I Ain't No Joke

Album: Paid In Full (1986)
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  • 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 graffiti in every show you see me in
    Deep concentration 'cause I'm no comedian
    Jokers are wild, if you wanna be tame
    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
    Competin' 'cause I just put your mind on pause
    And I can beat you when you compare my rhyme wit' 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
    Bitin' it'll make you choke, you can't provoke
    You can't cope, you should of 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 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 the hip-hop hits
    Get the style down pack 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 chores
    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 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 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 for president
    When I emcee I'll keep a freestyle goin' 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 followin' and fiendin'
    Waitin' for the punchline to get the meanin'
    Like before the moral 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 movin' 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 Writer/s: Eric Barrier, William Griffin
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

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