is going on in all our lives But rarely do we every stop and try To discuss and acknowledge why Or diagnose why we Feel like this We’re just told it’s what Real life is But I can’t lie, it’s not pleasurable Every time that I see you like this It’s evident You’re buried under your worries And they’re like sediments They’re multi-layered And they’re getting thick So I’m telling you If there’s anything That you need to get off your chest Well then Don’t be hesitant Don’t ever think If you ever call me I’ll never pick up ‘Cause I would drop everything To just let you vent ‘Cause venting helps I know it’s taboo to talk mental health But let’s talk this out And be self centred ‘Cause that might lead To a centred self
5.
The Apple Loosens 02:22
lyrics
buy track
I step back from my set backs Reset what I’m thinking Roll my head back And stay steadfast in my vision ‘Til the day I’m pissing in bed pans And I’m dribbling I set standards So you can expect that lyricism A disciplined master Made a death pact with ambition Now let that sink in While this next chapter is written They said they were real They were Ex-machina really While I’m exact as Pep’s tactics At Manchester City That Ex Factor Way more Lauryn Hill Than Simon Cowell I int hyper now I quietened down and I’m the wise old owl Work smarter not harder Carve a niche Start believing even deeper ‘Til I start to part the sea Pushing the next phase Of evolution after human Lucid visions and My pituitary gland protruding Isaac newton type of insights The apple loosens Looking at the world As if it’s Fibonacci’s blueprint Set to the soundtrack Of a Vivaldi movement Either I’ve tapped into something Or it’s a wild illusion A mile in my shoes’d tire you out I’ll make a guess You’re perspiring now You can tell I’m an intense fella Used to go out and drink ten Stellas Now I spend the weekend in my cellar Developing magic Like Penn and teller Ladies and gentlemen Tell a friend I’m intelligent, zealous And zen mellowed While you vent jealous energy My pen tells a Story that won’t end ‘Til I fill every tent at Coachella I embellish any beat that I vocal And compel you respect it Like the reaper approached you I don’t need to know you I know life, and I trust it I glow where there’s no light I’m so bright and illustrious And its a cold climate A slow climb to the summit So I hold tight, I’m focused My whole mind is adjusted I’m here, fully present And ready to play the long game In a world of vacant souls Who desperately want fame They’re willing to do anything If it gets ‘em on stage You just know they’re gonna Miss their integrity one day
6.
It's OK 02:32
lyrics
buy track
If you’re anything at all like I am You’re probably just Finding your way If the extent of your Whole life plan Is to get to tonight from today If your A to B Is go from day to day ‘cause C Is too far away to see It’s safe to say you’re basically The same as me Excuse my French but C’est La Vie And oh my good gosh In another life I could have been a scientist Or summat like A psychiatrist But I couldn’t quite Get my mind off of this I don’t know why I love to write Maybe something Subconsciously drives me Like an underlying urge To put in rhyme What I can’t say everyday In my normal life Or a need to leave a legacy For when I die I don’t know what it is But it is what it is So I take it and go with it From fifteen to fifty years old If it comes down to it ‘Cause I can’t quit I won’t quit It’s not just a cliché It really does control me It’s as if my soul itches And I don’t think That all that glitters is gold I know the difference So I hope that you don’t think That this is just a Vain stab at show-business Stab a vein, I’m so addicted I wake up in cold shivers They tell me stop, I won’t listen From ’06 Every lyric I wrote since Had me convinced It’d cause me to blow up And it didn’t It’s funny to be broke And never to have felt so rich Somebody told me That his folks split up And he couldn’t cope with it But he took Something that I wrote And it suddenly injected All this hope in him And so winning is subjective And if you don’t know What the definition Of success is Every day you’re redefining it The more that you’re aligning With your purpose You’re realising your worth Finally you’ll see that light Then real life will emerge And I used to be certain That being alive is a burden But I’m telling you Being alive is a blessing It’s just there’s often a disguise That it’s dressed in Life is a riddle We’re just trying to guess And every answer we get Only gives rise to a question We try decipher it But can’t decide if It’s all just been Designed this way Or if our mind is a mess but We were not put on this planet Just to carry That subconscious baggage See everyone’s a different shade Of fucked up and damaged But let’s talk about the courage We pluck up to manage ‘Cause that’s where the story is And that’s where the glory lives And if you can see Beauty in your struggle Even if it’s only subtle You are victorious So if you’re anything At all like I am You’re probably just Finding your way But I never met anybody Who wasn’t lost So I hope you realise That’s OK
7.
Can't Afford To Not 02:08
lyrics
buy track
I walk around like Nothing really bothers me And I was just a little boy It’s not that I’ll live forever It’s just while I’m here I’m trying to enjoy I think we’re wasting our time Spending all our days on the grind For a wage And all we get with that wage Is get by Six million ways to die Choose life Boots ties too tight Loosen up and act your shoe size We’re balling on a budget But no need to have your balls In a bunch ‘cause we’re broke Being boring is bullshit I can pretend that my Bank account’s huge If you can pretend Them hand me downs are new Two of your finest No frills vodka please We can still get smashed In this economy The party’s on the streets The bar’s the corner shop Don’t say you can’t afford to You can’t afford to not And that girl who was looking at you Who you was thinking Was out of your league Well she’s thinking the same About you So get up and talk to her ‘Cause she’s getting impatient She’s ‘bout to leave She’s only human She’s just the attractive kind She wipes her arse too Just don’t make that your Chat up line The point I’m making Is there’s no pedestal And worst comes to worst She says no Is that so terrible? You got your whole life ahead of you Nothing but time There’s a whole world to explore Don’t get lost in your mind And tonight Nobody’s watching So mistakes are allowed So you could either concentrate On the sun rays or the clouds So either focus on the positives And wish for the best Or never try Watch her walk out And sit there depressed There’s some eye contact Now take action before it stops But don’t say you can’t afford to You can’t afford to not
8.
Second Childhood 01:46
lyrics
buy track
Remember when we were kids How everything that we did Had no responsibility with it And stress didn’t exist Felt like simply existing was bliss But the older that we grew We were opening up to A whole new reality and So we broke from our cocoons And flew On to our new roles and our pursuits But you Always seemed to wanna hold on to your youth Most of us worked our arses off Left college Went to uni or we started jobs Dreamed big Met our other halves And partnered off Became fathers And you just stood in the starting blocks Clinging onto the things you know Pretending you didn’t hear that pistol go I mean, if you never set off Then the risk is low But so are the odds You’ll ever win a gold My friend life Will leave you behind If you don’t move with it You can’t compete with time And them seconds pile up And them hours compound And reality hits when That first grey hair sprouts You believe that You’ll get a second childhood As long as you bury yourself In denial enough I remember that time, you said ‘Everybody dies So what’s the point in anything Why should I even try?’ Carry on, but while I listen I hope you don’t mind If I pull out my invisible violin and Don’t be thinking that you’re blessing us With some higher wisdom ‘Cause all it is some Over-the-counter nihilism Bro, life is for living, Every drive, every instinct Is tuned for you to grow So why would you resist it? And if you spend the present Being obsessed with past All you have to look forward to Is looking back
9.
Such A Pleasure 02:49
lyrics
buy track
And it’s such a pleasure I’m yet to find something better Live on the stage for the people It feels orgasmic every time we come together Anytime I thought I should quit Was summat like a panic attack But me quitting what I love John Lennon on LSD Could not imagine that It’s the nature of the beast You can’t sit at my table and eat ‘Til you understand the process First come the ideas Then the labour, then the feast The funny shit people say to ya Like don’t work too hard And don’t worry Rob you can’t win em all Nice one mate, ye, but YOU can’t I find truth in the lab Like a scientist All the potential I have I just begun applying it Maybe it’s the top shelf liquor But I feel in high spirits I just wanna spit for the crowd ‘Til they’re kicking me out And I’m going over my time limit I was born to rock From the freestyles Outside the corner shop To the coroner I’m the author that wrote the score For the orchestra to perform All just for the applause of the audience In other words I serve and you receive You turn up to my church and you believe And for that I tip my hat I just hope you understand that I live for that So what you give me I give more back Reciprocity in this format Is a recipe to bridge all gaps Lost faith? We can restore that One day it may all make sense I just highly doubt it will So I stopped dreaming of Hollywood Now I’m like Robin Hood Out with a pouch to fill All the time on the couch I killed Using every ounce of will To pray for a big house ‘Til I snapped out of it and I realised I should probably learn how to build Everybody’s got a thousand skills My grandparents worked out of a mill Now my generation are unfulfilled If we see our life end without a mil My how times have changed But the material inside our brains Is still precisely the same Makes you think How we’re lied to and trained I meet small minds all the time And they say That I’m too big for my boots But it’s on the contrary I’ve just got big shoes to fill now Since my soul grew I get reoccurring nightmares Of living in a card box It’s why I’m banging all the doors down ‘Cause I’m from The school of hard knocks People tell me that I’m underrated And that I deserve more I tell em Well then there’s only one way to get it ‘Cause you only ever get what you work for
10.
For The Artists 02:17
lyrics
buy track
I wrote this For the artists, for the painters For the poets For the rappers, for the writers And composers For the illustrators and vocalists The world needs you More than you know it And at your lowest At your bleakest and Darkest and brokest At your weakest When it’s hardest to focus And it all feels hopeless The world needs you More than you know it Do what you love and You won’t work a single day in your life But a word of warning Before you take that advice You might have to work A part time job in a call centre To afford rent to do what you love But it won’t be forever Suffer now and Celebrate in the future Take that ball of clay and Gradually reshape it to suit ya Until it starts to consume your life The amount of work you put it in I mean, it’s verging on violating human rights It’s why it’s late and You’re still wide awake on Tuesday night Ten thousand hours? Child’s play, you’d do it twice Ideas show up When it’s most inconvenient Try going to sleep but Passion is so disobedient And this isn’t a choice It’s more of an obsession As your one track mind Prioritises progression Though you may never Get your day in the sun Fame, riches and wealth Well they may never come And some may say it was in vain And they may claim that you’re dumb To chase what you love When you could have just Played it safe and got a stable income But they will never know The place you come from So they won’t understand Your rationale So never feel like you have to Ration your passion out And I wrote this For the artists, for the painters For the poets For the rappers, for the writers And composers For the illustrators and vocalists The world needs you More than you know it And at your lowest At your bleakest and Darkest and brokest At your weakest When it’s hardest to focus And it all feels hopeless The world needs you More than you know it The world needs you More than you know it
11.
Jason (The Cycle Repeats) 02:03
lyrics
buy track
They want to blame young Jason for his anger issues He threw a chair at his teacher Now he’s banned from his school Seldom do they expel Students on first strike But they feared an outburst Might well occur twice Add that to the fact he Spent most of the term refusing To turn up to his classes And how fast he had turned a truant A year or two ago He was a determined student Now he spends his days In a pupil referral unit At his old school Three boys are celebrating They used to tell him on his break That they would sellotape him To a chair And they’d take him to the stairs And they’d place him At the top and threaten to Push him off so his head’d cave in And every lesson Jason’d look over at them One would pick up a roll of tape And then throw it at him This type of bullying occurred for a year Jason told his parents But they were not concerned And still Three boys had picked Jason to be their victim For no other reason Than they saw a weakness in him And they’d just been conditioned To pick out their prey To establish themselves at the top Of the food chain Though they were all full Of weaknesses as well They just deflected it And kept the secret to themselves And they projected all their Anger and frustration Onto Jason And now the bullying has changed him ‘Cause in his first week Inside the referral unit He picked out a small boy That looked nervous to him He told him you don’t wanna Mess with me you wouldn’t dare I’ll push you down the stairs While you’re sellotaped to your chair And sure enough another Couple kids aligned with him And Jason had a crew And no-one tried to fight with him And so the cycle repeats The predictable sequence Of anger, fear Violence and secrets
12.
Why I Changed My Name 03:51
lyrics
buy track
They call me Flash I strike then I’m gone That was the Opening line The first time I ever recorded My rhymes on a song Fifteen and My writing was strong Well maybe strong Is an overstatement But for God’s sakes I was fifteen Try and tell me I’m wrong My ego swelled Like a Pregnant woman’s heels And I’m a big deal Best rapper In Huddersfield OK I may have Been delusional In my youth But all of us were And I’m only Human though I used to wish That I had grown up In the Bronx It makes me cringe When I go back To my old songs I was detached From reality back then So I took on A persona and Altered my accent All the Americanisms And all the various bits Of slang I was saying They weren’t very Convincing You may not notice Or think its unimportant But I tried To subtly disguise That I’m northern Like of instead Of make I would say MAKE And instead Of fake I would say ... Well exactly So there’s a Little insight To the identity crisis Happening inside I adopted Hiphop culture In minutes Double XL hoodies And fitteds I studied the image But was it pure? I cannot be sure Was I anything more Than just a caricature? Was jack flash A character I manufactured for A disguise? I could hide Behind that mask That I wore I always had that Persistent feeling That It wasn’t real and it’s Just a subculture I found appealing ‘Cause it meant That I could be Someone I’m not In another life I could have Been an emo A punk Or a goth I wrestled with that But I came To the conclusion Fashion Appearance And fake names Are illusion But the love You feel That’s real And I felt nothing stronger Than I when I Put my songs on Like GangStarr Big Pun, Mos Def and Kweli Big L, 2pac Nas, Brother Ali, Wu-Tang, Kanye Eminem and Jay-Z They were idols Teachers And mentors to me They were a window To another life If there was Something that I Was troubled by I could put My headphones on And shut my eyes And a different part Of me would come alive Then I was struck By this feeling that I just wanna write And they say when you make Your early stuff The first thing you Do is emulate So I tried to be The things I listened to But the irony Was I believed I was original But it wasn’t till I found myself in Brooklyn That I was told to stop Following footprints And to go my own way Even if that means Going in a direction That nobody has been Be yourself That’s easy advice to give But it’s hard to take You must analyse How you live And be objective In your assessment And that means Prolonged periods Of intense reflection So I thought about Who I am And who I’m not I hid away And I shed skin And I mourned the loss I reinvented myself And followed my heart And I thought back To where all Of this started I took the name Jack Flash at fifteen And since then A lot of people Asked what it means You might have guessed It’s the Rolling Stones song Or the Whoopi Goldberg film But you’re wrong In fact I used to call myself Jack The Rapper And I’m not Even called Jack So yeah That was backwards I had some friends Who were Hardcore stoners A couple of them Decided that they’d try And grow some They were flicking through A catalogue Of weed strains All different types Of seeds that Had weird names And there was one Called Jack Flash And my friend said You should call yourself that And then I did It’s great that init? I’m not joking And in a years time I’d stopped smoking A confused name For a confused boy On a life long journey To find his one true voice But he can’t do it With two names So something must give At a crossroads With a dilemma I’m struggling with How can I be honest With the music I make When the name That I’m using is fake? It’s a long road back To where I’ve come from They call me flash I strike then I’m gone I’m gone I’m gone So from now on It’s Rob Bradley And I know that’s Not exactly Exciting and It doesn’t scream superstar But eventually The only thing Left to be Is who you are…

about

Verseday is a music and video project released between 12 September 2019 and 28 November 2019. Every Thursday during this period I released a new video and verse on YouTube. The verses were a combination of new material written especially for the project and existing verses / ideas that I hadn’t made into full songs. Rather than let the work sit and gather dust I decided to make a feature out of their incompleteness.

The videos were filmed in London and Lisbon. They are all simple one shot, one take videos. The idea was to use small locations that you may otherwise walk past. Murals, building facades, stairwells and walls. I coordinated my wardrobe and the on screen lyrics to create a series of visually striking videos that compliment the tone and mood of the accompanying music.

There is a booklet included with this download that features a a still from each video, the lyrics of the verses and the location of each shoot.

The YouTube playlist link is here.
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkJAqFIc77g7TioSFgLtFw7857cX2j0Nk
I hope you enjoy Verseday.

Rob

credits

released June 3, 2020

Every track written, produced and performed by Rob Bradley

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Jack Flash image

Jack Flash London, UK

Jack Flash, known offstage as Rob Bradley, is a versatile artist based in West Yorkshire. With a sound grounded in hip-hop, he’s evolved his craft by seamlessly blending rap with raw, stripped-back acoustic elements. He’s celebrated for his insightful storytelling, astute social observations, and the distinct razor-sharp wit characteristic of his Northern British roots. ... more

contact / help

Contact Jack Flash

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this album or account