In 2025, after a much-too-long absence, Pete and Bas dropped a new song, “South Eastenders”. The delay wasn’t unwarranted, as they were busy with a big tour, including a huge music festival in Finland and tons of sold-out dates in New Zealand and Australia. Oh, and a little show in Newcastle that changed my life.

At this point in their careers, it must be a bit nerve-wracking to release a new track, because they’ve literally not released a bad song yet. How long can they keep up that streak? If they do release a dud, will their fans turn on them, because the magic spell is broken?

Luckily, we won’t have to worry about that on this track, because it’s fire.

If you haven’t seen the video, have a look… then we’ll break it down to explain all the stuff that makes no sense if you aren’t up on Cockney rhyming slang, mob slang, and the lot.

Unlike Sindhu Sesh, which was just the boys and a mic in a studio, this video was shot out in the neighbourhood of Lewisham in London, so I’ll be commenting from time to time on things in the video as well as the lyrics. First off, the hype man (guy in the hat) is Albert Allen, a friend of theirs. He shows up in their videos from time to time and actually does a bit of rapping in Window Frame Cypher.

OK, let’s do this:

[Pete]
Top shagger. Mick Jagger. Birds drawn to me rockstar swagger. Broads begging me to clap their cheeks, but I’mma walk on by ‘cause I’m way too dapper.

Right out of the gate, Pete dropping the line “top shagger” is hilarious. In UK slang, “shagging” is fucking, so Pete’s doing a bit of braggadocio here. By following it with ‘Mick Jagger’, he’s acknowledging that perhaps he isn’t classically handsome, but his fame makes up for it, because let’s face it: Mick Jagger is not classically handsome, either.

Following that with ‘birds drawn to me rockstar swagger” reinforces this. “Birds” are UK slang for women (in the same way that other cultures refer to women as ‘chicks’). Also notice the lyrics on the screen say “my” while Pete says “me”. This is standard for Cockney dialect and will be important later.

The final line suggests that women are hitting on him, but he can’t be bothered. Having met them both, I know that it’s not just Pete being “way too dapper” that keeps him from accepting those offers (and trust me, he gets those offers), but he’s a strong family man and wouldn’t jeopardize his marriage for a bit of strange, no matter how tempting.

[Bas]
I walk firm like a big brick shithouse, your man shit bricks when I whip that stick out. So, son, sit down and cut this shit out, or I’ma dig a hole in the ground you can fill out.

This is pure power flex, which is common in grime/ drill rap. Bas is saying that he’s the boss and you need to stay in your lane. “I walk firm” is an unusual phrase, and when that happens, it’s likely connected to something else in the song - in this case, it’s likely an.. um… erection reference, since Pete just went all-in with the sexual overtones in the previous stanza. Bolstering that idea, “when I whip that stick out” sounds quite dirty, even though ‘stick’ in UK slang is a gun. If you want to push the boundaries a little, it could also be a euphemism for anal sex, which would be a huge stretch, if not for some bars coming up later. Worse, “hole you can fill” kinda supports this theory. Just wait.

[Pete]
Pick another fella, you don’t want the smoke, I windmill double-fist and I’ll drop ya both, a blackbelt, I can scrap ‘cause I know me Judo, I make a man squeal like he dropped the soap.

OK, “pick another fella, you don’t want the smoke” just means, “don’t mess with me, it will be trouble”. Windmill is flailing your arms in circles, which Pete is apparently good enough at to knock out not one but two people. The Judo line is obvious, but the “make a man squeal like he dropped the soap” is a wild bar. (“Bar” is a line or section of rap lyrics that pack a punch) Now the “stretch” of Bas’ earlier lines potentially referring to erections and anal sex don’t sound so far-fetched.
Now… it gets better. If a guy raps about firearms, that would be a “gun bar.” If it’s about drugs, it would be a “drug bar.” Rapping about a man squealing because he dropped the soap is absolutely a “gay bar.” Keep that in mind.

[Bas]
The magazine stuffed like a lad in a gay bar, popped a few shots while I’m grabbing the paper, I make bread, I’m a hell of a baker, me boots handmade from the skin of a gator.

The dropped soap/ lad in a gay bar scheme made me spew coffee through my nose when I saw this video premier. That’s just wild, and it’s way more edgy than most rappers would dare to put into a song. But hang on, like most of their lyrics, this one is multi-layered.

Magazine refers to the clip full of ammo for a firearm. But let’s also hang onto the more common meaning of magazine as well. “Popped a few shots” is obviously a gun reference, but it’s also gay slang for ejaculation, and if we’re going back to magazine just being a magazine, then ‘grabbing the paper’ is a reference to clutching the magazine while… um… popping the shots. But in mob slang, ‘paper’ is money, so this is also about shooting a few folks while collecting the payment for some kind of deal. That leads to the bread/baker line and the handmade gator boots are just flexing (bragging) about what that money can buy.

[Pete]
Pulling up in a black Ranger Raptor, bald on the noggin I slap 50 factor. Any sales better go through P, you think you’re the plug, I’m the fucking adaptor.

A ‘Ranger Raptor’ is a high-end Ford pickup. Pete survived a bout of skin cancer on his head, so he’s using 50 SPF sunscreen.
A ‘plug’ is the person you contact to buy drugs from, so Pete is saying that all those sales are going to go through him now. If you think you’re the plug, I’m the fucking adaptor - you can’t do anything without me. Very clever wordplay there.

[Bas]
Belly full of beans and a mind full of darkness, swing from a fist - out cold like a carcass. I’m out for blood like a shark is, heartless, I’m a gangster, not an artist.

The first line is showing the contrast between looking normal to the outside world, but harbouring disturbing thoughts. “Swing from a fist…” Bas was a bareknuckle boxer in his youth, and was apparently pretty good. In the video, he doesn’t even take his left hand out of his suit pocket and still scores a 720 on the punching bag. “I’m a gangster, not an artist” sets up a peek into their personas - a huge portion of their fanbase believe that this line is absolutely true, that the boys are - or at least were - actual gangsters. Mob bosses. Drug cartel kingpins.

When I hung out with them, I brought that up. Now, mystery regarding their backstories are part of what make them so interesting, so I won’t divulge any of those secrets. I’ll just say, “it’s complicated.” But have a look at the screenshot above. Pete has just served up a few bars where he talks about knocking people out with his punches and all of that… but he punched a score of ONE on the punching bag and they didn’t edit that out of the video. Could that be a nod to the idea that they’re not really what they claim to be in their songs? That the real Pete and Bas are not at all how the personas in the videos make them appear?

I’m not telling.
It’s complicated.
But hey, Pete’s daughter’s godfather is Charlie Richardson, so there’s that.

[Pete]
Selling bootleg gear on the market, any old fart walk by, that’s a target. Mark it, barking the price at the bastard, if he don’t bite then the mug gets clarted.

OK, so Pete’s selling illegal goods. He’s picking out the senior citizens, as they’re easier marks. It gets fun, though, because “mark it” refers to identifying the victim, BUT if you’re listening without reading the words, then “target, mark it” sounds like “target market” so that line reinforces the idea that the old-heads are the primary group being looked at. Also, and this might be a stretch, but Target is an actual market.
If he don’t bite then the mug gets clarted just means if the victim doesn’t fall for the bootleg sale then he gets punched in the face.
But wait! “Barking a price” followed by “if he don’t bite” - the bark is worse than the bite, because if he bites, he doesn’t get punched. Nice.

[Bas]
I’m an handful. I’m a problem. I’ve been mixing me gin with Naproxen. Living life by the book’s not an option when you’re running ‘round with a head full of toxins.

Naproxen is an arthritis medication, showing again that the boys are not afraid to show their vulnerability even in the middle of a song full of swagger. The second part suggests that he’s already got a defence lined up if he gets caught: “couldn’t help it, the meds interacted with the booze”

[Pete]
Grip the metal like a man in a workshop, I squeeze, let it beat like I’m having a jerk off, I’m making heads swivel when I’m whipping me tits out, the fellas know we’re scrapping when I’m ripping me shirt off.

The first bit is one of the wildest ‘gun bars’ I’ve ever heard. “Grip the metal” means to pick up a gun, “squeeze, let it beat” means to pull the trigger and have it kick back. I’m sure I don’t need to explain how those lines can also refer to masturbation. Wow, Pete. That’s…. a lot.

The last part simply says that his gang knows there’s going to be a fight if he takes off his shirt. “Making heads swivel when I’m whipping me tits out” refers to people doing a double-take when he’s suddenly shirtless - but ‘making heads swivel’ is also a reference to the way a person’s head spins when you punch them.

[Bas]
Black suspenders, south Eastenders, had his whole block knocked off like Jengas. Whole team built off of thugs and offenders, came from the bottom, now the gang’s big spenders.

You’ve undoubtedly heard the phrase “knock his block off” - so that first line goes there. But it also references having a dealer’s block (where the drugs are sold) taken from him. Both of those are paired with ‘like Jengas’, referring to the literal blocks in the game of the same name.

The last half just says, “we gathered up a bunch of bad guys to form our team and we had nothing at first, but now we’re doing quite well, thanks.”

[Pete]
Kicking the door down and knocking his teeth out, I serve up a whooping when I’m bringing the beef out. I’m foul when I slide on him, taking his knees out, I’ll make him bow down to the king of the Deep South.

Pete’s dropping more tough-guy bars, even though we clearly saw him score a ONE on the punching bag earlier. What makes this fun is the words, serve, beef, and foul (which sounds like fowl). It’s a catered dinner! But ‘beef’ in rap culture refers to a feud with other rappers. So even though the ‘foul when I slide on him, taking his knees out’ is a football reference (soccer, not American football) to an actual foul, “taking his knees out” is a gangster tactic of smashing a guy’s kneecaps when he’s behind on a payment or something, which would make him fall to the ground (bow down). This tactic is also referenced in one of their earlier songs, “Quick Little Freestyle” where Bas sings, “I’m capping his knees, then his mates can wheel him around.”

[Bas]
King of the manor, I’m a prickly bastard. Step into the pub and I get quickly plastered. Metal in his mouth, ‘cause I’m sick of the verbal, made a man jig when the thingamy blasted."

One of their earlier songs, Bish Bash Bosh, has Pete dropping bar after bar after bar while Bas holds his own, but not as strong. Then, near the end, Bas drops one of the coldest, nastiest bars in the entire song and basically evens the score. That bar refers to killing a guy, putting the body in a plastic bag, tossing it into a van, and “now he’ll be forever young. Fuckin’ Peter Pan.”
Wow..
The same thing happens here. Pete has arguably been carrying this song with several hard-hitting bars, but then Bas finishes the song with this bonkers line and you’re just left shaking your head… assuming that you’ve deciphered it, that is.

“Metal in his mouth, ‘cause I’m sick of the verbal” - the guy was talking too much, so Bas stuck the barrel of a gun in his mouth.
Then we get to ‘made a man jig when the thingamy blasted’. Obviously, the word “thingamajig” was broken and flipped so that ‘jig’ is now a verb and ‘thingamy’ is a noun. Notice how ‘thingamy’ is spelled with ‘my’ at the end, but Bas pronounces it ‘thing o’ me’ - remember up front, I mentioned that Cockney dialect usually says ‘me’ to mean ‘my’ or ‘mine’. So ‘thingamy’ = ‘thing of mine”.
So Bas is saying, “I put the gun in his mouth, shot him, then watched his body twitch.” Holy shit. Bas gets the award for nastiest line in the song… BUT he also did it by using callbacks to two of Pete’s lines from previous songs, making the one-upping even crazier.
In “Quick Little Freestyle”, Pete refers to his weapon with “got a thingamajiggy, I’m re-jigging it quickly, and I’m running all sorts of attachments” and in “Plugged In with Fumez the Engineer” he has a line about a twitching body, “clean shot - make a man dance and I don’t need TikTok.”

My favourite thing in the whole song, though, is Bas saying “prickly” as three syllables, then following that up with “quickly” being three syllables as well. It’s a cute bit of wordplay that makes you smile, right before he drops the hardest bar in the whole song.

Back to Pete and Bas main page