Microphone - Baba Brinkman

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microscope

It’s like a slideshow of my whole life up close

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microwave

Ultraviolet blazes inside this cave

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microchip

A device to flip memory bites through my lips

It’s nothin' but a mic, though, when I go home

It’s the cyclone life of the microphone

This mic dangles loose at the end of a black chord

Like a hangman’s noose in front of the dance floor

Each night paying dues I stand on a trap door

And I’d like to thank the muse at the plentiful rap source

‘Cause my slang and language use is gonna pass the course

So crank the juice and let the energy blast forth

I’m gonna be forced to take advantage of this amplification

To state my plans for this planet’s emancipation

I understand if you’re wastin' away, waitin' for the chance to take an

Extended vacation, spendin' your pay-cheque

Straight spinnin' in place in a panic, anticipatin'

The end of creation;

man, I’ve been in that state and

I’ve managed the transformation to a standing ovation

With this mic in my hand facin' crowds of people, just trustin'

That we can work out beef with nothin' but speech and percussion

Just peaceful discussion and powerful beat production

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microscope

It’s like a slideshow of my whole life up close

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microwave

Ultraviolet blazes inside this cave

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microchip

A device to flip memory bites through my lips

It’s nothin' but a mic, though, when I go home

It’s the cyclone life of the microphone

Weak speakers crack when this mic feeds back

Screeches travel through the tweeters jacked up with each pass

And when people react to these unique speech acts

It creates an equally fast species of feedback

I need that positive twist to write these raps

The props that I get increase my peak capacity

And my abilities increase the props that I get

It’s a simple and deep fact of cause and effect

When the tree sap’s runnin', I ain’t stoppin' for breath

The only problem is stress and system overload

If they’re not given proper rest microphones can blow

The equipment connected;

it’s a risk the poet knows

And I’ve got to accept it when I’m kickin' my poems

Most are written at home, long before they enter the light

Hand printed and typed songs invented at night

That eventually might get launched into the mic

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microscope

It’s like a slideshow of my whole life up close

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microwave

Ultraviolet blazes inside this cave

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microchip

A device to flip memory bites through my lips

It’s nothin' but a mic, though, when I go home

It’s the cyclone life of the microphone

I used to suffer ‘mic lust', and drool when I saw them

But when I touched and tried to bust, I knew I was rotten

So I withdrew from performin' and kept writin' new songs

Not the type to rush to rock a mic tattoo on my arm

Now I finally feel like I’m just movin' along

With no excuses or those wrong-headed abuses of charm

That people use to get on stage, replacin' the real

Relationships built with microphones based on skill

It’s more than just the taste of a meal that makes it appeal

It’s more than just the shape or the face on the bill

That dictates its place in the till or the amount of it

Beware of counterfeit poets at shows who don’t know how to spit

The mic proudly sits above MCs' debates

Power-trips and picks out victims like the Three Fates

But the system predates the green age of the icon

In days bygone poets rhymed without mics on

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microscope

It’s like a slideshow of my whole life up close

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microwave

Ultraviolet blazes inside this cave

This ain’t a microphone;

it’s a microchip

A device to flip memory bites through my lips

It’s nothin' but a mic, though, when I go home

It’s the cyclone life of the microphone