Vapors Songtext
von Biz Markie

Radio, TV, and even the press
Know the meanin′ of V-A-P-O-R-S
The meanin' of this word, without no doubt
This means nobody wants to be there when you′re down and out
Once you're established and got a lot of money
Everybody wanna be your buddy and honey
Like tall buildings, they call skyscrapers

Can you feel it? Nothing can save ya
For this is the season of catching the vapors
And since I got time, what I'm gonna do
Is tell you how this spreaded throughout my crew
Well, you all know TJ Swan, who sang on my records
"Make the Music", "Nobody Beats the Biz", well, check it

Back in the days before this began
He used to try to talk to this girl named Fran
The type of female with fly Gucci wear
With big truck jewellery and extensions in her hair
When Swan tried to kick it, she always fessed
Talking about "Babe, please, you work for UPS"


Since he wasn′t no type of big drug dealer
My man TJ Swan didn′t appeal to her
But now he trucks gold and wears Fly Bally boots
Rough leather fashion and tough silk suits
Now she stopped fronting and wants to speak and
Be coming to all the shows every single weekend
To get his beeper number, she'd be begging, please
Dying for the day to get squeezed

She caught the vapors
She caught the vapors
She caught the vapors
She caught the vapors

I got another partner that′s calm and plain
He goes by the name of the Big Daddy Kane
A mellow type of fellow that's laid back
Back in the day, he was nothing like that
I remember when he used to fight every day
What grown-ups would tell him he would never obey
He wore his pants hanging down and his sneakers untied
And a rasta-type Kangol tilted to the side


Around his neighborhood, people treated him bad
And said he was the worst thing his mom ever had
They said that he will grow up to be nothing but a hoodlum
Or either in jail, or someone would shoot him
But now he′s grown up, to their surprise
Big Daddy got a hit record selling worldwide
Now, the same people that didn't like him as a child
Be saying Can I borrow a dollar, Ooh, you′re a star now

They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
Now, I got a cousin by the name of Vaughan Lee
Better known to you all as Cutmaster Cool V
He cuts, scratch, transform with finesse
And all that mess
Well, I remember when he first started to rock
And tried to get this job in a record shop
He was in it to win it, but the boss fronted
Said, "Sorry, Mr Lee, but there's no help wanted"

Now my cuz Vaughan still tried on and on and on
'Til the like break of dawn
To put this J-O-B in effect
But they′d look right past him and be like, "Next"
Now for the year of ′88
Cool V is making dollars, so my cousin's like straight
He walks into the same record shop as before
And the boss be like, "Vaughan, welcome to my store"
Offering him a job, but no, he doesn′t want it

Damn, it feels good to see people up on it
Because I remember when at first they wasn't
Now, guess what they caught from my cousin

The vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors

The last subject of the story is about Biz Mark
I had to work for mine to put your body in park
When I was a teenager, I wanted to be down
With a lot of MC-DJ′ing crews in town
So, in school on Nobel Street, I say, "Can I be down, champ?"
They said no and treated me like a wet food stamp
After getting rejected, I was very depressed
Sat and wrote some def doo-doo rhymes at my rest
When I used to come to parties, they'd make me pay
I would have to beg to get on the mic and rap that day

I was never into girls; I was just into my music
They acted like I wanted to keep it instead of trying to use it
But now things switched, without belief
"Yo, Biz, do you remember me from Noble Street, chief?
We used to be down back in the days"
It happens all the time and never ceases to amaze

They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors