I’ve always wanted to sit down and analyze a Pete and Bas song line-by-line. There are so many layers, it’s impossible to catch everything unless you really dig in. So this 14-hour plane trip I’m currently on seemed like a good time to do it, since what else am I going to do at 31,000 feet for 14 hours?

You should know right from the start that these two guys are role-playing mafia drug runners as part of their act. This song isn’t a documentary.
Think of it as a musical “Peaky Blinders” / “Breaking Bad” / “Godfather” mashup…

[Pete]

Old school, but I still bust shots
I’m a luger
A luger is an old type of handgun

Mashed off the drink, now it’s Uber
Too drunk to drive - “mashed” also refers to the mash used to make bourbon

Connected back home like a wifi router
“Connected back home” is reconnecting with your gang after time in jail (or away for other reasons)

Cats jumpin’ like Puma
“Cats” are people who buy your drugs. They ‘jump in’ (jumpin’) to get their fix.
But also, Puma brand logo is a jumping cat. This is the first of many doubles (words or phrases that can be interpreted two ways)

And I dream like Martin Luther
Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, obviously, but we’re also setting up a sleeping scheme. Stay tuned.

Fall asleep to the sound of the Hoover
Still in the sleep scheme. “Hoover” is a vacuum cleaner, so he’s talking about very deep sleep. BUT - J.Edgar Hoover is rumoured to be the man who set up the assassination of MLK. So the ‘very deep sleep’ is actually dying.

Nightmare, Frederick Kruger
Still going with the sleep scheme. Frederick (Freddie) Kruger was the villain in the “Nightmare on Elm Street” movies. He killed people when they slept.
BUT WAIT! Back up one word and you get “Hoover Nightmare” - Wade Shirley’s book about the probability of J.Edgar Hoover had MLK killed is called “Hoover’s Nightmare” - Geezus, so many layers.

Sleep with the fishes, now he’s tuna
More sleep scheme. “Sleep with the fishes” is an old mob term for disposing of a body in water. Another sleep=death reference. “Now he’s tuna” - tuna is packed in a can. Possible casket reference.

I’m snatching his bird and thunder
“Bird” is UK slang for woman, so he’s taking the guy’s wife/girlfriend. Kidnapping, maybe, or just sleeping with her. Either way, he’s stealing the guy’s thunder (knocking him down a peg).

Also, and this is probably a stretch, “snatching” might be used instead of “stealing” here as a reference to the Guy Ritchie film, “Snatch”, which is about exactly the kind of stuff being talked about in this song. Several of their other songs also reference things that happen in that movie. Like I said, it’s a stretch, but using “snatching” instead of the more obvious “stealing” seems to have been done for a purpose.

Tell me the target, six feet under
He’s at work, so his house in country
Case that joint, then the place got plundered

“Six feet under” is a casket reference, as they are normally buried six feet under the ground. The rest of the verse is pretty straightforward: a guy’s house gets surveilled while he’s away, then they robbed it.

Don’t talk about numbers
In the UK you know that they love us
“Numbers” is sales. While the obvious reference here is drug sales, it could also be about YouTube views or concert ticket sales. Pete and Bas are completely independent, so the millions of views they have on every video they put out is as astonishing as the fact that they sell out almost every concert date.

Don’t care about colours, black and white, we can be brothers
Obvious racial equality statement here, but we’re also going aaaaalllll the way back to the “dream like Martin Luther” opener, as the “I have a dream” speech was about ignoring the colour of the skin.

[Bas]

Breaking ‘em down like steps on the back of the box of the Crocker
Bet he take that bait
This is one that a lot of people miss. The obvious first: breaking ‘em down refers to taking bricks of cocaine and breaking it into smaller portions for sale. He’s doing it easily, like following steps on the back of a Betty Crocker cake mix. “Cake” is slang for money, so this is a ‘recipe’ on how to make some cash, in case you were wondering how dear old Betty got involved in this lyric. Oh, but it gets better… after “Crocker”, he says “Bet he”… as in “Betty”.

I’m just way too hard to trace
Bas like pins in the haystack
Obviously, a reference to not getting caught, the drugs can’t be traced back to him. But it’s deeper than that. “Bas” is his nickname, his full name is “Basil” like the herb. “Herb” is slang for marijuana, so he’s also dealing weed that can’t be traced back to him, either.

Weight
”Weight” is drug product. But right after he says it, there’s a pause, so it’s also as if he meant “wait”.

Move that in and outside the gym, they’re trying to get ripped
”Moving weight” is dealing drugs, but it’s also what the people in the gym do to try to get ripped. “Ripped” means muscular, but it also means drunk or high. There are so many doubles here, I can barely keep up.

I’m holding them sticks with extension clips
I’m leaving them stiff in the ground
Get lit like candles
Wax ‘em off with that bing from various angles
”Sticks with extension clips” are guns with ammo clips that hold more than the normal number of rounds.
”Get lit” is to get shot, “get lit like candles” is a play on words that’s amplified by “wax ‘em off” in the next line.
”Bing” is a gun, so he’s going to shoot them from various angles, which leads to the next bit.

Box -Rectangle,  dashed in the ground all bruised and mangled
We were just talking about various angles, now we have ‘box’ and ‘rectangle’. Nice.
It’s referring to a casket, the occupant of which is not in good shape. Also notice the use of “dashed” instead of “buried” or “placed” or some other verb. That’s almost always a sign that you should look for connections somewhere previously in the song, and in this case “dash” can also be a cooking term, and we just went through that whole Betty Crocker section. Nice.

Grim
Grabbed the cup, passed the gin
Grabbed the lime, chopped it up
Popped the cap, poured it in
Lots of doubles and callbacks here. First, we’re following a set of steps, harking back to the Betty Crocker bit.
Grabbed the cup, passed the gin is just cold, hard, gangster talk. They killed a guy, then had a drink like it was nothing. (This is a recurring theme in their songs - one of the most notorious examples happens in “Plugged In” where Pete sings, “scope a man’s head with my sniper sight, then it’s pint and a fag and a dance on a Friday night” (‘fag’ is UK slang for cigarette)
But we’re not done! The lime mentioned might go in the gin, but it’s also lime that’s used to help decompose a body more quickly when it’s buried.
”Chopped it up” verifies that double, then “popped the cap” is slang for shooting someone, so he killed the guy, then poured the lime into the grave.
Brutal. Even though these boys had normal jobs before they started rapping (Bas is a lawyer, Pete worked for the post office), there is a significant portion of their fanbase who are convinced that these guys are actual gangsters, or at least were gangsters back in their youth. Rumours abound that Pete was involved with the Richardsons or the Kray twins (crime families in the UK many years ago). The boys don’t dispel the rumours because it adds to the mystique surrounding their characters, but that has led to some hiccups. Someone called the cops and had them raid Pete’s house to look for weapons or drugs. They found none.
Sidebar: Pete quite often sings about gunplay and smoking. You’ll never actually see him holding a gun in any of the videos, though. Ever. In “Bish Bash Bosh” he sings about his ‘bing’ and pushes back his suit jacket to reveal his holster… but if you pause and zoom in, you’ll see that the holster is empty. Likewise, you’ll never see him smoking, although he does hold a cigar in his hand occasionally. In one video, he’s got a cigarette, but he doesn’t smoke it. In “Slap the Stick”, he is shown briefly holding a lit cigar, then there’s a cut and you see him with his head up, as if blowing smoke, but there’s no smoke. It might be his recent battle with cancer (he won) that stops the smoking, but I’m not sure why he’s never seen with a gun. Rumours say that it’s part of the conditions of his parole, but no record of his arrest has turned up.

[Pete]

Just stepped out, I had to step in
One of the young boys took a hook to the chin
The bouncer came out and he got weighed in
OK, we’re at the club, there was a fight and one of the underlings got punched. The bouncer tried to throw them out, but Pete punched him.

I put the foot down on the clutch and spin
Burn that rubber like I’m Michelin
Took off quickly in the car to escape the scene they just caused at the club

Five-star food that I dish to them
Chef’s hat on when I’m whipping in the kitchen
Then I switch suits like I’m Mr Benn
”Food” (or any type of food) is almost always a reference to drugs. Also, five-star is a rating scale and we just referenced Michelin, as in Michelin stars.
Whipping refers to mixing up a batch of cocaine. He’s playing all the roles, or wearing all the hats - chef’s hat when he’s making the product, then he switches suits to go out and deal it. “Mr Benn” is a reference to the UK children’s show from the early 70s. The Mr Benn character would to to a shop, where he’d change clothes into a costume, then have an adventure based on the outfit he chose that day. At the end of the episode, he’d change back into his suit and bowler hat and return home.

[Bas]

10/10 gear I shift up to fifth
Blues in the rear and I’m swerving the mains like I’m Tokyo Drift
Took a shot, but he missed, then made love to the ground and kissed…
”Gear” is drugs. Apparently, very good quality here, as they’re rated 10 out of 10. Also, “shift up to fifth” refers to shifting actual gears. Another double. I’ve lost count of how many there have been, but it’s more than most rappers put on an album, let alone half of a two-minute song.
”Blues in the rear” - the cops are chasing him. “Swerving the mains” is changing lanes to speed through slower-moving traffic. “Tokyo Drift” is a movie from the “Fast and Furious” franchise, all of which involve street racing or car chases.
One of the cops takes a shot, misses, then (probably) crashes his car or bike, whichever he was using to pursue.. “Made love to the ground” is a wicked description, very colourful, and Pete picks it up by finishing the line, “kissed the curb”

[Pete]

…the curb.
What’s the word?
I dodged the case, then I flipped the bird.
”Dodged the case” - he didn’t get caught, or he got caught and didn’t have any consequences, so he “flipped the bird” at the system.

Grabbed the bing, get back to work, then I’m switching lanes in a blacked-out Merc.
”Bing” is a gun (as mentioned before). After dodging the case, he went right back out to what he’d been doing. “Blacked-out Merc” is a Mercedes with dark-tinted windows.

[Bas]

I’ll hurt ‘em.
One thing’s for sure and two things for certain
Money gets made from the packs I’m serving
Mess with the cake and I’ll Battenberg ‘em
Genius stanza. “Packs I’m serving” is cocaine getting dealt. “Cake” is slang for money, and a Battenberg cake is made by cutting two different-coloured cakes into squares, then re-assembling the squares so that they form a checkerboard pattern. That’s a wild description of doing away with someone, but it gets better: the UK ambulances have a checkerboard pattern on them also called a Battenberg, referencing the guy who got done in getting carted away in an ambulance.

[Pete]

Kipling, missed him
Run up in his house and gripped him
Missus cried goodbye, kissed him
Stuffed him in the boot of the Jag
And then she watched us drive off in the distance
Poor Kipling. I wonder what he did. It must’ve been bad, considering that he got snatched up out of his house and stuffed into the trunk of the Jaguar with his wife watching.
ALSO: Kipling is a callback to the Battenberg line from the previous stanza:

[Bas]

Glistening, jewels on the watch on the wrist
Get hit with the drip like a Christian christening
Jesus Christ
So much to unpack here. There’s a watch reference followed by ‘get hit’. “Get hit with the watch” is to be scolded or reprimanded.
”Get hit with the drip” means to be astonished at the amount of jewels or jewelry a person is wearing.
”Like a Christian christening”- in a christening, water is dripped onto the celebrant.

And then another one of them gets dipped like a rich tea biscuit.
”Dipped” can mean “left quickly” or “stabbed”. It can sometimes also mean “very finely dressed”. In this case, it could mean any or all of those things. A rich tea biscuit is a large cookie suitable for dunking.

[Pete]

Pulled up and the colour of the suit match colour of the car, all black like Batman
I’m a ninja, backflip, handstand
I’ma get ya, sleeping at your Nan’s house
”You aren’t safe, no matter where you try to hide, because I’m stealthy and silent, not even if you’re camped out at grandma’s house.”

[Bas]

One-two kick to the door like knockdown ginger
”knockdown ginger” is a child’s game where the kids knock on a door, then run and hide

Rip off the hinges
But apparently, the door is actually getting knocked down

Fingers get bent back like birds off Tinder
Fingers bent back is a means of torture. Tinder is a dating app and as we already discussed, ‘birds’ are women. You do the math.

Boys get flung out the window
Come like wasps in a picnic, run up and sting ya
It’s a home invasion, chaos

Spin ya all the way ‘round
Like ink rollers inside of an HP printer
You better hope this bing don’t jam
”Spin you all the way around” - get punched in the face so hard, you spin around from the impact.
”Bing” is a gun (as we’ve mentioned) but ‘jam’ is a sly reference to the printer mentioned in the line above.

[Pete]

What’s the plan, Stan?
I knocked a man down
And dropped the van down
By the side of the flats
So can you come down
And clean the boot out
I need to get back
To the start of the match
In rap lingo, “flow” refers to the rhythm, cadence, and delivery of lines with regard to the beat. Typically, to write a rap song, you’ll choose the backing track, then figure out a good rhythm that goes with the music, then write words to fit the rhythm. Lots of rappers have very similar flows from one song to the next, establishing their signature on their music.
Others switch up the flows from time to time, and a few might switch the flow a couple times in the middle of the song.
Pete and Bas have mad respect from other rappers because they seem to be able to perform to almost any style of beat with flow switches coming effortlessly within their songs. “Sindhu Sesh” literally means “a session with many flows” (‘sindhu’ is a Sanskrit word that means a river with many flows and ‘sesh’ is short for session). I count at least 24 different flows in this two minute song. That’s NUTS. These guys are absolutely unmatched on this front, and this isn’t the only one of their songs with radical flow switches mid-stream.
This particular flow is my all-time favourite, because it sounds like there’s a very distinct flow switch between “dropped the van down” and “can you come down”, using “by the side of the flats” as the bridge between the two.
But it’s not. The entire stanza is the same flow, the same rhythm, but by crafting the lines so that a different syllable gets the stress in the second half, it seems like a shift in rhythm, without actually doing it. (And yes, I spent way too much time plotting out those rhythms in music notation. before finally figuring it out)

Couple cans in the chiller
A man’s quite big, but me handgun’s bigger
Yeah. Just stand and deliver
You can throw fists, but the mash-bang quicker
Doesn’t matter how big you are or how well you fight, my gun will win it over your fists. “Mash-bang” is gunfire. “Mash” is a gun, originally short for “machine gun” but it’s basically any gun.

[Bas]

Crash-bang wallop
Hard punch to the face. Bas was once a bareknuckle fighter in an illegal ring his dad ran back in the day. Apparently, he was really good.

Big fat dollop of cash in me hand, chain hang like bollocks
”bollocks” are testicles

Look, you pillock, talking trollop
”Pillock” is a stupid person, “trollop” is a prostitute. Maybe the guy is trying to pick up a hooker in a spot where it’s too easy to get caught?

Box a man back like I’m munching jollof
”Jollof” is a rice dish, usually served as takeaway in a box. To get the last of it on your fork, you push it back against the sides of the box. Also, a callback to the boxing from a few lines ago.

God willing, I might just drill him
Dings in the head from the scraps I’ve been in
Go ten rounds with the man, I’m winning
I ain’t gonna stop till the bell starts ringing
Continuing the boxing scheme we started earlier

[Pete]

D-d-ding-a-ling-ding on the fruit machine
Bas just said he wouldn’t stop till the bell starts ringing, so Pete literally ‘rings the bell’ at the beginning of the line.
”Fruit machine” is a slot machine like in a casino.

Spend the winnings on Gucci jeans
Gaggle of the girls and they’re super-keen
They wanna kick back ‘cause the boots are clean
”Boots are clean” - I’m not in any trouble, so you can hang out with me and not worry. Also, “boots” means “very” and “clean” means niiiiiice, so it’s also saying that he’s attractive to the ladies.

Super Kings and a bottle of bourbon
Let that rip when I’m whipping that German
Smoking extra-long cigs and drinking while driving a Mercedes. Also, “super kings” in rap lingo means having top-level street cred, or being extremely popular.

Grab that stick, then I’m dipping and swerving
”Stick” can be both the gear shift handle or a gun. Probably both. “Dipping and swerving” - we’re back to a getaway chase in traffic.

Flick of the wrists and I left him gurning
”I outmaneuvered him easily and left him gawking with an incredulous look on his face.”
ALSO: “flick of the wrist” was an old advertising slogan for a brand of foldable straight razors in the UK. So this can also refer to slitting the throat, which would certainly leave him with an incredulous look on his face!

[Bas]

Roof top down, I’m an head-top turner
Just stepped out in a fresh Ben Sherman
”Rooftop down” - convertible with the top down. “Head-top turner just stepped out in a fresh Ben Sherman” - I look so good in my new shirt that I’m turning heads.

[Pete]

Brand new tricks and I’m out here learning
I’m an old dog, still I’m out there serving
Play on the “can’t teach an old dog new tricks” saying. “Tricks” - drug dealing, as is “serving”

[Bas]

I was locked in an HMP
His Majesty’s Prison

Cut from the rough, I’m a diamond geez
”I’m a diamond” - I’m hardened
”Geez” - short for ‘geezer’, which in the UK can mean any guy, not just an older guy.
Rough-cut diamonds are in their natural, rough state before being cut and polished.
”Cut from the rough” refers to growing up in a rough neighborhood.

[Pete]

Boots full of them flat screen TVs
Dealing stolen merch from the trunk of the car

Del Boy, Peckham, they recognize me
Del Boy is a character from the UK series “Only Fools and Horses”. The character is a black-market goods trader who lived in Peckham, where Pete grew up. It was once a very rough, very high-crime area, but is now being gentrified and is quite desirable.
”They recognize me” is another double. It suggests that people looking to buy stolen goods know him when they see him, but it also means that they can see similarities between him and the Del Boy character from the show.

[Bas]

Cha-cha step in the dance and slide
Two hands on me hips and glide
Lyric reference to an earlier song of theirs, “Shuffle”

If a man tries to act too hard, then he’ll get cemented, builder’s site
Referring to the old mob practice of disposing of bodies in the cement foundations of new building projects.

[Pete]

I’ll open up his ears if he didn’t quite hear me
Your man got shelled on Big Bang Theory
”Open up his ears” - make him pay attention, but also referencing literal hearing later in the sentence
ALSO, in the UK, “shells” are slang for “ears” so he starts with “open up his ears” and then talks about “shells”
”Got shelled on Big Bang Theory” - Big Bang Theory was a sitcom whose main character was named Sheldon (‘shelled on’). Also, shells are ammo that could certainly make a big bang.

If he wants to get loud, if he wants to get lairy
Then it’s back of me man’s head hairy
”Lairy” is UK slang for loud and boisterous, likely from being drunk.
”Back of my head” means dismissing it, no longer thinking about it.
”Me man’s head hairy” is simply a nod to Bas’ ridiculous hairstyle of bald on top, but lots of curly hair in back. When this video was made, it wasn’t yet very long and was kept in a pony tail. In later videos, it’s a full-on ‘skullet’ hairdo, with long, wavy white curls in back.

[Bas]

Nah, son, you don’t wanna bop, get stepped on, crept up, cone get split like Chevron.
Don’t pick a fight with me, kiddo, you’ll lose.
Chevron is a gas brand whose logo is split down the middle. “Cone” = head.

[Pete]

Wake up, son, ‘cause we’re the most slept on
”Slept on” - people aren’t paying attention to them, having double meanings here.
Firstly, they’re viral on social media and legitimately better at this than most mainstream artists, but don’t have a record deal or a distribution contract with a major label.
Secondly, it could mean they’re dealing without being noticed by the authorities.

Get gone, war, then I’m chucking that vest on
”War” is like it sounds, but referencing gang turf wars or skirmishes between gangs and cops.
”Chucking that vest on” - putting on the bulletproof vest for protection.

[Bas]

One more word, then I’m bringing them bings out
Nuts and bolts and a couple more things out
Keep talking, I’ll get the guns and other things and you’ll be sorry.

[Pete]

Dust and dirt if he’s talking trash
Then I’m turning skirt and I’m taking the bins out
”Talking trash” - bragging or verbally challenging
”Turning skirt and taking the bins out” - I’ll flip on him quickly and take him and his trash talk out (“Bins” = trash cans)

[Bas]

Bin man, get wrapped up in a bin bag
Been there, done that, got that
I’ll be like a garbage collector (bin man), because the foe will be disposed of in a trash bag… and I’ve done it before, understand (got that?)

[Pete]

Blood on my t-shirt, rinsed and washed and spun that
Possible double referring to both laundry and laundering money, not sure.
Box of the corn just packed in a bum bag
I’ve got shotgun ammunition in a fanny pack.

[Bas]

Popped with a red dot
Shot with a gun that had a laser sight attached
Rib shot, punch bag
Callback to the boxing scheme from before

Pull up outside, cannon on me like Gundam
”Gundam” was a Japanese animated series involving giant robots that had huge guns, big enough to hold off the enemy like a dam holds water.

[Pete]

Submachine gun - tell him “outrun that”
Chavving his jewels, then I’m off to his mum’s house
”Chavving” = stealing. I’m going to shoot him with a submachine gun, rob his house, then sleep with his mom. Geezus.

Now that you’ve got the double and triple meanings behind it all, here’s the song itself. (Note that there are a few typos and wrong lyrics in the on-screen captions).