I Ain't No Joke - Eric B., Rakim

I ain’t no joke, I use to let the mic smoke

Now I slam it when I’m done and make sure it’s broke

When I’m gone, no on gets on, cause I won’t let

nobody press up, and mess up, the scene I set

I like to stand in the crowd, and watch the people wonder Damn!

But think about it, then you’ll understand

I’m just an addict, addicted to music

Maybe it’s a habit, I gotta use it Even if it’s jazz or the quiet storm

I hook a beat up, convert it into hip-hop form

Write a rhyme in grafitti and, every show you see me in Deep concentration, cause I’m no comedian

Jokers are wild, if you wanna be tamed

I treat you like a child, then you’re gonna be named

Another enemy, not even a friend of me Cause you’ll get fried in the end, when you pretend to be competing, cause I just put your mind on pause

And I complete when, you compare my rhyme with yours

I wake you up and as I stare in your face you seem stunned

Remember me?

The one you got your idea from

But soon you start to suffer, the tune’ll get rougher

When you start to stutter, that’s when you had enough of biting it’ll make you choke, you can’t provoke

You can’t cope, you shoulda broke, because I ain’t no joke

I got a question -- it’s serious as cancer

Who can keep the average dancer

hyper as a heart attack, nobody smilin

Cause you’re expressin, the rhyme that I’m stylin

This is what we all sit down to write

You can’t make it so you take it home, break it and bite

Use pieces and bits of all my hip-hop hits

Get the style down pat, then it’s time to switch

Put my tape on pause, and add some more to yours

Then you figured, you’re ready for the neighborhood chores

A E-M-C-E-E don’t even try to be When you come up to speak, don’t even lie to me You like to exaggerate, dream and imaginate

Then change the rhyme around, that can aggravate me So when you see me come up, freeze

Or you’ll be one of those seven MC’s

They think that I’m a new jack, but only if they knew that

they who think wrong are they who can’t do that

style that I’m doin, they might ruin

Patterns of paragraphs, based on you and

your offbeat DJ, if anything he play

sound familiar, I’ll wait 'til E. say

Play 'em, so I’ma have to diss and bro

you can get a smack for this, I ain’t no joke

I hold the microphone like a grudge

B’ll hold the record so the needle don’t budge

I hold a conversation cause when I invent

I nominated, my DJ, The Presdient

When I see you I’ll, kick a freestyle, goin steadily

So pucker up, and whistle My Melody

But whatever you do, don’t miss one

There’ll be another rough rhyme after this one

Before you know it, you’re followin and fiendin

Waiting for the punchline, to get the meanin

Like before, the middle of my story I’m tellin

Nobody beats the R, so stop yellin

Save it, put it in your pocket for later

Cause I’m Moving the Crowd, and B’ll wreck the fader

No interruptions 'til the mic is broke

When I’m gone… then you can joke!

Cause everything is real on a serious tip

Keep playin, and I get furious quick

And I’ll take you for a walk through hell

Feed your dome -- then watch your eyeballs swell

Guide you out of triple stage darkness

When it get dark again… then I’ma spark this

microphone, cause the heat is on, you see smoke

And I’m finished when the beat is gone, I’m no joke