I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson Lyrics

[Intro: Prince and Jeff imitate two old black men]
Hey...hey Leroy...Leroy
Yeah
Did you hear about that boy Mike Tyson?
Mike...Mike Tyson he's the boy
That played football from Montreal ain't he?

No no you old coot, he a...he a boxer man
Yeah
Let me tell ya I went to his fight a couple months ago
I seen him hit this boy, and he hit the boy so hard
His head flew off into the eigtheenth row
(laughing) They had to get his head out of the eighteenth row

[Verse One: Prince & Jeff]
I was in Jeff's crib one night about eight
And we were watchin' a couple of Mike Tyson fight tapes
Jeff was like...
Man, you see how hard Mike's punchin'?
Come on Jeff the other guy was just lungin'
Left, right, left, right, another K.O
If that was me I'd a been okay though
The very next day I gave Russell a ring
With J.L. and Lyor
we all called Don King
I said "Yeah, Don I got a problem
Tell 'em Prince
Yeah what's up? what you sayin? You tryin' to solve 'em?
Forget the small talk, let's get to the nitty gritty'
Me and Mike, two months, Trump, Atlantic City."
Yo, you got this you gonna bust dude up
Yeah, you can be my trainer
Word up?
I'm rough like a freight train smooth like ice
And yo Jeff, straight up, I think I can beat Mike Tyson
[Break]
Man, you can beat him, you can beat him
Yo man, word up
You know I put on a couple pounds man we can do this, man
You can do it

[Newspaper boy]
Extra, extra read all about it. Get this...
Fresh Prince challenges 'Iron Mike' Tyson to a fight
[Laughing] He's crazy

[Old men]
Ain't that the boy who knocked the guy's head in the fifteenth row?
Hey Leroy, you read the paper?
That boy done lost his mind

[Verse Two: Fresh Prince & Lawrence the Barber]
There was press conference to see what trainin' I was doing
Before then I had never heard reporters booing
Cameras flashing, I was in the middle
I didn't wanna look dumb so I exaggerated a little
I said, "Uh, I been trainin' twenty hours a day
Liftin' big old cars and big bales of hay
(That's what you're doing)
And I jog 10,000 miles every morning
Thinkin' about Mike and my moment of glory
(Tell 'em more)
I drink water, 20 gallons a pop
And I can throw a Volkswagen a whole half block
(He can do it too)
And 4 million sit ups... in a minute...
I ain't lyin' I did it!"

The general public thought I was a fool
I was gettin' dissed but I guess that was cool
Well gettin' dissed is never good
But I was even gettin' dissed in my old neighborhood
I was at the corner at the top of my block
There was a couple of people standing outside of the barber shop
It was Lawrence, my barber and friend
And he yelled out:
Hey, Prince, you can win!
I said 'really?' and I stopped to chat
You could beat him man, if you hit him with a bat
Ha ha...you gon' get wrecked
But can I have your shoes when he break your neck?

Everybody was laughin' out loud
I thought at least my own Grandma would be proud
I went to her house and snuck in to surprise her
I heard her on the phone
"A thousand bucks on Tyson!"

[Old men]
Hey, Leroy, i thought that boy was joking, [?] he really gon' get in the ring!
Man, i don't think that boy can beat that big football player
Man, i keep tellin', ya, he ain't no football player, he a boxer
Hey, Leroy, we gotta do something, that boy gon' kill himself!

[Verse Three: Prince, Ring Announcer]
It's fight day and man am I hyped
Woah, I can't wait to see Mike
Boy I'm hyped, ready to do my thing
Trump Castle Casino [bell rings]
In this corner, weighing a mere 165 pounds
The Lightnin' Rodent, the Fresh Prince! (crowd boos)
And in this corner
The heavyweight champion of the world
'Iron Mike' Tyson!
(crowd cheers)
I came out hustling, slidin' and grabbing
Slippin' and dippin' hustlin' and jabbin'
For a second I looked good out there (yep)
But then Mike brought to reality (look out) my worst nightmare
One punch, that's all it took (oooh)
He hit me in my ribs and my insides shook
Now how can I say this and be a little discreet?
Let's just say that my bowels released
I called timeout and went back to my corner
Said to my coach, "Ain't no way I'm goin'
The hell back out there, man you can forget it
My body's like a punching bag and Mike is gonna (Hit it)"
They tried to make me go meet my doom
But I sucker punched my coach and hauled to my dressin' room
The next day the headline in the town
"Fresh Prince breaks camp, Tyson wins, first round"
Some fool asked why I ran away
I said, "A good run is better than a bad stand any day"
My career is over as far as fightin'
But I don't know what made me think I can beat Mike Tyson

[Outro: Prince and Jeff as old men]
Hey Leroy!
Yeah
Did you see the fight? did you see the fight?
The..the..the football player?
No the boxer, come on man
I was at the fight last night
I paid four hundred and seventy fo' thousand dollars
For my ticket right...
Ah, you weren't at no fight
I seen you around here last night

..and the boy..the boy ran out the ring
You always lying
I ain't lying...
You lie to your grandkids..
..I seen it...
...you been lyin' ever since you was a little kid
...Mike Tyson punched the boy in his ribs, and his leg fell off
His leg fell off and it fell over...
...you always lying
...and it knocked the HBO camerman's camera fell out his hand
I said, god damn, I couldn't believe it Leroy
You shoulda been there...you definetly shoulda been there
...I was right next to you playin' checkers

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About

Genius Annotation

“I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson” was the lead single from And In This Corner…. It reached #58 on the US Pop Chart and also did fairly well in Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

When this song came out in 1989, Mike Tyson was the most feared boxer on the planet. His record was 37-0. Many of his wins were from knockouts, and many of his knockouts were in the first round.

Will Smith’s unfounded bravadocio and “armchair quarterbacking” is the source of the song’s comedy.

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