The Complete MC Blog

Ice cream and rapping? Those don’t go together (unless, of course,
you’re Master P).

So many MC’s grab the mic like they’re trying to choke it.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what they’re doing: choking the sound.

When you hold a mic sideways with your hand around the head, it
drastically reduces clarity. You could be dropping seriously
tight rhymes and no one will hear it.

Here’s how you avoid this: think of the mic as an ice cream cone. After all, you don’t hold it by the ice cream, you hold it by the cone.

Keep the ice cream off your hands and sound like a pro.

Whoever says that battles are strictly freestyle is a liar. Even if
their rhymes aren’t written before the battle, you better believe
they are looking at you and working out ways to humiliate you
before you both get up on that stage.

Here is how you limit that possibility. Whenever I’m in a battle I
will wear a loud, obnoxious shirt that draws attention (my bright
red T with Bruce Lee on the front is a personal favorite). Other
MC’s who are sizing me up will be formulating punchlines around
that shirt. They can’t help but focus on it!

Here’s the kicker… When my name is called to go up on stage, I
quickly through a jacket over the shirt. This destroys any
punchline my opponent has about it. If they use the line anyways, I
look out to the crowd and act completely bewildered, as if to say
“Why is he referencing Bruce Lee when I’m wearing a brown jacket?”

The key is to dress loud before the battle, then cover up with
something plain during the battle. The same goes for hair: if you
sport a ponytail or cornrows, throw a cap on right before.

Make your opponent beat you in the moment, while you can use any
observation you have of them before the battle.

When you want to add emphasis to a certain line or phrase in your
song, consider doubling up. All this means is you re-record these
specific lines or words on a separate track, and combine them on
the master.

This gives your recording more depth. It also sounds like you have
backup vocals that are supporting you.

Consider using double-ups for the following:

At the end of a line.

At the end of a rhyme. This works especially well for complex rhyme
structures. It forces your listener to hear every word that rhymes
together.

The internal rhymes. For example, if your line is

We’re not ones to follow the idiot herds
We’re not ones to fall to the simpleton urge
We’re not ones to swallow what we’ve been served
Cuz me and my dawgs don’t choke on words

Try using double ups on “follow, fall, swallow and dogs”. All these
have the same stressed vowels. Don’t you want your listener to hear
something you worked so hard to create?

Chorus. The same for any part of a song that gets repeated. For
example, if every verse ends with the same punchline, try adding a
double up to it. Again, this lets your listeners know this is
important to the song structure.

Any other spots I missed? Drop me a comment…

Ever heard of Ras Kass? He is arguably one of the greatest lyricists ever.

Seriously.

Ras Kass could kick a freestyle in Los Angeles with some other guys, and within a week people in New York were quoting him. Now, you gotta remember, this is the mid nineties, so there was no You Tube, no MySpace… in fact, the Internet barely existed. His lyrics were so frickin incredible that they traveled cross country by word of mouth.

He was that good.

So you gotta ask: If he was that good, why isn’t Ras Kass a household name?

In his own words, Ras Kass “doesn’t give a f*ck about a beat.” This is his downfall, plain and simple…

The Best MC With The Worst Beat Is Still A Crappy Song

I love lyrics. I love them to the point that I will listen to guys like Ras Kass, even though the beats are awful. This guy could’ve had anyone, anyone, produce his work, but he was so wrapped up in his lyrics that he didn’t focus on the music at all.

Nas is tight… and so are his beats.

Tupac was tight…and so were his beats.

Jay-Z is tight…and so were his beats.

Kanye West…well, his beats are tight.

So many wack rappers get props because they found themselves backed by a dope producer. I seriously believe Pharell could produce a hit with over 90% of rappers out there.

Remember, people listen to the beat BEFORE they ever hear your vocals, so make sure your beats are on point.

Here’s a brief list of where you can get quality beats for cheap:

Beats365.com has got some really good beats, though you may have to search around to find one you really like. I really like having access to the additional special sound effects, which come in handy…

Beats2Rap2 has a better variety, though that may be my personal taste. Clean production and royalty free beats.

Craigslist can be place to advertise for beats, though this route tends to be more expensive, as they generally charge by the beat.

RapBeatTips is a great resource if you want to learn to do it yourself; a great read!

Shameless plug: People who purchase my how to rap course receive over 22 free beats as a special bonus offer, which is nice…

Remember, the key thing to remember is: if your beats don’t grab peoples attention, your vocals may never get a chance to.

Where do you get your beats from?

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Here is an article I picked up on Wikihow. It provides additional help on how to rap battle.

First things first; battling is the basis for all rap music. The battle is the truest essence of rap and where rap music started. The object of a rap battle is to come up with insulting rap lyrics on the spot (not pre-written or pre-meditated) and rap them towards an opponent. The rapper with the best delivery, lyrics, and crowd response usually wins. This manual will outline the basic steps of how to begin rap battling, and some tips that will make you better.

Steps

1. Do your homework, watch videos online of battles (smack DVD and jumpoff.tv are good ones), or try to go to rap battles near your hometown. There is a scene in the movie 8 mile that is a good representation of what a freestyle rap battle is really like.

2. Try and get your ears on some freestyle raps done by accomplished artists who are well known for their rap battles. You can learn a lot from rappers like Eminem, JIN, D-Graz, Big L, Ill Bill, Eyedea, Adeem, Vinnie Paz, Pacewon and any other artist known for battling. Good battles to look up include the Blaze Battles from HBO, Scribble Jam, among others. YouTube.com is an easy way to find these.

3. Pay careful attention to the techniques those artists use to battle, and try to mirror them which will help you enhance your own techniques.

4. Start writing. Write down anything that comes to mind and try to rhyme it. Write down sets of rhymes and then choose the best rhymes to go with your subject of rap.Consider getting a rhyming dictionary. The ability to write an effective battle rhyme will aid you when it comes to the battle.

5. Practice freestyling (rapping without pre-written lyrics on the spot or impromptu) — anytime, anywhere, as much as you can. Even if you run out of things to freestyle about, just keep going, the longer you force yourself to rap without giving up the stronger you’ll become mentally. It’s like a mental workout.

6. Once you get freestyling down, try freestyling battle rhymes. Take a picture of someone, look at your dog do what ever you can to picture an opponent you are about to rap against and try and come up with clever ways to insult the opponent with rap lyrics.

7. Start freestyle battling. The best way to start battling is to find opponents that are just for fun and don’t care if you insult them or mess up for that matter. Constantly battle like that with people, especially if you can find a friend who is actually good at battling so they can teach how to improve what you lack. Again, continue to practice this until other friends you know (especially those into hip-hop music) think you’re pretty good. House parties, and rap concerts are also good places to practice your battle rap techniques before actually entering a staged freestyle rap battle.

Don’t worry if you lose your first few real battles, the point is to constantly practice freestyling and writing. As with anything, the longer you do it the better you’ll become. Continue practicing until you’ve got it down. There are many techniques to battling, but these are just the basics.

Tips

* When in a rap battle, you want to make sure that your verse includes three major things.

o Metaphors - Making comparisons with your opponent to something that insults them.

o Disses - (a diss is an insult)You want to diss your opponent on broad topics like: how they dress, speak, spit, look, walk, talk, act, or their personality; or personally: the way they live, their past, their lifestyle, or any other weaknesses about them.

o Humor - Make the crowd and judges and even your opponent laugh. Sometimes that will win the battle for you.

* Battle raps are made up of two parts; a set up and a punch line. The set up is a line that is an opener or rhyme line that your punch-line (where the insult is) will follow. A Punch-Line is basically a line that incorporates a Metaphor, Dis, and/or anything else to enhance the flow directed at your opponent.

o Example: In Nas’ song called Ether (a famous rap battle song directed towards Jay-Z) he says “Put it together (the set up), I rock hoes ya’ll Roc-Fellas” (the punch line is an insult using the name of Jay-Z’s rap label and insinuating that Jay-Z and his camp prefer men over women).

* If someone beats you in a battle and it gets to you, practice more until you think you’re really ready. Then challenge them again: if you win, you will earn a lot of respect back. It’s a great feeling, and chicks or dudes will dig your system and flair.

* The more you write the better your freestyle will become.

* When you think you lost it, don’t worry - just relax. The worst thing to do is freak out. Just relax and keep going. There is always value in overcoming a mess up.

* While your opponent is rapping, you should be figuring out what you are going to say in your next verse. But be careful not to tune your opponent out, because sometimes the insults they say to you can be flipped (re-directed as an insult towards the person who said it) and used to your advantage.

* Ordering of the spit is also important to some degree. While you are trying to rebut someone dissing you when you reply back, but when you spit first, you want to take that away. You can do that by self-deprecation. Anyone who can self-criticize can be very unexpected for the opponent trying to find flaws.

* Take 8 Mile’s Final Battle for example, since B-Rabbit was put to spit first, he insulted himself and basically said a big ’so what?’. “Yes, I’m white, I’m a bum, I live in a trailer, my mum’s a drug addict…”, thus basically taking every possible insult directed at him away from Papa Doc before Papa has anything to fight back. Then B-Rabbit dissed Papa Doc for being a private-schooler, then he closed out his turn by saying this battle is pointless, “Here, tell people something they don’t know about me”.

* Use humor in your rhymes, especially if your opponent is dead serious, that will make them mess up and possibly crack up. If you can get your opponent to agree with you during your battle verse, you are making great strides towards a win.

* Just stay focused and be confident in what your saying. Remember delivery is everything.

* There are two types of battles, free style and thought out, now.A battle may go longer than you thought so just remember to practice and bring out words out of the blue.Try to write the lyrics that are thought out when you’re angry or hyper, energy puts words on paper.

* Don’t say anything that is unrelated to the person, and don’t say your going to kill them or that you sell drugs if you don’t.

* Even if the opponent is using pre writtens - say he is, then there will always be that uncertainty in the crowd.

* Don’t look down, when you look down you show that you are getting beat, stay lookin into his eyes, but not like you are hard and your gonna hit him, cause chances are he will hit you.

* Stay specific, they will reduce your oponents self-confidence.

* If you lose many rap battles and your friends pick it up with you, don’t listen to them. Because you can get yourself real down and maybe do some crazy stuff. Just relax, take a break and just listen to your heart (sometimes you just have to stop looking and searching, and things will come by themselves).

Any other ideas? Drop a comment and let me know.

With the exception of Tupac Shakur, Gift of Gab is without a doubt the strongest MC to ever come out of the Bay Area. Whether working with Chief Xcel as Blackalicious, or doing solo work on “Fifth Dimensional Rocket Ships Going Up” Gift of Gab has consistently proven himself to be a top notch MC.

Let’s break down this MC down by his strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

Lyrical content. Gift of Gab is one of the few emcees out there that can mix dope battle tracks with socially conscious songs. “Alphabet Aerobics,” where he raps the entire alphabet, and “Chemical Calisthenics” where he actually works his way through the periodic table are some of the most wickedly original songs ever written, while songs like “Make You Feel That Way” not only make you think but plug your heartstrings.

Speed. Following in the footsteps of E-40, another Bay Area rapper, Gift of Gab is one of the fastest rappers out there. His breath control is amazing on record; it’s as if he can rap over 30 bars without taking a breath. The very first track on “Fifth Dimensional Rocket Ships Going Up” is one of the most amazing exercises of breath control I’ve ever heard.

Original rhyme patterns. Simply put, Gab is a true master when it comes to developing original rhyme schemes. For example, take a look at “Green Light: Now Begin:” his flow has a very distinguishable swagger to it.

Weaknesses:

Struggles with catchy hooks. This is a very common affliction of MCs worldwide. You can write some of the dopest rhymes ever, but it’s damn near impossible to write catchy hooks. Most of the choruses from blackalicious are cuts from other tracksStill, it’s touch to deny that the beats are still banging.

Lackluster live performance.
I’ve seen Gift of Gab perform three times, and have never been terribly impressed with his performance. He’s a really big guy, and it’s hard for him to move around the stage and interact with the crowd. It probably doesn’t help that two of the three times I saw him perform, Lyrics Born (one of the greatest live MCs I’ve ever seen) was a special guest.

Vocal quality. While he’s highly adept at changing flow patterns, Gift of Gab rarely changes the emotional quality in his voice. He’s a lot like Nas in that respect; always very calm, cool and collected. It makes certain tracks unbelievable; particularly when he is trying to come across as angry and upset. If you say you’re pissed off, you sure as hell better sound like you mean it.

This is the first installment of the masters of their craft. We’ll continue to look at some of the best rappers that are out there today, as well as some of the all time greats. Let me know some current MCs that you’d like to see on this board, and we’ll get cracking.

Gift of Gab
Blackalicious

Of all the aspects in hip hop, nothing illustrates the thrill of victory and agony of defeat as well as a freestyle battle. I’ve personally seen MCs break down and say that they would never freestyle again after losing a battle in front of their friends and family.

Freestyle battles are the measure of a MC; it shows how well you can handle victory as well as defeat. Over my decade of rapping I have encountered hundreds of battles; most of which I’ve won some of which I’ve lost.

Here are seven tips that have helped me win battles in the past. I hope they do the same for you…

1. Be specific. No matter how good your lines are, if the crowd feels what you’re saying can apply to anybody, it will fall flat. For example, I was in a battle a few years ago against a real fat dark skinned guy. In this scenario, had I used simple jokes about his mother, the crowd would’ve seen right through it and realized it was probably a written line. While a fat joke would’ve been better being more specific), everybody knows at least five or six fat jokes. In the end, I said “ he looks like this the stay-puffed marshmallow man burnt to a crisp.” The line was so specific that the audience knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was in fact freestyling, and it won the day.

2. Use props. Crush your opponents with the use of props. A freestyle battle is a lot like a kung fu movie; the best battles are the ones that are able to incorporate everything in the room. Look around. If there is a run DMC poster in the background, you can make fun of someone by saying he’s nothing more than a sucker MC. If he’s wearing a Public Enemy shirt you can call him a wanna-be Flavor Flav, an aspiring crack addict, a no talent ass clown who can’t rap at all.

3. Jump of the Stage. The most important part of winning a battle is getting the crowd on your side. A simple and effective way to do this is to jump off the stage and get next to the crowd. After all, if you’re standing next to someone in the crowd while you’re talking shit about someone on the stage, it’s pretty hard for them to disagree with you, isn’t it?

4. Flip your opponents punchlines to your advantage. If your opponent makes fun of you for being skinny, and he’s kind of on the heavy side, use that to your advantage. If he makes fun of you for wearing cheap clothes, you can make fun of him for being a pretty boy. Any approach that they use on you can be flipped easily and used to win the battle.

5. When you can’t beat them at their own game, change the rules. If your opponent is killing you on punchlines, tried to beat them using a different flow. I’ve seen people win battles not because they had better punchlines, but because they were able to win the crowd. Simple call and responses can give you the slight edge that you need to win.

6. Anticipate your opponents rhymes. In doing so, you are showing the audience that your opponents rhymes are so simple you see them coming a mile away. The most devastating lines that you can inflict upon your opponents are the most unexpected. Just like punches, the ones you don’t see coming are the ones that hurt the most.

7. Avoid racial slurs. This is always been a touchy subject in rap battles. Unless you can deliver a completely original line about your opponent (like the stay-puffed marshmallow man example) you’re better off leaving the subject of race alone.

I have the utmost respect for anyone who has the guts to get up on stage to face off with someone whose sole intent is to humiliate them. Battle techniques are constantly evolving, and if you have any other ideas that you’d like to share, I’d appreciate it if you left a comment below. Best of luck!

Click the link for more tips on how to win a rap battle

“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.

My rap education began eleven years ago. Since then I’ve learned that a dope MC can be a lot of things to a lot of people: a crowd rocker, a poet (Rakim), a trash talker (Cannibus), a ghetto superstar (ODB), a gangster (Eazy-E), a teacher (KRS-One).

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.

Free ebook helps you learn how to rap

Remember: To learn how to rap is an ongoing process. Best of luck!

So many aspiring MC’s focus all their time on trying to freestyle that they miss out on the most important aspect of being an MC: songwriting.

After all, if you were to name your 10 best emcees, I’m sure all of them would have several songs that you know and love. There’s a timeless aspect to songwriting; everything you’ve ever written and recorded is really a shot at immortality. You may know that Supernatural is the best freestyle MC in the world, but can you name a single song that he’s ever written? One of the greatest freestyle emcees of all time, Juice, went so far as to say that recording is your only real shot at becoming a legend.

Increase your songwriting ability with the following five steps:

1. Focus on effective brainstorming. The rhyming dictionary and thesaurus are your friend. Pick a topic, then use a thesaurus to generate similar words to use in your songs. Once you generated those words, look them up in a rhyming dictionary to find other words that rhyme with them. Very quickly you’ll be able to develop an entire page full of songwriting material.

2. Change your rhyming patterns frequently. Rakim is probably the best example of this; when your flow pattern changes, it forces the listener to pay more attention to what you’re saying. The more attention they’re paying you, the more likely they are to hear some of your best lines; and that’s what it’s all about, right?

3. Use as many different song formats as possible. No matter how dope you may be at one particular style, you have to keep the listeners attention by writing different styles of songs. Try to balance your battle tracks with more socially conscious jams. Mix dance songs with storytelling. If all your songs follow a simple 16 bar\3 verse space format, space you’ll lose the crowd.

4. Build each verse on top of each other. For some reason people seem to forget verse development when it comes to writing a hip-hop song. The masters of all done it: Common and Eminem are just two examples. When you complete the first verse of the song, you should always ask yourself “Where is this song headed? How do I get there from here?” One trick I’ve learned that has helped me is to write a verse that starts and ends with the same line. A great example of this is “Backstage Pacin’” by Brother Ali. Each version begins and ends with the phrase “_______ backstage pacing…” Each verse then explores the thoughts and feelings of a particular character as they (you guessed it) pace back stage at a live show.

5. Showcase your best lines. If you’ve written a song, and you found three or four lines that your absolute favorites give them a strong position in the song. You can either put them at the end of the verse, the beginning of the verse, or any lined it ends on a downbeat. For example if you have four measures the most powerful places are the second scratch that the most powerful lines should be second in the fourth. Think of it like volleyball; the first line sets for the second line. The best battle songs all follow a very simple one two punch delivery.

Flocabulary will help you improve your rap songwriting as well.

I’m always looking for new ideas for postings. If you have a question you’d like answered, or a topic you’d like to discuss, send me a comment.

Peace!