The Timely Read

“How do I learn how to rap?” If you have a brain and a voice, you’re almost there. Now we just need to connect them.

Learning how to rap can be one of the most enjoyable ways to make friends and influence people. There is no other culture where you can get on stage and say the nastiest, filthiest things about someone, have them respond in like kind, and walk off as friends. Rap really is a great way to learn about yourself: Not only how well you throw verbal blows, but also how well you can take them.


If you’re interested in learning to rap, here are the ten most important bits of advice I’d like to share with you.

1. Develop and memorize rhyme schemes. Rhymes are to rappers as chords are to musicians: the more your practice learning them, the better off you’ll be. Amateurs worry about making words rhyme; experts focus on making the rhyme clever. Let’s say you memorize five words that rhyme with “blue.” Next time you freestyle and the word “blue” comes up, you already, with no thought at all, have five ways to complete your next line. This is black belt technique.

2. Freestyle with as many different people as possible. If you want to learn to rap at a high level quickly, expose yourself to as many different styles as possible. Try to rap with guys who talk smack one day, then get into a cypher that’s more on a concious tip. You’ll be amazed how many sides of your personality shine through.

3. Learn to rap with a metronome. OK, you don’t really need a metronome (that tick-tock device that helps musicians keep tempo) to learn to rap. But you do need to learn to rap at different speeds. Play some of your favorite beats (both fast and slow) and try to rap over any and all of them. If you have a friend who’s a DJ, have them try and mix you up with different tempos.

4. Develop safe words, and change them often. Every beginner should have one safe word. No, I’m not talking S&M here, I’m referring to one word that you can say if you ever blank for a second. One that I used a lot was “lyrically.” Whenever I had a brainfart in a freestyle, I always had the option of using that as my filler. Word to the wise: while repeating yourself is better than dropping the beat altogether, it’s best to pass the mic quickly after.

5. Strengthen your voice with vocal exercises. There is no way around it: Without a strong voice, your rap will never sound real. After all, if you spit a verse about how you’re the baddest mutha on the planet, well, you better sound like it!

6. Learn to rap like your favorite rapper. Learn a style from a master. Mimic their voice and rap with them. Once you feel like you sound like them, try to write a verse that follows their rhyme structures. You can tell a Method Man verse and a Twista verse apart on paper; their wordplay is as signature as their flow.

7. Enter a sanctioned, on-stage battle. Winning a battle on stage for the first time is one of the best feelings in the world. Losing a battle on stage builds character like nothing else in the world. You wanna learn to rap, you gotta battle.

8. Buy a microphone and rap with it. You can learn to rap like Supernatural, but no one is gonna hear a word you say unless you hold the mic right. Cheap mics go for less than thirty bucks, and the payoff is huge: you can appear better than more polished rappers just by holding the mic correctly. Think of it like an ice cream cone: you don’t hold it by the ice cream! Keep your hand on the “cone” part of the mic and you’ll sound like a pro.

9. Practice flow and lyrics separately. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice one to improve the other. How may times have you heard a rapper with crazy flow (Snoop) who says absolutely nothing? How about those rappers with great lyrics (Ras Kass) but no real style? Try to freestyle focusing just on lyrics; then freestyle focusing on flow. You don’t even have to use words: Just try to keep with the beat and make it sound interesting.

10. Practice rap kung fu. Ever notice the more badass martial artists are also the most humble? When you have developed your rap skills, grasshopper, you must learn to use them wisely. Build up those around you, rather than cut them down.here is a link if you want to know more.