These simple lyrics resonate in Bristol's tightly-knit Jamaican community.

I can tell you all about 90% of the Jamaican families in Bristol; where they came from, who married who. At weddings or funerals it's really striking how closely related we all are.

Take Rod for instance. He's one of my peeps and his story is in the films.

Ask anyone and they'd say we were brothers - in fact we are cousins.

We were brought up together. He'd stay at my house, and in turn his mother would look after me. I still call her "mama".

It's the same with other "my peeps".

"LD" is a young, up-and-coming singer who I've filmed working with music producer Mix Master M. She's another cousin.

Windrush generation

It's all down to our history - I'm one of the Windrush children.

My parents came to Bristol in 1961, invited here by the UK government.

And why did they come to Bristol? That's simple. My father knew other families from Jamaica who had already come here.

My parent's generation all knew each other, they clung together in England.

Most of Bristol's Jamaican families come from just two districts, Clarendon and St Thomas.

Even today Bristol has the largest concentration of Jamaican families anywhere in the world outside the island and, surprisingly, Canada.

A 'safe' community

St Pauls was where we settled.

Mr Brown, talking to my camera, remembers the early '50s when taxi drivers picking up a black man at Temple Meads wouldn't ask where he was going: "It would always be 13 Brighton Street."

I came here when I was two.

My parent's blood still ran hot with the Jamaican fire of life.

The community I grew up in was Jamaican, I was gutting chickens in the back yard when I was six.

We like hot food, jerk chicken and plantain. We were raised to respect our mamas and papas.

Whatever St Pauls means to the wider world to me it is my childhood home, where my parents' values were lived out; a safe community.

Culture clash

It was when I went to school and mixed with white children that the culture clash became obvious.

I remember hearing boys telling their mothers to "f*** off". That behaviour was never tolerated in our house.

In the playground I was teased for referring to my parents as mama and papa, and slipped into using mum and dad'.

When I first called my father dad he refused to answer me!

St Pauls was a place where you could be proud to be black.

Racism

Up-town my generation suffered the crueller end of racism.

When Mr Brown came to Bristol in the 1950s a black man was a novelty.

He remembers children calling him "monkey", and asking where his tail was! In those days he put it down to ignorance. Now, as he says, "people knows better."

These are the experiences that bind my peeps together.

Today St Pauls is changing again.

When I was a young man it was home to our Jamaican community, now it's becoming truly multi-cultural: Somalis, Kosovans and Arabs are making it their home too.

But it was my generation, my peeps, who taught modern Britain how to welcome communities from outside.

We were the template, it was us who suffered the abuse and fought the fights that make it easier for the latest arrivals.

And sometimes its galling to see them getting the hand-outs and the attention when our children are still finding it so hard.

Caribbean links

My films go inside this community which still draws its strength from our links with the Caribbean. But the stories I've captured are about living in Bristol.

They are accounts of the ups and the downs in the lives of people who are proud of the way the community has contributed to the richness of life in the UK.

If I was pressed, I'd say I was trying to speak to the youths, my son's generation, and give them a way of seeing how our past informs the values we live by, and urge them not to forget their heritage.

Music from the series:

My Peeps by Toy Boy VIP (Clive's brother)
These films are personal stories put together from tapes I've recorded over the past five years with my people - my peeps.

Stop Cracking by Clive Smith
I wrote this more than 10 years ago when crack cocaine was dividing the community. It's the sound track to the first programme where I introduce present day St Pauls. We hear from people urging the community to stick together.

I Like It by Toy Boy VIP
There is a wealth of talent in the Jamaican community. Mix Master M is working with Bristol musicians to show their talent to a wider audience.

Black by Toy Boy VIP
Old Sam came to the UK in 1959. He tells me he's "never done England down," he's always got on with the English. He has recreated a little bit of Jamaica in his garden in the heart of St Pauls.

You Need Ur Time by Toy Boy VIP.
When I first saw Rod in hospital after his motorway accident I thought it was going to be the last time I'd see him. "You need your time" is what he needs to recover.

See My Peeps on BBC1 in the West:
Episode one: Wednesday 24 March at 11.15pm.
Episode two: Monday 29 March at 11.15pm.
Episode three: Tuesday 6 April at 10.35pm.
Episode four: Wednesday 14 April at 10.35pm.