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VaporsBiz Markie

Released: March 1, 1988

Songwriter: Big Daddy Kane Biz Markie Marley Marl

Producer: Marley Marl

[Intro]
Radio, TV, and even the press
Know the meanin' of V-A-P-O-R-S
The meanin' of this word without no doubt
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

[Verse 1]
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 name Fran
The type of female with fly Gucci wear
With big truck jewelry and extensions in her hair
When Swan tried to kick it, she always fessed
Talking about "Nigga 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 wear fly Bally boots
Rough leather fashion and tough silk suits
Now she stop 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 skeezed

[Hook]
She caught the vapors
She caught the vapors
She caught the vapors
She caught the vapors

[Verse 2]
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 days 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 moms 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

[Hook]
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors

[Verse 3]
Now I got a cousin by the name of Vaughan Lee
Better known to y'all as Cutmaster Cool V
He cuts, scratch, transform with finesse
{imitates cuts and scratches} 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 naw, he don't want it
Damn, it feels good to see people up on it
'Cause I remember when at first they wasn't
Now guess what they caught from my cousin
The vapors

[Hook]
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors

[Verse 4]
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 cease to amaze

[Hook]
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors
They caught the vapors

Biz Markie

Marcel Theo Hall (born April 8, 1964), better known by his stage name Biz Markie, is an American rapper, beatboxer, DJ, comedian, singer, reality television personality, and commercial spokesperson. He is best known for his hit single “Just a Friend” and has been called “the Clown Prince of Hip Hop.”

Markie found a love of music through his father, a multi-instrumentalist who played in local Long Island clubs when Markie was a child. Later, Markie performed at house parties on Long Island until he felt confident enough to go to Manhattan and pursue a career in music. He began waiting outside on the stoop of producer Marley Marl’s house daily until Marley took notice of him. Marley assembled a group of rappers including Markie with Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Masta Ace, Roxanne Shante, and others and called them The Juice Crew. Markie was especially known for his beatboxing, something he’d been doing since he was seven years old.

Markie’s first release, a 1986 EP titled “Make The Music With Your Mouth, Biz”, was put out under the name Biz Markie “The Inhuman Orchestra”. Its title track became a minor R&B Chart hit. Two years later, “Vapors”, a single from his debut album Goin' Off, gave him his second appearance on the R&B Chart. Years later, Snoop Dogg’s 1997 cover of the song would take “Vapors” into the top 40 on the UK, Scotland and New Zealand pop charts.

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