Writing Rap Music 101

We've all been tortured by the poorly produced and painstakingly amateurish sound that one "rapper" friend of ours constantly tries forcing through our ears. So what makes the difference between their music and the veterans of underground Hip-Hop? The simple answer is lyricism. Of course mixing, mastering, and seasoned production skills are key as well but step one to every music masterpiece is of course...writing the song! Rap music especially has a certain necessity for it's musicians to deliver creative and witty lyrics in a sharp tonged rhythmic fashion while still clearly communicating an effective and powerful message. Is the talented ability to do this just simply something you're born with. simply something the pro's So what's the secret? Is lyricism a talent you either are or aren't born with? Many people think so but the truth is that good written 16's are a product of strategic planning, Creative blueprints, and originality. believe me, i'm living proof that the skill is something that you can learn. So if you're not impressing your peers with your rhymes quite yet, no worries! We'll get you there eventually, using the 10 steps below to help you develop clever wordplay and airtight multi-syllable flow and delivery with your music. Keep in mind however, that nothing good comes easy. it took me years of developing, practicing and perfecting the right system to build my songs upon. This article will provide you a basic rubric but don't be afraid to bend the rules if it feels more natural and beneficial for your sound.

1) Brainstorm

Seems like common sense but think about when you sit down to go and write a verse. Do you just jump right into it without conducting any sort of prior planning or do you formulate a series of words and common phrases that are are relatable to your songs subject? For example, let's say i'm working with a beat that reminds me of carnival music (see the example below). So I decide to make that (carnivals, circus, county fair, ect...) the theme of the song implying a "psycho" or "murderous" vibe intertwined ( I personally never have made music like this but a lot of Hip-Hop artists do). That being the case, the next step is to think of topics related to that. In other words, take a piece of paper and jot down common things people see at the circus. Choose subjects that will communicate effectively to your audience. Meaning, things that the average person would see at the carnival. These can be single words, names, or commonly known phrases that are specifically associated with your topic. In this case carnivals. A Thesaurus is your best friend for this exercise. So for example, below is a list of things I came up with for our topic here:

• Freak Show

• Ferris Wheel

• Admission Fee

• Circus Tent

• Carousel

• Clowns

• Corn Dogs

• Fun House

• Magician's

• House Of Horrors

• Fun and Games

• Festival

• Prizes

• You get the idea

2) Multi-Syllables:

Before we continue with our song I have to explain Multi-syllables for the newbies who are unfamiliar. Basically multiple syllables refer to a technique used by rappers to make their flow and

rhyme delivery more crisp and punchy sounding. It involves rhyming more than one syllable in your rhyme (Who would've guessed?! I know). So for the sake of simplicity it means that you take the last 2 words in your last line and use them as a whole when rhyming your next line. I know it sounds complicated, here's an example of what I mean. The underlined words are examples of multi-syllable rhymes.

"Y'all know me, still the same OG,

but I been low-key Hated on by most these niggas with no cheese

No deals and no G's, no wheels and no keys

No boats, no snowmobiles, and no skis

Mad at me ‘cause I can finally afford

To provide my family with groceries

Got a crib with a studio and it's all full of tracks

To add to the wall full of plaques"

- Dr. Dre- Forgot About Dre

This technique requires a lot of time and practice to get good at but in my opinion is necessary to

achieve a polished sound that will keep your listeners attention. If you pay attention, you'll hear virtually any emcee worth mentioning using multi-syllables. Start working with your vocabulary and expanding your skills until this technique is a common among all of your songs. Let's take a look at one more example before we move on:

"Man I hate rap, but if the shoe fits wear it. I’ve become a freak of nature all the kids stare at. Who walk around bumping RAW with the shit blaring,

saying fuck school and dropping out like a miscarriage. I’m embarrassed, and I’m ashamed I’ve played a part in this devilish game making your common sense perish."

-Hopsin - Ill Mind Of Hopsin 5

Here's the break down of the rhymes used in Hopsins song:

Fits>Kids>Shit>Mis>Em>Sense

Wear It> Stare At>Blaring>Carriage>Barrased>Perish

If you're still confused as to the meaning of multi-syllables check out flowcabulary at the link below for more examples and detailed explanations of how their are used.

https://www.flocabulary.com/multies/​

3) Near Rhymes:

the last ast thing we need to cover before we begin writing our song is the 'near rhyme", in which either the vowels or the consonants of stressed syllables are identical, as in eyes, light; years, weird.

Also referred to as a half rhyme, imperfect rhyme, slant rhyme, oblique rhyme, or off rhyme. A near rhyme is exactly what is sounds like, a rhyme that is close to a perfect rhyme. Let's take a look at some more examples and comparisons:

Near Rhymes:

Crook>Soot

Person>Versus

Listen>Wicked

Master>Backwards

Perfect Rhymes:

Crook>Look

Person>Worsen

Listen>Glisten

Master>Faster

Essentially a near rhyme is a type of rhyme formed by words with similar but not identical sounds. In most instances, either the vowel segments are different while the consonants are identical, or vice versa. See if you can spot the near rhymes in the following verses:

Ay yo, the fliest muthafucka' in the room Yeah, you know it's me Bitches hating on him, cause he started out here locally Hopefully, I'll be at the top soon For now, I'm at my house on the couch, watching cartoons You know how much you love it when you get it in abundance Give a fuck about a budget When you always be the subject of discussion But it's nothing when you stop and just say fuck it Cause you walking out in public and you hear 'em talkin' rubbish I just wanna ride, ride through the city in a Cutlass Find a big butt bitch, somewhere get my nuts kissed That's the way it goes when you party just like I do Bitches on my dick that used to brush me off in high school -Donald Trump - Mac Miller

I wake up & get bread I don't give two fucks bout what she said Cause baby the M.O.B is how we live So she just a beat like the speed The game's in your area, turn it it up in your stereo Here we go back on that shit, to make the Bay go hysterical Then we lay on the paper chase, like the cops on pursuit Got some pills in the back & I think she poppin' a few Any way you guarantee that they rockin' with Su? Only planned on bringing one, but then I brought back the crew & they all ready to go! ready to ride out! I just give the 2,1 go, homie I slide out HBK the gang, gettin' money nothin' to lie bout Type of dick, to make your chick wanna try out If you wanna find out, ill teach yo ass a lesson Treat her like a studio I'm talking full session

- Mobbin - Iamsu!

4) Mapping The Metaphors:

Good lyricist's know how to deliver and communicate cleverly crafted analogies to their audience. By now none of us should be strangers to the concept of a good metaphor. Assuming you haven't been living under a rock the past decade, we've all heard them used in Hip-Hop songs. I'll give you an example from one of my own songs "Lights Go Out" Ft. Mad Money D. In my first 4 bars of the last verse the lyrics go,"Cold Chiller, loaded with No Skrilla". Can you see the analogy used in the first line? I hope so but if not lets review. The word "loaded" has multiple meanings that are commonly understood by the average person. Here it's intended to mean loaded as in "F-ed Up, Plastered, Drunk, ect..." but the word loaded can also be used to mean "Rich, Wealthy, ect...". If you're unfamiliar with basic Hip-Hop lingo, "Skrilla" is a slang term used in Rap culture to mean "money". So put it all together and let's take a look one more time:

"Cold Chiller, loaded with no skrilla"

Make sense? Let's continue on to the rest of the first 4 lines and examine the other comparisons used. So after the first line it goes, " Skin tone vanilla but spitting it Gorilla". Pretty simple analogy here, i'm sure you can understand what's being said. Moving on to the 3rd line, "You mother fuckers couldn't keep up with stone pillars". Okay so "keep up" has a double meaning in this bar. Essentially saying the competition can't keep pace with me (keep up). What do stone

pillars do? They act as load bearing studs "keeping up" whatever has been built upon it. You get the idea. Way more simple when you break it down into a science isn't it? So in summary the objective here is to come up with words and phrases that have more than one meaning and put together an anology or metaphor just like we discussed above. Also notice how i'm using the multi-syllables in my lines. Check out my song with Mad Money D and listen to how they really tie the lyrics together and bring out the sense of fluency.

Earlier we wrote down a list of words and phrases to use in our song to create subject matter. Let's go ahead and take that out again and begin to construct our songs first few lines. So right off the bat i'm going to take one of the words from my list above and start the first bar with, "Welcome to the freak show, Take a seat folks". So now that I have my first bar I can start to build off of "seat folks". So what I usually like to do is jot down a separate list containing rhymes for whatever line I just wrote down. For example:

• Jeans Low

• Mean Flow

• Beast Mode

• Bestowed

• Ski Slope

• Weed Smoke

• C-Note

• and so forth..

So from here I can begin to form the metaphors that will be used in this section of the song. So in the list I can see the words "Mean flow", so what's the opposite of "mean"? "Nice" of course! So for my second line i'll go ahead and say, "Jeans low, i'm nice with a mean flow". Get the idea? Let's do one more. We'll stick with the same rhyme and continue off of that. So far we have, "Welcome to the freak show, take a seat folks, Jeans low, i'm nice with a mean flow". So let's take note of the word "C-note" off of the list above. A C-note is high in pitch so I can say something like, "Higher than a C-note, from the weed smoke we blow". I'll go ahead and use something I call a "filler line"which is basically just a line that ties together the bars containing metaphors and comparisons with the rest of the song. Essentially it's just a line that goes between your comparisons so you're not having to come up with analogies for every single line (not that it's a bad thing to do so if you can maintain a clever, and creative rhyme scheme for that long). So in between our second and fourth line i'll say something like, "Now the feinds know, that I keep beast mode when the beat goes". Altogether the song goes:

"Welcome to the freak show, take a seat folks"

"Jeans low, i'm nice with a mean flow"

"Now The feinds know that I keep beast mode when the beat goes"

"Higher than a C-note, from the weed smoke we blow"

Basically, you just continue doing this until you're ready to change the rhyme or the chorus hits. i'll give you one last example. i see the word "Ski Slope". What comes to mind when you think of a ski resort? You could say, "My rhymes are colder than a ski slope". Or something like, "When i'm on the mic it's going down like a ski slope". There you have it! You now know the basic foundation i've used for years to write my rhymes. With enough practice you'll eventually grow into your own style and be able to come up with lines like these right off of the top of your head but in the beginning you'll definitely benefit from using the resources i've listed below to help you come up with more intricate and complex rhymes and expand on your vocabulary.

Rhymezone: A rhyme dictionary that provides you with rhyme word choices for any word you enter into the search engine and also distinguishes perfect rhymes from near rhymes. Also provides definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and examples.

Thesaurus: A dictionary of synonyms and antonyms. Very useful for creating metaphors and comparisons as well as finding alternative words for communicating a specific message.

I hope this article was helpful! If you have any questions don't hesitate to send them to

Admin@ThaDiztrict.com and I will respond to them as soon as possible. Check out my home page for free mixtape downloads, video's, and other content. Thanks guys until next time.