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Groups Tagged "Hip Hop". Feel free to ask anything about the book or myself. I wrote the book because of my love for hip-hop and the desire to show that it can be smart and positive. It is available for pre-order on Amazon and Smashwords now! Troy Jones is sixteen with the dream of becoming a rapper. All Troy wants to do is work on his rap lyrics.

However, his English teacher, Mr. I have also learned about a lot of great techniques for writing hooks. Alex Carusone , Utica, New York.

I'd recommend it to anyone seeking to improve their lyrics. Definitely helpful, and as always much appreciated. David Arnold , Bridgeport, Connecticut. The Corporatethief Beats is a participant in the Amazon Services Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon. The Corporatethief Beats is a participant in the ClickBank Affiliate program, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link.

Please do not spend any money on these products unless you would like them or that they will help you achieve your goals. You'll be directed to ClickBank. If you want to be a rapper read this book. A joyful experience from real advice from all successful artists from Kool G Rap all the way to Tech9ne.

Jan 07, Vivek rated it it was amazing. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Dec 20, Sara rated it it was ok. I'm always curious about the mechanics of writing, and I'd bought this book for my students, but decided to check it out on a whim. I'm not entirely sure who this book is aimed at. It laboriously defines extremely basic terms and concepts like what a rhyme is!

Or a metaphor, simile, or analogy. I mean, really basic stuff. Also, most of the book consists of short quotes from rappers stitched together thematically. The quotes are little snapshots of what individual rappers think about a given topic, but most of the quotes are pretty devoid of helpfulness.

Like, under the topic of "flow", there are a bunch of quotes that basically boil down to "it's really important to have good flow! And under "rhyme" a bunch of quotes that basically just say: "rhymes are important! There are also very few actual examples of lyrics to demonstrate most of the topics covered. The strongest section for me was the one where the author does actually use lyrics to demonstrate what a flow scheme looks like, and how that compares to patterns of rhythms.

I also appreciated that rappers take the same approach as all writers do: research, first draft, and revise revise revise. And that the only way to get good at creating, is to keep creating. Aug 12, Byron rated it it was amazing.

This book might not be for everyone, but for a certain kind of brother it's essential. If you've ever found yourself on the Internets debating the finer technical points of MCing, first of all it's time for you to pause and reflect, second of all you needed this book yesterday. I already knew everything there is to know about rap music, and even I learned a few things, which means you're guaranteed to learn something. LOL But I could also see this being a revelation for Fox News types who don't h This book might not be for everyone, but for a certain kind of brother it's essential.

LOL But I could also see this being a revelation for Fox News types who don't have a very high opinion of rap music, because it's mostly still made by black people, and because rappers are perhaps the worst possible advocates for themselves -- not that they'd ever read it. To read this book is to have an appreciation for what rappers do and just how complex it can be, for something that often that often seems kinda dumb, even if you don't necessarily care for the music.

Apr 19, David Hockley rated it it was amazing. This is a must-read if you're a fan of hip-hop. I was lent the book by a friend who demanded that I read it if I wanted to know the real inside techniques I got my own copy now, because seriously, this is a book that you'll want to go over again and again because it covers so much and there is so much to take in.

You also get a really good look into the history of hip-hop because it explains how people like Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, and Kool G Rap innovated and developed a l This is a must-read if you're a fan of hip-hop. You also get a really good look into the history of hip-hop because it explains how people like Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, and Kool G Rap innovated and developed a lot of these techniques and of course it gives you everything you could need in terms of actual methods of rapping.

Honestly, if everyone read this book who is into hip-hop, then I think hip-hop would be in much better shape! Real knowledge dropped. Apr 19, Clarence Jones rated it it was amazing. Best book on hip-hop, bar none! This is wall-to-wall quotes from the best MCs of all time, they got hold of all the legends, all the classic guys, plus lots of new guys, including Slaughterhouse, Clipse, really lyrical guys, a great selection of underground artists too.

They all provide really insightful quotes on a huge range of subjects, I really can't recommend this book highly enough, it is packed with info that I have not seen anywhere else! Nov 04, Andre rated it liked it.

Great book on elements of the hip-hop game. It doesn't necessarily teach you how to rap, just what different MCs think about the elements. Aug 29, Adam rated it it was amazing. Without a doubt a neccesity for anyone who is serious about developing their lyrical skill and achieving mastery of the respected art of "MCing".

One thing that I absolutely love about this book is Paul Edwards choice of artists to interview. This book is one hundred percent, REAL. When you read this book, you aren't getting half wit advice from a wanna-be rap knucklehead that got luky off of one single, and became irrelevant for the rest of his career when the song's hype died dow "How To Rap".

When you read this book, you aren't getting half wit advice from a wanna-be rap knucklehead that got luky off of one single, and became irrelevant for the rest of his career when the song's hype died down. These artists were considered stars in their time and are even considered legends now.

Artists like E, Papoose, DJ Quik, Nelly, Mobb Deep, and many others, give you valuable and vital information that is necessary for any artist to become the aspiring musical talent they hope to be in the near future.

I also enjoyed reading this book not only for the advice it gave me, but the many stories that were shared with me from these artists. Stories about their struggles as poverty stricken children, failed romances, first songs, and many others were intriguing to me. It showed me that these artists went through the exact same things I have gone through, am going through, and maybe even will go through in the future. It took away all the flashing lights from their names and made me realize that they are as much a human being as I am.

It showed me that I have as good a chance as making it to the top as they did. And that inspired me greatly. A great book for novice rappers seeking to improve their skills or for poetry buffs, who want to understand the nuts and bolts of rapping as a craft.

This book is not for people with romantic ideas of art being spontaneous and just something you feel in your heart, man. This is for reductionistic nerds, who grew up disassembling their grandfather's watch just to see what made it tick, and who would like to apply the same approach to rapping.

If you've been rapping for a few years, this book isn't A great book for novice rappers seeking to improve their skills or for poetry buffs, who want to understand the nuts and bolts of rapping as a craft. If you've been rapping for a few years, this book isn't likely to provide any revolutionary insights or even to tell you much you didn't already know - there's a sequel for that. However, the impressive list of established rappers interviewed for the book makes it well worth a read.

And who knows? Maybe even old dogs can learn new tricks. At least it's interesting when someone analyses and explains explicitly something one might have only ever understood implicitly by intuition.

There is, after all, a vast difference between doing and understanding, and some times it takes someone else to explain to us what it is, exactly, we're doing before we really appreciate the subtleties involved. Read this book. It's good. Apr 19, Ed Stone rated it it was amazing. They really put a lot of work into this book and it shows on every page.

I don't know how they got hold of so many of the key guys to go through their styles, but I'm glad they did, because all this history is preserved for future generations of MCs to learn from. Even if you don't want to learn to rap, this is still a book you gotta read if you're into hip-hop.

You will learn so much unless you're someone who thinks they know everything already, in which case there is no helping you! Greatest book I've read on the subject, looking forward to the sequel they're doing too. Jan 30, Dpruess rated it did not like it.

As the 1 star suggests, this was a horrible book. Some problems: - tons of unedited quotes rife with "ums" "likes" "kindas" - lots of really obvious material repeated again and again, such as "people really appreciate good lyrics. Because before I read this book, I was strongly considering going for bad lyrics. There were a few useful points made, and the book made reference to some good songs that I had never heard, so I benefited from checking those out but it also made refere As the 1 star suggests, this was a horrible book.

There were a few useful points made, and the book made reference to some good songs that I had never heard, so I benefited from checking those out but it also made reference to a lot of bad songs that I wasted time checking out. All in all though, this book did a perfectly awful job of being helpful for an aspiring rapper. Aug 13, Alexx rated it really liked it. I liked this book because it explains the art of HipHop building from the ground up: simple rhyming patterns, to multisyllable verses with punchlines.

It's interesting to see how rap truly involved over time due to technological advancement in rhyming skills : The numerous examples brought by, tend to use the same rappers over and over again one of the few flaws of the book , despite that, I enjoyed it, being a rap fan myself. Having said that, it seems like rap has degenerated over the last 1 I liked this book because it explains the art of HipHop building from the ground up: simple rhyming patterns, to multisyllable verses with punchlines.

Having said that, it seems like rap has degenerated over the last 10 or so years, which is a sad development, we will see if a new generation of rappers can pick up where the mic had been dropped. Apr 19, Martin Freecastle rated it it was amazing.

As many other people have said since this book came out Everyone you'd hope to find in a book of this sort was interviewed for it, so there is no way it can be faulted there. The diagrams showing how flow works are absolutely essential to anyone who wants to learn easily and get to high level in a short time Do yourself a favor if you're a hip-hop As many other people have said since this book came out Do yourself a favor if you're a hip-hop head and pick up this book, you won't be disappointed!

May 18, Shanna marked it as to-read. My music book for June. Sep 17, Sukhdeep Singh rated it liked it. A basic introduction to rap.

Good for those who want an insight into the art of rhyming to music. Also good for those who have just started rapping. Apr 13, Con Robinson rated it really liked it. Great book - chock full of info. Jan 05, Garrett Thomas rated it really liked it.

I thought the book was very informative and was a good read. I liked the various amount of artists that were interviewed and shined some light on the genre.

Readers also enjoyed. Goodreads is hiring! If you like books and love to build cool products, we may be looking for you. Learn more ». How To. About Paul Edwards. Paul Edwards. Books by Paul Edwards. Copyright by Flocabulary, LLC. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. To rap is to spit, and a rapper spits syncopated words that tell stories, show off, and teach.

A rapper is also an emcee, and an emcee moves the crowd. A rapper is also a lyricist, and a lyricist plays with words. A lyricist crafts complex rhymes full of metaphor, alliteration, in-rhyme, assonance and enough wordplay to make a crossword puzzle dizzy.

He flows with stylish ease, dropping knowledge on the beat, behind the beat, or in the pocket, right where he wants to. A rapper is all of these things. Hip-hop music has come a long way in the past 30 years. From back rooms and block parties in South Bronx in the late seventies to the Golden Age in the late eighties through gangsta rap in the nineties to today, where you can hear emcees rapping all over the world in dozens of languages.

It makes sense. Rap music is the most democratic music in the world, open to anyone with vocal chords. All you need is your voice and a desire to spit. A pad and pen, maybe, but those are optional. There is no cookie-cutter for rappers, and this book is for everyone out there with a desire to freestyle, write rhymes, or battle.

Freestyling and battling involve a quickness of thought that rivals any thinking exercise. Writing involves analytic thinking and creativity. This book is the first comprehensive handbook for rappers.

It covers all of the major aspects of rapping, divided into sections. Feel free to skip around, though some of the sections may reference earlier chapters. There is a lot of information here. Elevating your rhymes takes time and effort. It may be worth it to tackle one section at a time, before moving on. Obviously, there is no possible way to include every skilled emcee out there.

One of the best ways to improve as an emcee is by listening to great hip-hop and analyzing what the rappers are doing. All of the lyrics mentioned in this book are from songs that are worth buying.

You can find a full list of albums and links to buy them on Flocabulary. Use this book to learn more about the various techniques that rappers use to craft amazing lines.

When you spit, be sure to tap into your inner creativity and bring something real and personal. Those are the best rhymes: the ones that are not only technically interesting but also come from a deeper, realer place.

Enjoy the book and always spit fire. Not every good freestyler drops a good album, but in general your freestyle skills are directly related to your overall rap skills. So when you start out rapping, start out freeing. No need to even rhyme. Just forget everything else and flow. This was my first freestyle rap, which I spit when I was 11 months old: I am funny, I like bunnies, touch my tummy, mummy Step 2. Make your first freestyle rap verses your stupidest verses just to get them out of the way.

Keep flowing. Keep flowing! Stutter over words? Fillers are just little phrases that you can insert occasionally to give you more time to think of a dope line. Every emcee has his own fillers. As you get better, try not to rely too heavily on your fillers.

Write Writing raps will help you freestyle. Try to write rhymes that generally match your level of freestyle, but are clever and smart. Sitting down and writing everyday will improve your freestyles. It will expand your memory of rhyming words, and it will give you experience working these words into clever lines. Rap about things you see. Incorporate objects, actions, people, clothing, situations, and sounds into your rap. These are the hardest-hitting punches. Include Metaphors Metaphors and similes are an advanced but important part of freestyle rapping.

Reference current events See what Kanye did in that line above? He snuck in the cultural reference. Other than amazing in-rhyming and dope metaphors, the most impressive thing a freestyle rapper can do is make timely references to culture and current events.

Step 8. One of your friends can beat box, you can throw a beat on the stereo, or just freestyle over nothing. Never drop the invisible mic! Pick it up and pass it! If they throw in something about the bible, pick up that theme and run with it. Try to stick to similar topics, or riff off of topics in creative ways. When my friends and I cipher, we like to kick it about random stuff that we all know about, like our personal lives. Freestyle Guide 11 from the show. Cleaver Step 9. Eminem picks it up and spits it right back, referencing all the characters One of the great things about rapping in ciphers is that after you spit one verse you get a break before you spit again.

This break is your best friend. Make sure to point at his shirt as you say it. I always try to write of those rhyming couplets before I spit again. Step Listen and Practice Freestyling, like sculpting or shooting three-pointers, takes an insane amount of practice.

Practice as much as you can. Freestyle with homeless people, with your friends, and with your family. Listen to pro rappers who freestyle and try to analyze their styles. Rap all the time, practice all night and day. Practice might not make perfect, but it makes damn good! Spit in ciphers as much as you can, and be sure to follow these simple rules. If you mess up, just ride it out.

Nobody likes a guy who blames everyone else for his own mistakes. You can then pass it right back, or you can keep rhyming. Listen to their verse and respond vocally when they spit something impressive. I always like to invite random people into a cipher old, young, boys, girls.

To my mind, the more diversity the better. All of them will improve your freestyle abilities, and with the right people they can be fun as hell. The Circle of Rhymes Rules: This is as simple a game as they come. Gather in a circle with your friends. Someone starts by saying a word i. The next person has to think of a rhyme for that word in less than five seconds i. This continues around the circle until someone messes up i.

The person who messes up steps out of the circle, and the game starts again. The last person standing wins. Solo Variation: Think of a word and try to come up with as many 17 rhymes for it as you can in 1 minute.

Then move on to another word and do the same. Play this game again a week later and do the same words. See if you can improve your score. Then it passes to the right. Each person has roughly five seconds to spit their line.

Last person standing wins. Solo Variation: Spit as many lines as you can that all have the same rhyme. The person who messes up steps out, or you can play non-competitively.

Get on your computer and put on a beat. You can listen to one of the hip-hop instrumentals on Flocabulary. The other people have to freestyle about whatever is on that webpage. The operator can switch the page at anytime by searching for something else. The more random the searches are the better try stray dogs, lasagna, rollerskates, India, etc….

You can also do this with image searches and freestyle about the images. Other Variations: You can easily play this kind of game without a computer. Just have one kid throw out random topics that you and your friends have to rhyme about. Or you can play this with the TV or radio on. Rhyme about whatever you see or hear. Various lyrical techniques are tackled individually, crystallized into their component parts. You can read this section through all the way, or you can tackle individual sections separately.

The suggested exercises are obviously optional, but will help you put the knowledge in these pages into your own rhymes. This whole section is based on analyzing the techniques used by the best emcees in the history of music.

Developing your own ability to analyze will not only help you learn from your own favorite rappers who may or may not be mentioned in this book , it will also give you a tool for life.

Whatever you do professionally will tax your analytic skills too. People who are able to quickly study and quickly learn, are those that are most successful in every field. Emcees included. It might sound obvious to some, but one of the best ways you can excel as an emcee is by picking better rhyming words.

That right there is the dopest, most beautiful summary of what it is to be a rapper. Slant Rhyme vs. Perfect Rhyme Here are some definitions from the American Heritage Dicitonary: Perfect Rhyme noun : Rhyme in which the final accented vowel and all succeeding consonants or syllables are identical, while the preceding consonants are different. This is what most people think of when they think rhyme. Examples of perfect rhyme are: cat, hat, bat; cake, bake, fake.

For example: great, late; height, fight; bought, knot. Those are all perfect rhymes. For example: rider, beside her; dutiful, unbeautiful. Those are all examples of perfect rhyme. Perfect rhyme will work fine in a lot of situations. But hip-hop innovators and poets before them found Slant Rhyme 25 it too limiting. Rappers began using slant rhyme to allow them more freedom to express themselves. Here is the definition of slant rhyme from the AHD: Slant Rhyme noun : A partial or imperfect rhyme, often using assonance or consonance only.

Also called half rhyme, near rhyme, oblique rhyme, and off rhyme. Here are a few: silver, purple, month, angst, sixth, breadth, ninth, pint, wolf, opus, monster, dangerous, marathon, napkin, hostage, discombobulate and many, many more. People overuse that rhyme like skeezy businessmen use too much cologne.

In order to avoid that, all we need to do is use slant rhyme. Not unless you used slant rhyme. You can find a list of slant rhymes for words with no perfect rhyme in Appendix III at the end of this book. The great thing about slant rhyme is that it helps you avoid one of most dangerous pitfalls for beginning emcees: obvious rhymes. So use slant rhymes to avoid falling into that trap.

Pro Example I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself, is life worth living should I blast myself? Then go back and replace the rhyme words with slant rhymes and rewrite the verse. See how it changes your verse. Not everybody can catch the nuances of alliteration, word play, multi-syllabic rhyme schemes, internal rhyme, etc… but if they catch one thing and they can make sense of it and enjoy it then [you] have succeeded.

In a simple verse, the rhymes will fall only at the end of each line. There are no internal rhymes and there is no multi-syllabic rhyming. All of the rhymes fall right on or near the second snare kick, the 4th beat of the bar, which musicians call the four.

This will be the system we use throughout the book. Rhyme Scheme Notation The method used in this book is to highlight matching rhymes by formatting them the same way.

By having only one rhyming word per line and placing it at the end of the line, it will free your mind up to craft some quality lines that make sense. In-rhymes and multies discussed later are great ways to introduce variation into your rhymes. But you can also mix up your rhymes just by altering the rhyme scheme.

In the Dead Prez example above, the rapper Sticman varies his rhymes throughout, so that you never know when the next rhyme sound is going to come at you. Think outside the box. Not every single line has to rhyme. Using them is a sure-fire way to improve your rhymes.

Like a subtle ingredient in a recipe, in-rhymes can add big punch without calling too much attention to themselves. Adding In-Rhyme In-rhymes are rhymes that fall within the line itself.

They can rhyme on their own, or with any word in any other line. But I can easily change that. I can look for words to change that will create in-rhymes. See how much better that sounds? Small changes make a big difference. Start the Next Line with In-Rhyme You can also use in-rhymes to rhyme with the words at the end of lines.

For example, one common use is to start a line with a word that rhymes with the end of line before it. Plus he uses slant rhyme, inrhyme, and mutlis together. Take a few lines from the rapper Akir. Akir is gifted underground emcee doing his thing in NYC. I had the privilege of working with him on a Flocabulary track for the Hip-Hop U. History album, which teaches American history through rap music. Akir came into our Times Square studio and I gave him a list of facts to incorporate into the rhyme.

We put on a beat, and within minutes he had some sick rhymes to lay down. Try not to sacrifice the meaning of what you wrote just to fit in rhymes.

What are multies? Multies can be double, triple, quadruple etc… rhymes. Once a rare treat, multies are now being used in hiphop more and more frequently as lyricists constantly try to outdo each other.

They just take extra effort. Spit multies, and get your vitamin C. I take the typical words, or I pick a two-word, three-word pattern. The other day I put Curb Your Enthusiasm in a rhyme.

Luda has a trademark delivery, in which he slows down and emphasizes the end of each line. This delivery works well when he slips in some clever multies. Slant rhymes are very important, because they allow you to write more creative lines.

The other problem with rhyming dictionaries is that they do the work for you. Multies are hallmarks of all the dopest flows, and all the best rappers use them. They are more complex and more impressive than normal rhymes and so command a lot more respect. Multies add variation to your verse and will help you craft better rhymes. How do I write multies? Step one is to find a line that you want to start with. If you master that simple technique, you should already notice your lyrical skills improving.

Practice This Take a common phrase or celebrity name i. Work the rhymes into some lines that make sense together. The general rule is this: you have to rhyme with the prominent syllables; you can ignore the silent ones. Prominent vs.

Why Did I just Learn that? The line still flows. Some rappers especially underground rappers like to string together long as hell multies to impress their listeners.

We just need to rhyme with words, cut, and sharp. Cut out the weak stuff, and add more quality stuff. Try to put more than one multi per line as Papoose and Eminem do in the following section. Who is the King of Multies? Without a doubt, one rapper uses multies more than any other, and that rapper is Eminem.

In fact a lot of his sick flow comes from his creative use of multi rhymes. The ones below are just particularly strong examples. He also uses a lot of multies with the same rhyme pattern: 5 in 4 lines.

How did he do that? He probably wanted to write a rhyme making fun of Britney Spears, so he started with her name and started generating multies off of it. He could have used others, but he found some that matched what he was trying to say. The lesson: always start with the word or phrase that is most important. What he does here lyrically is all out amazing. He uses lots of multirhymes and in-rhymes, not seperately but together to weave a complex lyrical web.

This verse is a string of 30 different multies that all have the same or similar rhyme. Some rappers use multies only occasionally, while others like Eminem rhyme almost exclusively with multies. Try not to let multies control your rhymes. On the next page is a unique example of a verse that rhymes over and over again with the same multisyllable sound.

The best rappers combine wordplay and metaphors to create amazing lines that people remember and tell their grandkids about. An instance of wordplay in rap is when words signify two or more different things that make sense in the context of the line.

Wordplay is literally just playing with the meanings of words. This is made possible by the fact that words in the English language and most languages can have multiple meanings. Words can have multiple dictionary definitions, scientific definitions, colloquial definitions and slang definitions.