How To Rap

Rapping for Beginners

The Hip Hop phenomena has hit the East Coast, West Coast, Dirty South and Central US hard, and spread all around the world to create some of the most inspirational and unique musical stylings of any genre to date. But, Rap had to fight its way into the eye of main stream music lovers, starting out as an underground MCing pass time at hastily organized music venues, often outdoors, and almost exclusively without a permit. To learn how to rap, a few simple things must be done.

Listen to as much rap and hip-hop as you can. Start from the beginning of it all, with spoken word jazz poetry of the 1960s, and then go into the golden age of rap, the 1980s. From this era, absorb Rakim. Listen to as many artists as you can, including (but not limited to) Kool Moe Dee, Afrika Bambaataa, Eminem, Tech N9ne, Biggie, Method Man, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, Lil John, 2Pac, Mos Def, Immortal Technique, K’naan, Blackalicious, and many many more! Do not be biased by name or sound, listen to the words of the lyrical forefathers, their flows, rhythms, and rhymes.

To write a rap song, one first needs a topic. Something you feel very passionately about, or the weather. Write about anything and everything. The general format for a rap song is thus: Introduction, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, chorus, middle 8 (AKA breakdown), chorus, outro. The Chorus, or hook, is one of the most important parts of the song, and must be given the according gravity. Of course, this format is a simple structure, and may be developed further, or pared down into whatever suits your rap.

Remember to write to a steady beat, with words and syllables matching evenly to a bass line and melody line. The rhythm of the accompaniment is what drives the words, not the other way around.

Who are you writing for? Express yourself! And remember that vocabulary, diction, and wordplay often make a rap from a flop into a hit. Enjoy your rap, and it will bring you satisfaction and a connection to musical greats that span across time and the world.