Congratulations! You've made it to the intermediate part of our course. From here on out we're gonna focus on building off of your foundation so let's check in. At this point over 16 bars you should be to:​
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Stay on beat 100% of the time over Level I Beats
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Rhyme 90% of your bars
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Have 75% of your sentences make sense
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Consistently recover in front of a friend
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Rap clear and loudly enough that an entire room can understand you
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If your not there yet don't sweat it. Review the material, ask us questions, practice a little more, and then come back. As for everyone else that's still with us, this is where it gets a bit little trickier. We're also gonna take this time to say that if you haven't already, definitely move up to Level II Beats. However, we won't tell you when to move up from there, that'll be at your discretion. So let's get to it.
IF YOU FIND YOURSELF RAPPING ABOUT THE SAME TOPICS, TRY EXPANDING YOUR RHYME SET COLLECTION...
For sentence construction the real goal is to make the rest of your bar (the non-rhyming part) be as interesting to listen to as the rhyming part. There are two ways to go about this:
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Say normal things in an interesting way
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Say interesting things in a normal way
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And, of course, the dream:
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Say interesting things in an interesting way
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When freestyling, you want to surprise people by incorporating unexpected elements that help you sound unique. Similes, metaphors, puns, alliteration, personification, and repetition are most frequently used to accomplish this but you're welcome to check out other literary techniques. This is what we meant by saying something an interesting way. You'd be surprised how much your rapping improves by even by using just one of these techniques.
Since literary techniques are well documented on the internet we're not going to cover them but rather encourage you look into them and use them while freestyling. Really, the only way to practice these techniques is by forcing yourself to incorporate them while you freestyle.
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SWITCHING LANGUAGES DURING A FREESTYLE IS A GREAT WAY TO RE-GRAB YOUR AUDIENCES ATTENTION...
To say something interesting you have to know what's considered the "norm". If you are a fan of rap music, you probably already what some of these are:
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Bragging about your rapping ability, money, sexual prowess, drug usage, etc
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Descriptions of your lifestyle
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Insulting other rappers
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Depictions of violence
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Rather than always talk about these, try to include some more impressive topics politics, current events, a personal story or any topic that's different from the norm. Rapping is your chance to geek out about what you like so use your knowledge. You really like Fight Club? Tell your audience about it. Oh wait, you can't talk about it...
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If you're getting stuck when attempting this, try making a list of all the extra-curriculars you've ever done in your life. Now add to that list your favorite movies, TV shows, your jobs, college majors, anything specific to your cultural background, and anything else that makes you unique. BAM. There's your topic list. Here's one of ours:
IF YOU'RE AN EXPERT IN SOME AREA, SHOW OFF YOUR KNOWLEDGE! HOWEVER, NOT AT THE EXPENSE OF ANY OF YOUR BASIC TECHNIQUES...
When you try to incorporate any of these techniques or any of the ones moving forward, you'll notice that you devote a significant proportion of brain power to the task. That is completely okay. Unlike the Basics, these techniques become easier with practice but will never become automatic. They are objectively hard. If you're ever struggling, try going back to Level I Beats and only focusing on the technique(s) you're drilling. If you're just feeling stuck, shoot us a video, and we might be able to give some additional pointers.