Stop Shammin'

Big Daddy Kane

One-fifty-eight Lewis Avenue
Between Lafayette and Van Buren, that was back during
The days of hangin on my Bed-Stuy block
With Spence and Mitch, followin my cousin Murdoch

All the brothers were real, goin for what they feel
By the way, peace to my man Sha and Big Neal
Now in ninety-three I'm still bein me
You think my 'fridgerator ain't full of Olde E? Huh

A lot of times I get fly with a suit and a tie
Yeah I went from rags to riches but I still rock the saggy britches
And I don't try to act brand new
Eatin escargots and usin words like "rendezvous"

The ghetto life I've seen a lot overcome
Make a little money and then forget where they came from
Livin a plastic lifestyle, you're more false than dentures
Don't make me pull your file -- stop shammin!

[Chorus: x3]
"Stop, hold-up, pause, wait"
"Stop, hold-up, pause, wait"
Stop shammin!

Stop, hold-up, pause, wait"
"Stop, hold-up, pause, wait"

So why you want to be what you're not?
And claim to have things that you know you ain't got
You're just a fantasizer -- spendin all your money
On lustrous pink oil moisturizer

Just to make your hair curly and thin
You say, "Black is beautiful," but then you go and bleach your skin
Money you're worse than Yacub
'Cause their are eight stages of graft and you broke down to two

Plus you got a bad case of jungle fever
And nmmana-nah-nah I just can't believe ya
It's quite obvious you don't want to be a black man
So what's next - you're gonna join the Klu Klux Klan?

You sold out to your race and it's a big disgrace
You can't look your own people in the face
You wonder why it ain't no black schools or hospitals
You're makin millions of dollars and it's pitiful

That you can donate to leukemia all the time
But you can't give the Nation of Islam a dime
They mention Muslims, you change the subject
You can't even shake Farrakhan hand in public

That whole busy attitude is a sham
Umm bro, umm brother, umm.. Brougham, stop shammin!

[Chorus: x3]

"Stop, hold-up, pause, wait"
"Stop, hold-up, pause, wait"

"Change the groove and funk it up a little bit"

I look in the mirror, at times I say, "Damn Black Caesar;
How'd you get to be the woman pleaser?"
'Cause I remember when girls didn't notice me
And now they want to Come and Talk To Me like Jodeci

It's strange, how back in the days I couldn't get with em
Now all of a sudden the honies they want to give me rhythm
Well I'm a hit it, but still I show no pity
So I hope you don't think you gonna be in my next video

And many brothers I never even ran with
Be actin like they been hangin with me since I was a kid
I mean just to get a piece of the action
Man they start rememberin more times than Michael Jackson

But I can't fade to the tag-alongs
That want me to drag em on
Frontin like a friend just so I can put em in
But you cuttin yourself paper thin - stop shammin!

"Stop, hold-up, pause, wait"
"Stop, hold-up, pause, wait"

And I'm out