I Ain't No Joke (Song)

"I Ain't No Joke" is a song by rap duo Eric B. & Rakim, released as the second single from their debut studio album *Paid in Full*. It peaked at number thirty-eight on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. Described as one of the album's "monumental singles", Michael Di Bella wrote in the *All Music Guide to Rock* that "Rakim grabs the listener by the throat and illustrates his mastery of the rhyming craft". A music video was made for it, featuring dancing from Flavor Flav of the group Public Enemy. The song was selected by Jay-Z for the NBA 2K13 soundtrack. It was also featured in the video game Saints Row.

## Lyrics

* 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
* 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'll make you choke, you can't provoke
* You can't cope, you should've 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 my 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 off-beat 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
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* [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 what I invent
* I nominated my DJ for 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 moral 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'll wreck the 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'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