At this point you've probably realized that when you freestyle, you mess up. A LOT. Like a lot a lot. This is 100% normal, and doesn't make you a bad freestyler. Actually, we'd be far more worried if you weren't messing up because it means you aren't pushing yourself to your limits. You're probably are thinking this lesson is on how not to mess up, but you'd be wrong. Instead of trying to prevent the inevitable, we're gonna teach you how to handle it when you do.
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When you mess up in some way and then get back on track, it's called a recovery. The less obvious a recovery, the better it sounds to the audience. The goal as a freestlyer is to have seamless recoveries, meaning that you can mess up all the time without your audience noticing. The first step to achieving this goal is realizing that when you freestyle, you can't mess up. Think about it: since you're making it up as you go along, even if you planned to say something different or are off beat, you simply have to redirect your plan to account for that. There are ways to play off every mistake.
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There are three main types of mistakes you can make at this point: Blanking, misplaced rhyme, and misspoken word. Try to catch them:
The first of these mistakes, blanking, happens at 0:16 with the "Uh". Blanking is when you don't know what to say next or forget your rhyme. In this case, he has gotten to the end of his rhyme set for orange, and is looking for what to say next. He successfully uses the "Uh" to buy himself just a little more time to think, and comes up with a decent transition. This is a pretty solid recovery because you probably wouldn't have noticed it had it not been pointed out.
The "Uh" he used is called a filler. Fillers are words or phrases used in by rappers order to buy themselves time to think. A few common ones are "Uh", "Yeah", "Check it", "Word", some variations of "F*ck", repeating part of the last bar, and pausing until the end of a single bar in a stylistic way. You probably have already developed some of these but it's hard to catch your own filler. The best way to catch your fillers is to record yourself.
Fillers in the long term are bad and it's best to reduce them, but you wanna know what's worse than a filler? Completely blanking, and standing there awkwardly as you think of something to say. So, the best way to combat blanking is preferably with a generic phrase but a little filler isn't terrible either. The difference between a filler and a a generic phrase is that you are aware when you are using a generic phrase.
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DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY NEXT? TRY USING YOUR ENVIRONMENT. A CLASSIC FREESTYLE TRICK IS TO POINT OUT AN ITEM SOMEONE IS WEARING (:04 IN THE VIDEO), SPECIFICS ABOUT YOUR LOCATION, OR SOMETHING RECENTLY SAID...
The second kind of mistake, misplaced rhyme, happens from 0:26 - 0:29. He accidentally says too many words, and caused the rhyme to be after four. This happens all the time. Whether you say your rhyme too soon or wait too long, for now the best way to handle this is just to wait for the bar to come to completion, and reset. Use the time to think of something to say. It's better than rambling or letting this mistake throw you off and cause another one. We'll teach you a way of incorporating this kind of mistake later in Flow II. In this case, the recovery was poor but not terrible. Poor because you probably noticed it. It wasn't terrible because he didn't let the audience know he made a mistake by making a face, and continued on.
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The last type of mistake, misspoken word, happens at 0:37. "Erelations" is just not a word. There are a few of things you can do to deal with this. The first is just to ignore it. Rather than re-stumble over the word, move on, you're freestyling, it happens. The second, the one our rapper chooses, is to use the corrected word "Relation" to form the next phrase. The viewer might realize you made a mistake but at least they'll know what you meant. The last method is harder to do, and can only sometimes be used. It is to play off of your mistake. For example for "E-relations", he could've made his next bar about online relationships, thus making "E-relations" clever instead of a mistake. This is the strongest recovery in these cases.
THE BEST WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR DELIVERY IS TO PRACTICE IN FRONT OF PEOPLE...
Volume and annunciation are fundamental parts of delivery. It doesn't matter how clever of a freestyler you are if no one can hear or understand you clearly. The best way to practice annunciation is to practice tongue twisters very very slowly and ramp your speed up gradually. Getting good volume is a bit trickier but its through a technique that actors, performers, and opera singers use called projection.
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Take a deep breath. No really, do it. You'll notice that when you did your shoulders rose up. That's because you are breathing through your lungs. "Well yes, of course. What else am I suppose to breath with?" Oh Imaginary, how we've missed you. The other way to breathe is through your diaphragm. If you ever played a woodwind instrument then I'm sure you remember your teacher telling you this as well. Take another deep breath but when you do force the air down to your stomach. You should see your stomach rise. If you've never done this before its probably a strange sensation, and feels like a more shallow breath. That should change with practice. When you speak, sing, or rap while breathing through your diaphragm, your voice sounds fuller and more supported, thus it's name – breath support. Your abdominal muscles are able to force the air out faster, and in a constant stream, which in turn allows you to speak much much louder than usual. This is called projecting. Try it.
A good exercise to practice breathing this way is by laying down with your back on the floor. Place a text book (or stack of textbooks) on your stomach. Breathe until it rises. One of the goals of breathe support is also to keep your air flow consistent. Before moving on, create 5 more rhyme sets and expand 5 pre-existing ones (these will be important later).