[ti:I Ain’t No Joke]
[ar:Eric B. & Rakim]
[al:Paid In Full]
[00:00.82]I Ain’t No Joke - Eric B  & Rakim
[00:03.36]
[00:08.59]I ain't no joke  I used to let the mic smoke
[00:11.60]Now I slam it when I'm done
[00:12.80]And make sure it's broke
[00:13.91]When I'm gone  no one gets on cause I won't let
[00:16.11]Nobody press up and mess up the scene I set
[00:18.38]I like to stand in a crowd
[00:19.61]And watch the people wonder damn
[00:21.40]But think about it then you'll understand
[00:23.53]I'm just an addict  addicted to music
[00:25.70]Maybe it's a habit  I gotta use it
[00:27.88]Even if it's jazz or the quiet storm
[00:29.89]I hook a beat up  convert it into hip-hop form
[00:32.40]Write a rhyme in graffitti in every show you see me in
[00:34.94]Deep concentration cause I'm no comedian
[00:37.11]Jokers are wild if you wanna be tamed
[00:39.22]I treat you like a child then you're gonna be named
[00:41.79]Another enemy  not even a friend of me
[00:44.09]Cause you'll get fried in the end
[00:45.51]When you pretend to be
[00:46.32]Competing cause I just put your mind on pause
[00:48.40]And I can beat you
[00:49.30]When you compare my rhyme with yours
[00:50.70]I wake you up and as I stare in
[00:52.08]Your face you seem stunned
[00:52.94]Remember me  the one you got your idea from
[00:55.08]But soon you start to suffer
[00:56.62]The tune'll get rougher
[00:57.62]When you start to stutter
[00:58.84]That's when you had enough of
[01:00.09]Biting it will make you choke  you can't provoke
[01:02.34]You can't cope  you should have broke
[01:03.95]Because I ain't no joke
[01:06.56]
[01:22.92]I got a question as serious as cancer
[01:25.30]
[01:25.88]Who can keep the average dancer
[01:27.74]Hyper as a heart attack nobody smiling
[01:30.07]Cause you're expressing the rhyme that I'm styling
[01:32.45]This is what we all sit down to write
[01:34.39]You can't make it so you take it home  break it and bite
[01:36.90]Use pieces and bits of all the hip-hop hits
[01:39.04]Get the style down pat then it's time to switch
[01:41.28]Put my tape on pause and add some more to yours
[01:43.65]Then you figure you're ready for the neighborhood tours
[01:46.15]The E-M-C-E-E don't even try to be
[01:48.54]When you come up to speak  don't even lie to me
[01:50.90]You like to exaggerate  dream and imaginate
[01:53.11]Then change the rhyme around
[01:54.61]That can aggravate me
[01:55.75]So when you see me  come up  freeze
[01:57.76]Or you'll be one of those seven emcees
[01:59.90]They think that I'm a new jack but only if they knew that
[02:02.31]They who think wrong are they who can't do that
[02:04.49]Style that I'm doing  they might ruin
[02:07.11]Patterns of paragraphs based on you and
[02:09.30]Your offbeat DJ  if anything he play
[02:11.56]Sound familiar  I'll wait til E say
[02:13.88]Play 'em  so I'm a have to dis and broke
[02:16.22]You could get a smack for this
[02:17.44]I ain't no joke
[02:19.36]
[02:36.97]I hold the microphone like a grudge
[02:39.12]B'll hold the record so the needle don't budge
[02:41.29]I hold a conversation cause when I invent
[02:43.50]I nominated my DJ the president
[02:45.67]When I emcee  I'll keep a freestyle  going steadily
[02:48.43]So pucker up and whistle my melody
[02:50.59]But whatever you do  don't miss one
[02:53.11]They'll be another rough rhyme after this one
[02:55.46]Before you know it  you're following and fiending
[02:57.52]Waiting for the punchline to get the meaning
[02:59.71]Like before the middle of my story I'm telling
[03:01.99]Nobody beats the R  so stop yelling
[03:04.50]Save it  put it in your pocket for later
[03:06.61]Cause I'm moving the crowd and B a record fader
[03:09.05]No interruptions and the mic is broke
[03:11.18]When I'm gone  then you can joke
[03:13.57]Cause everything is real on a serious tip
[03:15.64]Keep playing and I get furious quick
[03:17.96]And I'll take you for a walk through hell
[03:20.02]Freeze your dome  then watch your eyeballs swell
[03:22.80]Guide you out of triple stage darkness
[03:24.92]When it get dark again then I'm a spark this
[03:27.47]Microphone cause the heat is on  you see smoke
[03:30.02]And I'm finished when the beat is gone
[03:31.76]I'm no joke