I Ain't No Joke Lyrics - Singles - 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 in a 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 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 if you pretend to be 

Competing 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 stun 

Remember me, the one you got your idea from 

But soon you start to suffer but you only get rougher 

When you start to stutter that's when you had enough of 

Biting it, I make you choke, you can't provoke 

You can't cope, you should of broke cause I ain't no joke 

I got a question, it's 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 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 7 mc's 

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'mma 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'm senile, people 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 fiendin' 

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 take you for a walk through hell 

Feed your dome then watch your eyeballs swell 

Guide you out of triple state darkness 

When it get dark again then I'mma spark this 

Microphone cause the heat is on, you see smoke 

And I'm finish when the beat is gone, I'm no joke