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

[00:08.76] I ain't no joke, I use to let the mic smoke [00:10.81] Now I slam it when I'm done and make sure it's broke [00:13.26] When i'm gone no one gets on cuz I won't let [00:15.58] Nobody press up and mess up the seen I set [00:18.06] I like to stand in a crowd and watch the people wonder damn [00:20.75] But think about it then you'll understand [00:23.13] I'm just an addict addicted to music [00:25.14] Maybe it's a habit, I gotta use it [00:27.30] Even if it's jazz or the quiet storm [00:29.68] I a beat up convert it into hip-hop form [00:32.04] Write a rhyme in graffitti in every show you see me in [00:34.19] Deep concentration, cuz I'm no comedian [00:36.73] Jokers are wild if you wanna be tamed [00:39.08] I treat you like a child then you're gonna be named [00:41.31] Another enemy, not even a friend of me [00:43.86] Cuz you'll get fried in the end when you pretend to be [00:46.15] Competin' cuz I just put your mind on pause [00:48.06] And I complete when - you compare my rhyme wit yours [00:50.42] I wake you up and as I stare in your face you seem stunned [00:52.75] Remember me, the one you got your idea from [00:54.73] But soon you start to suffer, the tune'll get rougher [00:57.02] When you start to stutter that's when you had enuff of [00:58.64] Biting, it'll make you choke, you can't provoke [01:02.10] You can't cope, you should've broke because I ain't no joke [01:07.11] [01:22.50] I got a question, as serious as cancer [01:25.61] Who can keep the average dancer [01:27.22] Hyper as a heart attack nobody smiling [01:29.63] Cuz you're expressing the rhyme that I'm styling [01:32.09] This is what we all sit down to write [01:33.98] You can't make it so you take it home, break it and bite [01:36.07] Use pieces and bits of all the hip-hop hits [01:38.35] Get the style down pat then it's time to switch [01:40.60] Put my tape on pause and add some more to yours [01:43.03] Then you fake it you're ready for the neighborhood chores [01:45.34] The E-M-C-E-E don't even try to be [01:47.96] When you come up to speak, don't even lie to me [01:50.49] You like to exaggerate, dream and imaginate [01:52.58] Then change the rhyme around, that can aggravate me [01:54.90] So when you see me come up, freeze [01:57.49] Or you'll be one of those 7 MC's [01:59.56] They think that I'm a new jack but only if they knew that [02:01.74] They who think wrong are they who can't do that [02:03.99] Style that I'm doing, they might ruin [02:06.59] Patterns and paragraphs based on you and [02:08.73] Your offbeat DJ, if anything he play [02:11.20] Sound familiar, I'll wait til E say [02:13.46] Play 'em, so I'ma have to diss and bro [02:15.79] You could get a smack for this, I ain't no joke [02:19.77] [02:36.87] I hold the microphone like a grudge [02:38.79] B'll hold the record so the needle don't budge [02:40.84] I hold a conversation cuz when I invent [02:43.11] I nominated my DJ to president [02:45.11] When I'm see I'll, keep a freestyle, going steadily [02:47.69] So pucker up and whistle my melody [02:50.21] But whatever you do, don't miss one [02:52.72] They'll be another rough rhyme after this one [02:54.60] Before you know it, you're following and fiending [02:56.83] Waiting for the punchline to get the meaning [02:59.25] Like before the middle of my story I'm telling [03:01.40] Nobody beats the R so stop yelling [03:03.62] Save it, put it in your pocket for later [03:06.22] Cuz I'm moving the crowd and B'll wreck the fader [03:08.25] No interruptions til the mic is broke [03:10.82] When I'm gone, then you can joke [03:13.36] Cuz everything is real on a serious tip [03:15.30] Keep playing and I varies quick [03:17.89] And take you for a walk through hell [03:19.85] Freeze your dome then watch your eyeballs swell [03:22.78] Guide you out of triple stage darkness [03:24.59] When it get dark again then I'ma spark this [03:26.95] Microphone cuz the heat is on, you see smoke [03:29.54] Then I finish when the beat is gone, I'm no joke [03:31.78]