[Intro: Doc Brown]
My first show? Boy
I mean, yeah, every rapper remembers his first show
I mean, every artist, full stop, no lie
That's su'in you never forget
And me, myself, it was like
I suppose it was slightly different era to some of the up and coming cats now
You know, but, there's a lot of different experiences man can talk about, still man
There's so much I remember

[Verse 1: Lowkey]
Yeah, okay
The first time I stepped on stage, I remember that like it was yesterday
I was just another rapper, thinking I'd never drop
Till my bredrin told me about this record shop
It wasn't just somewhere to get clothes and buy CDs
You could spit the flows you write at the open mic weekly
I wanted to go, even though I'd been delayin'
I finally checked it out to see what this ting was sayin'

The first thing I noticed, the place was damn small
On the mic, you gotta look in their face and stand tall
On the reals, back then no one forced me to spit
I heard all the other rappers and I thought they was shit
Then the host came round and asked me (What, bruv, you wanna spit?)
I said, yes and he put my name down
He said (Lowkey, yeah, someone else uses that name too)
And it just so happened that the other dude came through
I spat some old verses and killed those beats
But the host said, "The other guy's the real Lowkey"
I said, "Fuck that, come we battle for the name then
I play to win, I never came here to make friends
It's nu'in personal, I had to take your shine
I verbally merked you, now your name is mine"
After that day, somehow my name got round
What was the host's name? Oh, 'is name was Doc Brown

[Verse 2: Doc Brown]
I started off as a fan of parties and other jams
In London, the younger brother of Varma G was the man
Used to stand with a dictaphone counting the tapes we got
From the jam called The Apricot
Blud, it was late 90s, and kind of a great time, see
If you was rappin' whack, you'd never escape lightly
Crowd'd all be hecklin' bredders who couldn't cut it
And clashers would spark quick if ever you tried to chuck it

The vibe was aggressive, I'm guessing, and yes there was less chicks
But, in terms of war shows, that made for the best shit
For me it was a wonder on the ground of the under
Where no one pulled their punches, not the rappers or the punters
That's how it was in [?]
And Nextjam in Camden Town was known for bringin' all the mandem down
I'm in the ground, spittin' under my breath, just waitin'
Nervous shit, intimidatin' is a understatement
They're havin' clashes, my bredrin threw my name in
Blud, I've never done this before, I'm gonna be bait
"Can Doc Brown come to the stage?", the host's callin'
Somehow I won two rounds with no stallin'
I think it was the quarters, or semifinal battle
But sure enough, I got torn up by Sway DaSafo
Still lookin' back it made me stronger and more on point with this
It made my flow improve and made my poetry poisonous

[Outro: Doc Brown]
It's crazy, you know, when you think about it
The start of, like, being in a battle startin' off your performin' days
Under that kinda intense, uh, pressure
D'you know what I mean, like, it was scary, you know
But, it makes you the artist you become, you know
It gives you balls, it gives you, uh, just a little bit more knowledge of what to expect from crowds
How to win people over, d'you know what I'm sayin'
For me a lot of people say, "Yeah man, aight
You're good at just interactin' with the crowd and
And really winnin' people's hearts and minds"
You know, and, that's what I try and do every time I step on stage now