This week in How To Rap we will cover hip hop lyric structure in depth.

Hip hop lyrics are fairly formulaic when it comes to basic structuring and format. You can, of course, deviate from what I will teach you here, but it’s always good to learn the rules before you try to break them.

To begin, go ahead and pull up one of your favorite beats to flow to. Get it playing in the background, because we’re going to illustrate a little bit of music theory for you here.

Hip hop and most pop in general are composed in 4/4 timing. This means that there are 4 beats to a measure. So if you listen to the beat you have playing, and tap your finger with each kick, and each snare, then there will be 4 taps per measure. Even if the kick and snare do not fall squarely on the four beats, you can still generally find the tempo of the beat. Go ahead and keep tapping, keeping track of every set of four beats.

Once you get your timing down and are going along with the beat, let’s switch modes. Pull up your favorite rap song and try the same thing, starting at the beginning of the beat. You’ll notice that most of the rapper’s lines fit to one of your sets of four beats. This is a core principle of writing hip hop lyrics.

Again: One line of lyrics fits to four beats (one measure) of instrumental.

This is why many lyricists refer to a line of lyrics as a “bar”, because in music, one bar is four beats.

Now we will begin writing. I will make this fairly simple, since the point of this lesson is to illustrate structure and format. We’re not too concerned about complexity here.

I’m a rapper that flows, spitting these lines/

Everybody knows, I’m rippin these rhymes/

And getting emcee’s quick dipped and deep fried/

Like fast food you wack dudes are getting behind/

Here we have four “bars” of rap lyrics. The reason I separate lines with slashes is to make it more visually clear where the bar ends. This makes it much easier to understand how each line should fit to the instrumental. Remember, one line or “bar” of lyrics fits to four beats of an instrumental.

(Note: Complex structures and cadences can stray from this basic principle, but we will not cover that here. We are simply introducing you to the core ideas and guidelines behind hip hop lyric structure.)

In hip hop instrumentals, typically the verse section is 16 bars. This means that a hip hop verse needs to be 16 lines as a general rule. In turn, this means you will have to have four quatrains (sets of 4 lines) to compose a verse. Knowing this makes it very easy to write a verse with no instrumental, yet have it still basically fit the structure of nearly any instrumental you may choose later on down the road.

This is what a typical hip hop verse will look like:

I’m a rapper that flows, spitting these lines/

Everybody knows, I’m rippin these rhymes/

And getting emcee’s quick dipped and deep fried/

Like fast food you wack dudes are getting behind/

When I walk down the street, I’m not fast/

In the summer time, walking is a hot task/

If you see me, do not ask/

What I’m having for lunch, I ate a lot last/

Night for dinner, I might be thinner/

If I wasn’t lazy, I’m not the likely winner/

Of any sorta race or physical test/

Sweat on my face and I’m grippin my chest/

Cause I’m exhausted and tired/

I’ve done more today than I ever desired/

I call it quits as soon as I perspire/

Now I’m at home chillin like Hobbits in the shire/

Ridiculousness aside, this is what a hip hop verse will usually look like. Four quatrains, equaling 16 total lines. If you always write in this basic structure, you will be more able to use your verses on a variety of beats (though it is always better to write TO a beat than without one.)

Rhyme Structure

Moving on from lyrical structure, we will now talk about the structure of the rhyme itself. We’ve covered basic and advanced rhyming techniques, but we have not yet talked about “rhyme schemes.”

A rhyme scheme is the way your lines rhyme with each other. In English class you probably learned about the basic rhyme schemes, and luckily these are mostly adhered to in hip hop. For example:

A: Cause I’m exhausted and tired/

A: I’ve done more today than I ever desired/

A: I call it quits as soon as I perspire/

A: Now I’m at home chillin like Hobbits in the shire/

The above quatrain follows an AAAA rhyme scheme. This means that, no matter how you rearrange the lines, they will always rhyme with each other. They all have the same end rhyme.

Another typical rhyme scheme in hip hop is used here:

A: Night for dinner, I might be thinner/

A: If I wasn’t lazy, I’m not the likely winner/

B: Of any sorta race or physical test/

B: Sweat on my face and I’m grippin my chest/

This quatrain follows an AABB rhyme scheme. In hip hop it is important to remember: Work in pairs. As long as a PAIR of lines rhymes, you do not have to continue using the same rhyme scheme in the subsequent lines. Remember, though, that sometimes using an AAAA rhyme scheme for several quatrains will accomplish a more complex sound than switching the end rhyme every 2 lines as in an AABB scheme.

An alternative to these rhyme schemes is something used much more rarely in hip hop, which would be the ABAB rhyme scheme.

A: This is an A line, cause it’ll rhyme/

B: Not with the next, just wait for it/

A: But with the third line, it sounds fine/

B: Like a bird chirping in a rain forest/

This rhyme scheme is not used as often, because it works to build tension before it resolves itself. It can sound strange at first, but when the final line of the quatrain drops, the tension is resolved and it sounds complete.

I would not advise using the ABAB rhyme scheme except for in very special circumstances. It is one of those tools that may not see every day use, but it is still useful to have in your arsenal for the sake of variety.

I hope this lesson has helped you to understand the inner workings of lyrical structure a little better. Stay tuned in coming weeks for more lessons in the How To Rap series!

This week in How To Rap we’re going to discuss something a little more philosophical. Moving away from the technicalities, I’ll talk about the balance of Complexity vs. Accessibility.

In hip hop, you have to please an audience. Not all audiences, but at least one that will feel catered to and in turn support you and your endeavors. A lot of rappers target a niche market, which is wise, because smaller audiences tend to be more loyal due to a lack of artists catering to their style.

One of the main determining factors in who will be your audience, is determined by your balance of complexity and accessibility.

Think of your favorite underground rapper. Lyrically talented, ridiculous rhymes, deep metaphors and stories. These rappers appeal to the listener that understands and enjoys the nuances of hip hop lyrics.

Now think of a mainstream rapper. Simple lyrics, catchy melodies, catchy hooks, and basic flow. Most mainstream rappers stick with this formula because it doesn’t exclude anyone in the much larger mainstream market. Anyone can listen to and enjoy a simple rap song, whereas the more complex works of underground artists tend to come off as arcane and convoluted to those who don’t know what to listen for.

So one of your major decisions as an artist has to be which lane you will take. Complexity will please hip hop heads and other rappers, as well as fans who have developed a taste for that style. Accessibility will allow your music to be accessed by millions of people who may not necessarily listen for lyrics and content.

I have always attempted to maintain a balance between the two. I make sure not EVERY line is saturated with multies and word play, and that some areas of the lyrics are just to the point enough that the average listener can comprehend what is being said. That way I can hopefully reach a little bit of each market instead of isolating myself to only one.

One of the most important tips I can give you in achieving accessibility is: Don’t be afraid to pause!

After a good punch line, shorten the following line so it can start a little later and give the punch line time to sink in. Also, using the occasional pause will make you seem much more comfortable on the beat. Most amateurs make the mistake of writing in a non-stop fashion, which really makes them stand out as beginners. If you can master the use of an occasional pause in your lyrics you will come off as more confident in your flow.

But I would advise against simplifying your lyrics completely. Try to keep enough of your lyrical wordplay in to keep people interested, but don’t over saturate your lyric with unnecessarily complex rhyme schemes.

Once you find a comfortable balance between complexity and accessibility, you will find a wider range of listeners to be interested in your lyrics and songs. From there you can begin refining your target audience by choosing certain topics and instrumental styles.

This week we’re going to cover a few advanced rhyming techniques.

Last time we discussed a lot of the techniques used to craft particularly complex rhyme schemes. This time I want to go in depth on two concepts introduced in the last article: Multi-Syllabic Rhymes (Multies), and Internal Rhymes.

A multi is a rhyme that involves two or more syllables. Instead of “Duck” and “Truck”, it would be more like “That Duck” and “Mack Truck”. Notice that multies almost always involve not only more than one syllable, but more than one word. This technique opens you up to a whole world of possibilities.

To construct a multi, first decide what syllables you will be rhyming. For example, we will start with this line:

Climbing up a mountain higher than I ever been/

“Ever Been” is the logical choice for the multi end rhyme. So the next line has to have three syllables at the end that rhyme with “Ever Been”. Some options are:

Severing

Kepth Within

Never Win

Leg or Fin

Effort In

We have a few options now, enough to construct a full quatrain of multies. But let’s start with “Effort In”

Climbing up a mountain higher than I ever been/

Keep going and I’ll make it if I put some effort in/

But wait, there is another technique we can employ here. I call this the “Full Line Rhyme”, where two lines rhyme almost entirely with each other. Instead of rhyming just the last three syllables in a multi, you would rhyme the whole line with the previous line.

Climbing up a mountain higher than I ever been/

Try’na jump I’m shouting while I’m jamming effort in/

This can sometimes be a useful technique. Something important to note is the words that have the most impact on the rhyme scheme of your lyrics are the ones you emphasize. The words that are not emphasized can stray from the rhyme scheme and generally will not intrude on the flow of things.

Next we will discuss the Internal Rhyme.

An internal rhyme occurs within a line rather than at the end of it. An example:

You might get a blue light if you stop at a red/

In the above example, “you might” and “blue light” rhyme separately from the end rhyme. The followup line could play on this factor:

You might get a blue light if you stop at a red/

It’s a true sight so I scoot right by ’til I’m off in a bed/

This is similar to the full line rhyme, but is not as strict in one line’s adherence to the other. Internals can also be used in just one line, and do not need to be incorporated in the following lines for it to sound cohesive.

If you can incorporate internals and multies in to your lyrics, you can add another layer of depth that is unattainable without employing these more advanced techniques.

Stay tuned for more lessons in the How To Rap series in coming weeks.

Hello again!

This week in How To Rap we’re going to cover how to structure your lyrics, as well as some of the basic poetic devices that are heavily used in hip hop.

To do this, we will actually go through the process of writing a lyric. We’ll only write about four lines, but it will be enough to illustrate the points of the lesson.

The first thing I have to do is decide a topic. Since this isn’t going to be recorded, I will choose to make this a purely lyrical example to avoid the confines of a story. Sometimes when you’re writing a song that follows a story, you have to sacrifice some lyrical complexity for the sake of remaining relevant to the tale.

For the first line, I’ll write something like:

I am really good at rapping like this/

Okay, I know it’s not great. But we’re going to improve it using some poetic devices and rhyming techniques. Note how I put a slash at the end of the line. This is not required, but is a good visual aide in identifying the end of the line. I tend to do this just to clearly define where one line ends and the next line begins.

First off, we will talk about metaphors and similes. A metaphor is a statement that something IS something else. It’s a factual statement. An example:

I am a cloud.

The above statement is a metaphor because, obviously you are not in fact a cloud, and yet you have stated that you are. Metaphors are a good way to add some interest to your lyrics. Don’t be afraid to use unique metaphors to spice up your songs.

Next, we’ll talk about similes. A simile is a statement that compares something to something else. An example:

I am like a cloud.

The above statement is a simile because it says you are LIKE something, but are not in fact that thing. Similes tend to pack a little less impact in my experience, but can be fun for punchlines or general word play.

So let’s put a metaphor in to our first line:

I am really good at rapping, I’m a beast/

Already improving! Since I said I am in fact a beast, it is a metaphor. If I had said I am like a beast, it would have been a simile. That’s one sure indicator of a simile: the word “like”.

The next thing I want to cover with you is alliteration. Alliteration is the use of similar sounds in the first syllables of a series of words. In rap, this often equates to using words that begin with the same letter. But sometimes words that begin with the same letter don’t actually have the same sound, and using such words would not accomplish the desired effect of alliteration.

Tiny toddlers told Tammy that talking takes time.

The above sentence is an example of alliteration. Alliteration is something that you do not want to use too heavily for sake of degrading the value of the lyric, but it can be nice to throw in here and there to make your lyrics sound more cohesive. The more the words in your lyric relate to each other the better.

Let’s use some alliteration in our first line:

I’m really raw at rapping, I’m a beast/

Notice we changed “good” to “raw”. It’s common to use slang terms in rap to allow for more flexibility. It’s one of the few genres in which you can get away with basically inventing a term mid song to pull off a particular rhyme scheme. If it sounds good and makes sense, your listeners won’t mind.

Let’s move on to the next line. We’ve already used a metaphor and alliteration, but now I want to show you an example of consonance. Consonance is the repetition of the same consonant sound two or more times in short succession. An example:

Teeter totter tilting tatters.

Notice that the “t” sound in the middle of the words is repeated continuously. This also contains alliteration in the beginning T sound of the words. Consonance is heavily used in obtaining what is called “internal” rhymes, or rhyming words within a line of lyrics.

Let’s use consonance in our next line.

I’m really raw at rapping, I’m a beast/

It’s wicked I’m attacking, wearing cleats/

Note how the lines are actually separated. This helps you recognize each “line” of lyrics individually so you know how many words you need to fit to one “bar” of music.

In our second line you can see the repetition of the “ck” sound in wicked and attacking. This is consonance. But why not throw in a simile as well?

I’m really raw at rapping, I’m a beast/

It’s wicked like I’m attacking, wearing cleats/

Notice that the operative “like” in the simile also perpetuates the consonance we established in wicked and attacking. Sometimes things just fall in to place.

Next I want to discuss assonance. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within words to make them relate to other words. This is what internal rhyming is almost entirely built upon. An example:

Ticking in rhythm is infinite ribbons.

The short “i” sound in “ticking” establishes our anchor for our repetition, and from that point, “in” and the pronunciation of the “y” in “rhythm” further facilitate it. “Is” and “infinite” both contain the same sound and so continue the assonance, even though the sound is at the beginning of the words and could be considered alliteration. And finally “ribbons” contains the same short “i” sound that the rest of the words also contain. If you say this line out loud you will notice how it really makes the words seem to meld together and seem friendly to one another.

So let’s toss this in to our third line, and go ahead and write a fourth line:

I’m really raw at rapping, I’m a beast/

Wicked like I’m attacking, wearing cleats/

Shatter faster than acne, a pair of these/

Will scare at least fifty different merry dweebs/

Another thing I want to point out is that each of these lines contains an internal rhyme, as opposed to just an end rhyme. “Rapping”, “Attacking”, and “Acne” all play well together as slant rhymes. The last line also uses a technique in which you repeat the end rhyme but within the next line as well as on the end. The end rhymes of the last three lines are called “multisyllabic rhymes”, or “multies”. This is because, in “wearing cleats”, “pair of these”, and “merry dweebs”, more than one syllable rhymes within the phrase that makes up the end rhyme. Take note, as we will cover these more in depth in a later lesson.

So we have four lines, incorporating similes, metaphors, alliteration, assonance, and consonance. Hopefully this lesson has helped you to get a better grasp on structure and some of the poetic devices used in rap.

Last time we summarized a lot of the main elements involved in writing a rap song.

In this article, we’ll take a step back and talk about the topic of your song.

When it comes to choosing a topic, I usually think in terms of song concepts. A song concept can encompass everything from the story or message the song will convey, to how the song is arranged and produced. A solid concept begets a solid song almost every time.

I usually write songs in two main categories: Personal and Hypothetical.

A Personal song will include details, stories, events, and thoughts from your own experiences and life. It will often be a song that discusses something you hold dear to you, or that you are passionate about. Generally, songs that you have an emotional investment in will be stronger to the audience than those that have a topic you are indifferent about. Remember, songwriting is an art, and art needs feeling.

On the other side of the coin is the Hypothetical song. These songs are written on topics that you may or may not have first hand experience with. I approach them like writing a work of fiction. I may write a song from the first person perspective about a crazy night I had with some friends, or I may write a third person story about a person who has gone through hard times but finally overcomes his or her obstacles. Either way, I am presenting a hypothetical situation through the perspective of a main character or a narrator observing a main character. The Hypothetical song gives you a much greater range of topics to cover as opposed to the Personal song, which is limited by your own experiences.

No topic should be off limits, but if you choose to write on a topic that has been exhaustively covered, be sure to artistically interpret it in a new way to make it fresh to your audience.

Finally, don’t forget about the “no topic” song. We are talking about rap here, and rap doesn’t always have to have some deep meaning or message. Sometimes you want to write something that just showcases your lyrical talent, and that is fine. Just keep it interesting with your flow, delivery, rhymes, and punch lines. Listeners tend to love a good show off track, but make sure you don’t exclusively write this type of song. It’s good to exercise some variety in your topics, and show your audience that you can cover a diverse range of song types.

I’ll leave you in the hopes that this article has demystified the sometimes daunting task of picking a topic to write about. Good luck!