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

[00:08.25]I ain't no joke, I use to let the mic smoke [00:11.94]Now I slam it when I'm done [00:13.56]And make sure it's broke [00:14.57]When i'm gone no one gets on [00:15.94]Cuz I won't let [00:16.64]Nobody press up [00:17.33]And mess up the seen I set [00:18.79]I like to stand in a crowd [00:20.16]And watch the people wonder damn [00:21.41]But think about it then you'll understand [00:23.91]I'm just an addict addicted to music [00:25.47]Maybe it's a habit, I gotta use it [00:28.15]Even if it's jazz or the quiet storm [00:30.27]I hook a beat up convert it into hip-hop form [00:32.58]Write a rhyme in graffiti [00:34.14]In every show you see me in [00:35.61]Deep concentration, cuz I'm no comedian [00:37.48]Jokers are wild if you wanna be tamed [00:39.60]I treat you like a child [00:40.85]Then you're gonna be named [00:41.97]Another enemy, not even a friend of me [00:44.65]Cuz you'll get fried in the end [00:46.15]When you pretend to be [00:47.22]Competin' cuz I just put your mind on pause [00:49.02]And I complete [00:49.58]When you compare my rhyme wit yours [00:51.14]I wake you up [00:51.95]And as I stare in your face you seem stunned [00:54.26]Remember me, [00:54.70]The one you got your idea from [00:56.13]But soon you start to suffer, [00:57.44]The tune'll get rougher [00:58.32]When you start to stutter [00:59.26]That's when you had enuff of [01:00.55]Biting, it'll make you choke, [01:01.55]You can't provoke [01:02.23]You can't cope, you should've broke [01:04.23]Because I ain't no joke [01:05.35] [01:23.21]I got a question, as serious as cancer [01:26.47]Who can keep the average dancer [01:28.04]Hyper as a heart attack nobody smiling [01:30.42]Cuz you're expressing the rhyme that I'm styling [01:32.79]This is what we all sit down to write [01:34.72]You can't make it so you take it home, [01:36.53]Break it and bite [01:37.42]Use pieces and bits of all the hip-hop hits [01:39.23]Get the style down pat [01:40.54]Then it's time to switch [01:41.66]Put my tape on pause [01:42.79]And add some more to yours [01:44.10]Then you fake it you're ready [01:45.43]For the neighborhood chores [01:46.30]The E-M-C-E-E don't even try to be [01:49.17]When you come up to speak, [01:50.54]Don't even lie to me [01:51.79]You like to exaggerate, [01:52.66]Dream and imaginate [01:53.66]Then change the rhyme around, [01:54.78]That can aggravate me [01:55.97]So when you see me come up, freeze [01:58.03]Or you'll be one of those 7 MC's [02:00.29]They think that I'm a new jack [02:01.85]But only if they knew that [02:02.72]They who think wrong are they who can't do that [02:04.85]Style that I'm doing, they might ruin [02:07.46]Patterns and paragraphs based on you and [02:09.21]Your offbeat DJ, if anything he play [02:11.77]Sound familiar, I'll wait til E say [02:14.08]Play 'em, so I'ma have to diss and bro [02:16.45]You could get a smack for this, I ain't no joke [02:37.26]I hold the microphone like a grudge [02:39.21]B'll hold the record so the needle don't budge [02:41.58]I hold a conversation cuz when I invent [02:43.76]I nominated my DJ to president [02:46.09]When I'm see I'll, keep a freestyle, going steadily [02:48.54]So pucker up and whistle my melody [02:50.66]But whatever you do, don't miss one [02:53.42]They'll be another rough rhyme after this one [02:55.79]Before you know it, you're following and fiending [02:57.84]Waiting for the punchline to get the meaning [02:59.84]Like before the middle of my story I'm telling [03:02.79]Nobody beats the R so stop yelling [03:04.35]Save it, put it in your pocket for later [03:07.03]Cuz I'm moving the crowd and B'll wreck the fader [03:09.31]No interruptions til the mic is broke [03:11.55]When I'm gone, then you can joke [03:14.05]Cuz everything is real on a serious tip [03:16.06]Keep playing and I varies quick [03:18.31]And take you for a walk through hell [03:20.50]Freeze your dome then watch your eyeballs swell [03:23.12]Guide you out of triple stage darkness [03:25.37]When it get dark again then I'ma spark this [03:27.87]Microphone cuz the heat is on, you see smoke [03:30.62]Then I finish when the beat is gone, I'm no joke