No Gimmicks - Lord Finesse, KRS-One

Lord Finesse and Blastmaster KRS-One

Lyrical styles weigh a ton

Lord Finesse, we know you got skills

Come into the cypher and build

Chill out, all emcee I kill

Come down

Check it out, come on, here’s your chance to swing

With some ill motherfuckers, we don’t dance and sing

In ‘95 we’re out jingling, serving

Poetic Justice without that nigga John Singleton

I do my thing while the fans be gelling.

Ayyo

I’m so dope, you better tap your man and tell him

I don’t fake moves, I scrape crews, I make brothers

Break food—just give me a beat with a bass groove

I’m mad funky—ask the experts—‘cause I’ll

Make you bob your head until your motherfucking neck hurt

So don’t ask me to max, G, ‘cause if you

Ain’t real, I’m bringing it to your face like acne

Now rappers run scams and flimflams

On how they be getting loose when they’re rusty like the Tin Man

They rap fast, trying to stack cash, but on

The reel-to-reel, yo, they’re still sounding half-assed

Yelling and screaming like they got something when they don’t

Got nothing, so them niggas need to stop fronting

Talking how they be ragging shit when I don’t know if them

Niggas are rapping or talking motherfucking Arabic

They act so ill.

Ay, no frills, they should go

Chill.

They all mouth with no skills

When I’m around, they all feel funny ‘cause I’m

Young, making funds like Shaquille O’Neal, money

You want any drama?

You better wear plenty armor

I’ll cut that ass like the chef at Benihana’s

The Funky Man’s in it to win it.

We gotta keep it

Real, yo, no motherfucking gimmicks

Whoever make a hit they the best (That's a gimmick).

You sell

Records based on how you’re dressed (That's a gimmick).

Ayyo

That tongue-twisting shit, that’s kind of fresh (That's a gimmick).

What’s when

You’re soft but you’re fronting like you’re stressed?

(That's a gimmick).

What’s when

You’re only into rap to get paid?

(That's a gimmick).

What’s when

You’re yelling and screaming up on stage?

(That's a gimmick).

When your

Career is numbered by days?

(That's a gimmick).

What’s when

Your lyrical style is just a phase?

(That's a gimmick)

Yeah, check it out.

A-yes

Yes, y’all, to the beat, y’all, bringing the street, let me

Put my beeper on «vibrate» so we won’t hear it beep.

Representing

The street, concrete what I speak, yeah, I live it.

Let it

Be known KRS is not about a gimmick.

I’ll grab the

Mic and rip it.

Meanwhile, they’re stalling.

I’ll raise the mic

Stand because I’m tall and I keep the crowd crawling

I’m not like those other rappers talking about the caps

They peel.

Punk, I’ll battle emcees for real

Fuck a record deal when you’re still into hip hopping with your

Country ass, sounding like you’re still picking cotton

You’ll get thrown across the room in that direction.

Listen

The lyrical Teacha’s not the one you should be checking.

This is

My eara or era or eara, whatever

I’m mad clever, I’ll «Shoop,» you’ll doop, you’ll doop like Salt-N-Pepa

Lyrical terror, you should never ever come for mine

When I rhyme, I clean up emcees with the fresh smell of pine.

I

Got skills and it shows—you could slow or speed up

The tempo.

Your style is fake like Janet Jackson’s nose

I’m selling that real live shit, and you could get hurt

You’re selling that fake shit like the Home Shopping Network

You got a lot of rhymes to battle in a second

But frankly, the bottom line is: where’s your hit record?

You claim I’m jocking, you claim I’m on your dick.

Where’s your witness?

If I’m on your dick, my name has got to be syphilis

I come with lyrical, physical fitness.

Two months

From now, you will have bit this.

Watch me light that ass up like Christmas

Don’t let me come out on that ass, start flipping

The lyrics I’ll be kicking be hotter than jerk chicken

So whether from The East or from The West, brothers know I’m KRS

I got force, I came to your town to set it off

So when Finesse goes «hit it,» I’ll never mimic

KRS-One could never use a gimmick

When you’re riding the next rapper’s dick (That's a gimmick).

When you’re

R&B and then you cold flip (That's a gimmick).

Start rhyming

Hardcore just to get a hit (That's a gimmick).

When you get over

But your skills ain’t shit (That's a gimmick).

When you

Rap but you don’t have soul (That's a gimmick).

When you

Cross over just to go gold (That's a gimmick).

When you’re not

A gangster but portraying a role (That's a gimmick).

What’s when

You’re shaped in somebody else’s mold?

(That's a gimmick)

Man your station ‘cause the clan you’re facing is stepping

To you trash motherfuckers like sanitation.

I’ll shoot

And throw rhymes, the whole nine when it’s showtime

(What up, kid?) Brothers know I could hold mine

On the real, I got rhymes skills.

When the time’s

Ill, I’m blowing up spots like a minefield

Brothers front with their chest out, but

Words from Finesse mouth’ll leave them niggas stressed out

They make me sick to my stomach (So put it)

(On ‘em, kid!) Them motherfuckers don’t want it

They can’t see me, believe me.

They’re all

Phonies like them niggas that be wrestling on TV

Yo, they’re nowhere near pro, and niggas

Couldn’t hang if they was motherfucking scarecrows

Nowadays, a lot of rappers sound fake, talking that

Gangster shit when they’re softer than a pound cake

So why you fronting with the burner, kid?

When you done

Took more ass-whippings than fucking Tina Turner did

You wanna front?

So be it, but fuck

Beating around the bush.

I just speak how I see it

Me fall off?

That shit’s dead, it’s not

Happening, kid, so get that shit through your thick head

I’ll never sellout—(What?)—you heard right

I’ll never cross over (Aight!), word life

So when I said it, peep the method.

If I

Never go gold but get credit, I won’t sweat it

In ‘95 we’re all in it, we gotta keep it

Real, yo, no motherfucking gimmicks

What’s when you

Rap but don’t appreciate the art?

(That's a gimmick).

What’s when you

Sell out just to get a start?

(That's a gimmick).

What’s when you

Make bullshit just for the charts?

(That's a gimmick).

What’s when you

Rap but it’s not from the heart?

(That's a gimmick).

What’s when you’re

Hardcore, then you turn pop?

(That's a gimmick)

When you steal ideas to get props?

(That's a gimmick)

When you sell out to be on top?

(That's a gimmick).

What’s when you

Front like you’re hard but you’re not?

(That's a gimmick)

Now let this be a lesson to all emcees and DJ’s

Anyone that come across the line will have to pay

Real hip hop is in effect

Real hip hop is in effect

Real hip hop is in effect

Give it respect, we catch wreck