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consider hitting all 6 of the characteristics of a good guy: smiling, confidence, sense of humor, well-groomed, connecting with people, social center of a room
- But remember why people listen to rap: to affect their mood. So if any of those characteristics won't make them feel better, then forget it.
you can sometimes delay lyrics for comedic effect.
- example: I was listening to the EDM song 'Prophet Man' by Marcell Dettmann / Ben Klock and at 2:30 there's a line: "The night is dark as <bleep>.......the day is bright........" (with the curse actually stylistically bleeped out) and I was thinking, "Oh man it would've been funny if he'd waited until the last possible moment and then said "....as <bleep>".

Indicators for the performer

Intonation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intonation_(linguistics)

Lyrics

http://nicholastozier.com
- lots of great info in here that I need to organize

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enjambment
- This is when a phrase runs from one line to the next.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadence_(poetry)

Prosody

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosody_(linguistics)

Poetic Metre

This is the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Metre (poetry)
PlatinumLoops.com - How to Rap Part 1 - Cadence and Rhythm

Use pauses for effect

Parody - Eminem - Mom's Spaghetti - 1:39
- He vomits all over
  Spaghetti's all on him
  Coast to coast shows
  He blows his own daughter ← One of the most-ridiculous lines I've ever heard in rap. It rivals ICP's "The Neden Game". It's doubly-ridiculous, first obviously because of the incest, but second because it seems to imply his daughter has a penis.
  <Long awkward pause>
  He only grows harder
  Only grows hotter
- This is a hilarious pause that lets a hilarious line get enough time to sink in. It's one of the best pauses I've ever heard in rap.
Eminem - My Dad's Gone Crazy
- It's like my mother always told me:
  [Impersonating his mother:]
  Rana Rana Rana Rana Rana
  Rana Rana Rana Rana Rana
  and codeine and goddamit, you little motherfucker
  if you aint got nothin' nice to say then don't say nothin'!
  (pause) uh... (pause)
  FUCK that shit, bitch, eat a motherfuckin' dick
  Chew on a prick, and lick a million motherfuckin' cocks per second
  I'd rather put out a motherfucking gospel record
- This is another brilliant pause.

Add wordplay

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_play
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_forms_of_word_play

Quote:
1. Think of a phrase or a word. I’m thinking of the word “speaker”.
2. Think of as many meanings to this word as you can. I have speaker, as a stereo speaker and a motivational speaker.
3. Think of content, which addresses and marries at least two of the meanings.

Source: The Rapping Manual

Spoonerisms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism
A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (see metathesis) between two words in a phrase, for example saying "The Lord is a shoving leopard." instead of "The Lord is a loving shepherd."

Quote:
He once proclaimed, "Hey, belly jeans"
When he found a stash of jelly beans.
But when he says he pepped in stew
We'll tell him he should wipe his shoe.

I haven't heard this much in the rap I've listened to. I'm not sure if that's because it's not a good technique or because it just hasn't become popular.

2pac interview by judge
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vigPk9n5-50
- he says he got into poetry in junior high (that may have helped him with his rapping...?). But from listening to his bad "Minnie the Moocher" song (which was presumably recorded after junior high), I got the impression he really learned how to rap while touring with Digital Underground

Avoid words that jar with your persona

Examples:
1. Digital Underground uses the word "thee" in "The Humpty Dance". It sounds weird / out-of-place when you're listening to it. And just imagine if Eminem or Biggie Smalls used the word. It's the same effect as if you were to hear Mitt Romney say "my nigga". - http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/digitalu ... dance.html

Quote:
Yo ladies, oh how I like to hump thee.
And all the rappers in the top ten-please allow me to bump thee.
[...]
I'm crazy.
Allow me to amaze thee. [Note: this song also has the problem of rhyming the same word multiple times, and it's even more noticeable because it's such an unusual word.]

Be funny

Come up with new words in moderation

Use slang terms for things

Biggie Smalls

Use / create abbreviations or new names for things when appropriate

Biggie Smalls
- Big Poppa
  - Quote:
    Because one of these honeys Biggie gots ta creep wit
    Sleep wit, keep the ep a secret--why not? ["ep" is short for "episode"]
    Why blow up my spot cause we both got hot?
    [...]
    So we can steam on the way to the telly, go fill my belly ["telly" is apparently short for "hotel"]
    [...]
    A T-bone steak, cheese eggs and Welch's grape ["Welch's grape" is apparently referring to grape juice]
    [...]
    And watch a movie in the jacuzzi, smoke L's while you do me ["L’s" is basically a nickname for marijuana; they're marijuana joints rolled with two papers]
    [...]
    Choppin' O's, smoking la in Optimos ["O's" is short for "ounces", and "la" is apparently a nickname for marijuana]
    [...]
    Drop top BM's, I'm the man, girlfriend ["BM" is short for "BMW"]

Couplet / Triplet-level issues

Have the couplets / triplets bleed into each other (this will help it flow better)

Examples:

Biggie's Big Poppa:

The first stanza is eight bars/measures long:

To all the ladies in the place with style and grace
Allow me to lace these lyrical duches in your bushes

Who rock grooves and make moves with all the mommies?
The back of the club, sippin Moet, is where you'll find me
The back of the club, mackin hoes, my crew's behind me

Mad question askin, blunt passin, music blastin

But I just can't quit
Because one of these honies Biggie gots ta creep with

It starts with a standard couplet, then does a triplet which is matched with a singlet (to complete the four-bar unit), but the singlet bleeds onto the next couplet.
It seems like his main emphasis in that section is on having rhyming words on the
2. Triplet
- This follows the pattern of having a rhyme on every 3rd beat of a measure for three measures in a row.
3. Singlet
- For five beats, this follows the pattern of rhyme-rhyme-none-rhyme-rhyme.

Say things that make you seem confident

I think the reason this is important is because people listen to music to alter their mood; they use it to feel better. So if you're acting confidently, that energy will rub off on them, and if you're acting depressed, that will also rub off on them.

The only time I've found breaking this rule might be OK is when:
1) it sounds like the rapper is joking or trying to be funny
2) You can talk about your struggles, but don't make it sound like you think the struggles are your fault. The appropriate response to hardship (in rap) is to get angry and take decisive action.

Examples of rappers breaking this rule

Digital Underground rapper saying he's ugly, he has a big nose:

Quote:
They say I'm ugly but it just don't faze me.
I'm still gettin' in the girls' pants
[...]
People say "Yo, Humpty, you're really funny lookin'"
that's all right 'cause I get things cookin'
[...]
My nose is big, uh-uh I'm not ashamed
Big like a pickle, I'm still gettin' paid
I get laid by the ladies, ya know I'm in charge,
both how I'm livin' and my nose is large

Source: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/digitalu ... dance.html

Eminem acknowledging his bad rap songs

Quote:
I almost made a song dissin Lil Wayne
It's like I was jealous of him 'cause of the attention he was gettin'
I felt horrible about myself
He was spittin and I wasn't
Anyone who was buzzin back then coulda got it
Almost went at Kanye too
God it feels like I'm goin' psychotic
Thank God that I didn't do it
I would've had my ass handed to me
And I knew it but Proof wasn't here to see me through it
I'm in the booth poppin another pill tryna talk myself into it
Are you stupid? You gon' start dissin people for no reason?
Especially when you can't even write a decent punchline even
[...]
So I pick myself off the ground and fuckin swam 'fore I drowned
Hit my bottom so hard I bounced twice suffice this time around
It's different them last two albums didn't count
Encore I was on drugs, Relapse I was flushing em out
I've come to make it up to you no more fucking around
I've got something to prove to fans cause I feel like I've let em down
So please accept my apology I finally feel like I'm back to normal
I feel like me again, let me formally reintroduce myself to you for those of you who don't know
The new me's back to the old me and homie I don't show no
Signs of slowin up, pullin up, blowin up, all over
My life is no longer a movie but the show ain't over homos [using the word "homos" just sounds stupid after he just shit all over himself]

Source: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/eminem/t ... yself.html

Contrast that with how Eminem discusses his problems in The Slim Shady LP (below). This is how you do it right:

Quote:
I deserve respect; but I work a sweat for this worthless check
Bout to burst this tech, at somebody to reverse this debt
Minimum wage got my adrenaline caged
Full of venom and rage
[...]
There's people that love me and people that hate me
But it's the evil that made me this backstabbing, deceitful, and shady
I want the money, the women, the fortune, and the fame
That Means I'll end up burning in hell scorching in flames
That means I'm stealing your checkbook and forging your name
Lifetime bliss for eternal torture and pain
Right now I feel like just hit the rock bottom
I got problems--now everybody on my block's got 'em
I'm screaming like those two cops when 2pac shot 'em
Holding two glocks, I hope your doors got new locks on 'em
My daughter's feet ain't got no shoes or sock's on 'em
And them rings you wearing look like they got a few rocks on 'em
And while you flaunting them I could be taking them to shops to pawn them
I got a couple of rings and a brand new watch you want 'em?
Cause I never went gold of one song
I'm running up on someone's lawns with guns drawn

Another example from "Brain Damage":

Quote:
A corny lookin white boy, scrawny and always ornery
Cause I was always sick of brawny bullies pickin on me
And I might snap, one day just like that
I decided to strike back and flatten every tire on the bike rack
[...]
I made them think they beat me to death
Holdin my breath for like five minutes before they finally left
Then I got up and ran to the janitor's storage booth
Kicked the door hinge loose and ripped out the four inch screws
Grabbed some sharp objects, brooms, and foreign tools
"This is for every time you took my orange juice,
or stole my seat in the lunchroom and drank my chocolate milk.
Every time you tipped my tray and it dropped and spilt.
I'm gettin you back bully! Now once and for good."
[...]
My mother started screamin, "What are you on, drugs?!?
Look at you, you're gettin blood all over my rug!" (Sorry!)
She beat me over the head with the remote control
opened a hole, and my whole brain fell out of my skull [exaggeration makes it seem less serious]
I picked it up and screamed, "Look bitch, what have you done?!?"
[M] "Oh my God, I'm sorry son"
[E] "Shut up you cunt!" I said, "Fuck it!"

I would say this is a breaking of the rule by Biggie. He might be able to get away with it with the listener because it's funny.

Quote:
When I met you I admit my first thoughts was to trick
You look so good huh, I suck on your daddy's dick

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/notoriou ... bitch.html

Skee-Lo's entire song "I Wish" breaks this rule. IMO the main appeal of the song is the production / riff and Skee-Lo's flow. The actual content is depressing and makes me not want to listen to the song. I think this kind of song is fundamentally different from the way Eminem raps about hardship / bullying because Eminem exaggerates the stories so much as to make it feel like a cartoon, and he suggests he's doing something about it (robbing and dealing drugs) instead of just passively resigning himself to his fate.

Quote:
I wish I was like six-foot-nine
So i can get with leoshi
Cause she don't know me but yo she's really fine
[...]
Her boyfriend's tall and he plays ball
So how am i gonna compete with that
Cause when it comes to playing basketball
I'm always last to be picked
And in some cases never picked at all
So i just lean up on the wall
Or sit up in the bleachers with the rest of the girls
Who came to watch their men ball
Dag y'all! i never understood, black
Why the jocks get the fly girls
And me i get the hood rats
I tell 'em scat, skittle, scabobble
Got hit with a bottle
And i been in the hospital
For talkin' that mess
I confess it's a shame when you livin' in a city
That's the size of a box and nobody knows yo' name
Glad i came to my senses
Like quick-quick got sick-sick to my stomach
Overcommeth by the thoughts of me and her together
Right?
So when i asked her out she said i wasn't her type

Source: http://www.azlyricdb.com/lyrics/Skee-lo ... sYkrPTESek

Stanza-level issues

Longer stanzas are better
Examples:
1. The Lonely Island's "Like a Boss" is an uninterrupted stream of new lyrics; there's no break/chorus except for the repeated "like a boss".
2. The Lonely Island's "I'm on a Boat" is also an uninterrupted stream of new lyrics. There's an intro section and outro section, but the middle is a big block of lyrics.
3. The Beatles' White Album has a lot of songs like this IIRC

Sudden changes in rap-speed can be jarring

Example:
The Lonely Island - Diaper Money
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/lonelyis ... money.html
- The first guy has a rapid-fire rapping style, while Samberg (third stanza) has a more relaxed rapping style; if you tried to put one of the first guy's couplets next to one of Samberg's, it would be jarring. So you need to gradually change stuff like that, or maybe have a transition to avoid being jarring. I guess this is the same reason some rappers will put sketches between their songs.

Use analogies

You don't have to always say things explicitly

When people first start to draw they always draw things explicitly; but when you study drawing, one of the things you learn is that you can often just HINT at something and the viewer's brain will fill in the details.
The Beatles are really good at this: they'll pick lyrics that don't really make much sense if you think hard about them, but if you're just listening to the song without studying it too closely the lyrics hint at certain meanings that the listener fills in.

Rhymecraft

The Lyrics (Rap)

Analytics

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