Laugh Now Cry Later- JohnnieB

Lyrics

( Johnnie B On The Beat ) Yeah, Johnnie walks in with a crooked little smile, Got a punchline loaded and a heartbreak filed. Whole room laughing, but the pain stays dialed, I learned to make jokes when the tears got wild. I don’t trip, I perform when the floor gets slick, Turn a bad damn day into a clever-ass skit. If life throws shade, I throw bars back quick, Then bow to the crowd like I planned that shit. Call me dramatic, bitch, I was built for the stage, Got a theater in my chest and a script full of rage. One act love, one act pain, One act me trying to smile through the rain. I ain’t ballet, I’m comedy and tragedy, A laugh track playing over old damn agony. They see the joke, but they don’t see the gravity, I’m making art out of what almost damaged me. Remember I couldn’t rap? Now they listening close, Who would’ve thought I’d turn pain into prose? You can copy punchlines, you can study my flow, But you can’t steal the wound that made the shit glow. This soul been kicked, but it still got rhythm, Still got bite, still got God somewhere in ’em. Still got Big John telling me, “Forgive ’em,” Still got Little Johnnie saying, “Fuck that, hit ’em.” JohnnieB in the middle with a mask in each hand, One says laugh, one says break where you stand. One says be strong, one says be a man, But both know I’m human underneath this brand. You don’t know shit about me as a whole, Just the parts I let shine when the curtains roll. You see jokes, I see survival mode, A clown with a crown and a cracked-ass soul. I laugh when the pressure gets too damn heavy, Smile when the storm says, “Boy, you ready?” Turn every low blow into confetti, Then cry when the room gets quiet already. Y’all were busy judging what the mask looked like, I was backstage fighting for my damn life. You thought I was fine ’cause the timing was tight, But I was bleeding in rhythm under every spotlight. Hook Laugh now, cry later, that’s the show I play, Smile in the lights, break down backstage. Comedy face with a tragedy flavor, Whole damn life is a theater of pain. Laugh now, cry later, let the crowd all wave, Jokes hit hard when the heart won’t say. You can call it a game, but I made it my savior, JohnnieB in the middle, laugh now, cry later. Verse 2 Now I’m in all of my own damn thoughts, Standing on a stage that my memories bought. Every bad scene that I tried to drop, Came back dressed up like part of the plot. They ask if I’m okay, I say, “Yeah, I’m great,” Then grin so clean that it hides the weight. That’s not fake, that’s a survival trait, Sometimes humor is a locked damn gate. Watch, I can resurrect shit I buried years back, Let the old me walk out dressed in all black. Give him one mic and a new laugh track, Then make the whole room clap for the comeback. Anything is possible inside my head, I can turn dead dreams into songs instead. I can make one joke from a thousand regrets, Then cry in the car when the night goes dead. I can make a story from a scar on my chest, Make a punchline out of failing my best. Make a hard-ass bar from a soft-ass mess, Make a whole damn brand from what I never confessed. Half the world laughs when people fall apart, Then gets offended when you turn it into art. They want clean pain, no blood, no marks, But truth gets messy when it crawls from the dark. So fuck your perfect little stage directions, I got real wounds with bad reflections. I got old guilt, new corrections, And jokes that hit like self-protection. My balls got big when my fear got small, Not talking dirty, bitch, I’m talking stand tall. I got tired of playing weak for y’all, So I made every tear another curtain call. I was laying low when they thought I was done, Writing my pain into jokes for fun. Now the same ones sleeping on me look stunned, Like the clown didn’t know how to carry a gun. Not a real one, bitch, just a loaded pen, A metaphor shot from the heart again. I don’t need violence when the truth can bend, And hit harder than revenge in the end. That’s why I laugh when they call me crazy, Cry when the mirror says, “You can’t save me.” Smile when the whole world tries to play me, Then write one hook and make pain pay me. Hook Laugh now, cry later, that’s the show I play, Smile in the lights, break down backstage. Comedy face with a tragedy flavor, Whole damn life is a theater of pain. Laugh now, cry later, let the crowd all wave, Jokes hit hard when the heart won’t say. You can call it a game, but I made it my savior, JohnnieB in the middle, laugh now, cry later. Verse 3 I got the funny bone cracked and the heart on mute, Got a spotlight bruise and a backstage truth. Got a smart-ass mouth with a sad-man root, Got a laugh so loud it can cover the wound. This ain’t happy, this ain’t hopeless, This is focus wearing clown face coating. This is pain with a punchline posted, This is JohnnieB laughing while the old me ghosted. I’m the joke and the lesson, the grin and the grief, The crowd’s entertainment and the soul underneath.