Eric B. - I Ain't No Joke lyrics

[Verse 1] 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 [Verse 2] 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 [Verse 3] 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 There'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