I Ain't No Joke

I Ain’t No Joke - Eric B & Rakim

I ain't no joke I used to let the mic smoke

Now I slam it when I'm done

And make sure it's broke

When I'm gone no one gets on cause I won't let

Nobody press up and mess up the scene I set

I like to stand in a 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 graffitti in 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 can beat you

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 will make you choke you can't provoke

You can't cope you should have broke

Because I ain't no joke

I got a question as serious as cancer

Who can keep the average dancer

Hyper as a heart attack nobody smiling

Cause you're expressing the rhyme that I'm styling

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 the 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 figure you're ready for the neighborhood tours

The 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 emcees

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 doing 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'm a have to dis and broke

You could 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 president

When I emcee I'll keep a freestyle going steadily

So pucker up and whistle my melody

But whatever you do don't miss one

They'll be another rough rhyme after this one

Before you know it you're following and fiending

Waiting for the punchline to get the meaning

Like before the middle of my story I'm telling

Nobody beats the R so stop yelling

Save it put it in your pocket for later

Cause I'm moving the crowd and B a record fader

No interruptions and the mic is broke

When I'm gone then you can joke

Cause everything is real on a serious tip

Keep playing and I get furious quick

And I'll take you for a walk through hell

Freeze your dome then watch your eyeballs swell

Guide you out of triple stage darkness

When it get dark again then I'm a spark this

Microphone cause the heat is on you see smoke

And I'm finished when the beat is gone

I'm no joke