In this video, I’m going to be showing you how to rap like Juice WRLD. I’m going to be breaking down his Rap Flow, Rhymes and Delivery using a few bars from his song “All Girls Are The Same”.
In this video, I’m using a beat that I produced called “Spaced Out” and if you’re diggin’ you can get it over on my beat store.
Also, I’m going to be giving away 3 unlimited licenses for this beat, but in order for a chance to win you’re going to have to watch the full video.
RAP FLOW
ANCHOR POINTS
The first thing I would like to point out is Juice WRLDS excellent use of anchor points on the 3rd and 4th beats with his cadences. Anchor Points are small patterns that we create within our bars that repeat in the same place, typically for an even number of bars which makes them sound even and complete.
This is the key to creating a catchy rap flow. It’s these patterns that make your rap flow symmetrical. If your rap flow doesn’t have any anchor points it will sound chaotic and people won’t be able to follow along or make any sense of it. The Anchor points hold things in place and give your raps stability.
Notice in this example how Juice WRLD’s cadence is very repetitive on beats 3 and 4 with only small differences on bar 3 beat 3 and bar 4 beat 4. These small differences still fit within the groove that he created which is why they feel good and similar to the other anchor points.
PAUSES
Another thing that’s important to note about Juice WRLD’s flow is his musical use of pauses. Notice how he’s not just pausing when he runs out of breath. His pauses are a part of his rap flow.
He pauses at the very end of every bar except for the 4th bar because he fills that in to create momentum while creating a transition into his next 4 bar quadrant. He also pauses in the same spot on beat 2 of bars 3 and 4.
ADDITIONAL ANCHOR POINTS
One more pattern I want to point out is what Juice WRLD does on beat 1 and half of beat 2 of bars 3 and 4. This new anchor point that he’s added creates a nice step up and energy on these parts of the bar which gives his rap flow some subtle movement.
One of the keys to having a catchy rap flow is to create patterns with your cadences so there’s an element of predictability but it also helps to add additional patterns in different places to keep your rap flow from sounding too repetitive.
RHYME SCHEMES
Now let’s talk about Juice WRLD’s rhyme schemes. He’s actually rhyming a lot more than you may realize.
First, let’s revisit our anchor points.
RHYMES ON ANCHORS
Notice how Juice WRLD is rhyming on the 4th beat of all the Cadences anchor points? This is because skilled rappers will stack multiple layers of patterns on top of each other which make these anchor points even stronger. In this case, he has a rhyme pattern and a cadence pattern happening at the same time.
Also, notice how he changed his rhyme scheme at the end of bars 3 and 4. The main takeaway here is that all of your patterns don’t have to be the same length. Your cadence’s pattern could be 4 bars and your rhyme schemes could be two 2 bar patterns like you see here.
DRIFTING RHYMES
Also, notice how Juice WRLD rhymes on beat 1 of bars 1 and 3 but there not exactly in the same spot like they are on beat 4. This is okay because they’re close enough to each other for them to feel like a strong rhyme pattern. Your rhymes don’t always have to be exactly aligned in time for them to sound good.
COMPROMISED RHYMES
One more thing that’s interesting to note is how Juice WRLD doesn’t complete his 2 syllable rhyme scheme on bar 4 beat 1. “Sipp” rhymes with “li” but “in” doesn’t rhyme with “quor”. So why does this part still sound so good? It’s because this rhyme pattern is stacked on top of his cadence pattern.
The main takeaway here is that when you’re stacking your patterns on top of each other to create an anchor point, one of them can be compromised and it will still sound good if your other patterns stay in place. It’s like having multiple layers of goodness so if one layer cracks a little bit there’s still more goodness underneath it to support it.
One last thing I’d like to point out about Juice WRLD’s rhymes is how he has a few short rhyme schemes that serve as additional ear candy that’s sandwiched in the middle of his bigger rhyme schemes.
RHYME SCHEME
He does this twice. The first time with “oh” sounds on bars 1 and 2. But notice how the only rhymes that line up from each bar are on beat 2. This is considered a rhyme scheme because the rhyme carries over to another bar and is placed within the same general area of the bar.
INTERNAL RHYME
However, on bar 2 the rhyme that lands on beat 1 and 3 doesn’t carry over to another bar. These are called internal rhymes and are a great way to add additional rhymes to your lyrics without having to commit to creating an additional rhyme scheme.
DISTANT RHYME SCHEME
Also notice how he rhymes with “heart” and “hard” on beat 2 of bars 2 and 4. These two rhymes don’t line up perfectly in time with each other but they’re close enough, plus there’s a bar in between them that doesn’t rhyme with this sound at all.
This rhyme scheme feels different than a normal rhyme scheme due to how much time there is between them. By the time you hear the word “hard” which completes the rhyme scheme, your ears know it sounds good but it’s not obvious why. This is a subtle rhyme scheme and it’s a great example of why all of your rhyme schemes don’t have to be completed on the very next bar.
DELIVERY
Now let’s talk about Juice WRLD’s delivery. Rappers don’t only create strong anchor points with their cadence and rhyme patterns, they also do it with their delivery as well.
Let’s listen back and pay attention to all the lyrics that change colors as they represent the patterns that Juice WRLD is creating by raising the tone and pitch of his voice.
The main takeaway here is this, Juice WRLD is raising the pitch of his voice on all the other anchor points which adds a 3rd layer of patterns on top of his cadence and rhyme patterns. With 3 layers of ear candy for his anchor points, It’s no wonder why his raps sound so hypnotic.
One interesting fact is notice how he lowers his pitch when he changes his rhyme scheme on beat 4 of bars 3 and 4. Here the cadences pattern slightly changes but the rhyme and delivery patterns stay the same. Again, when you stack multiple patterns for your anchor points you can deviate on one of them and it will still sound good because of all the extra support it still has.
A similar thing happens on beat 1 of bars 3 and 4. I already mentioned before that his rhyme scheme breaks here since “quor” doesn’t rhyme with “in” but it still sounds good because his cadence pattern stays the same and so does his delivery pattern. Now let’s listen back again with all of that in mind.
DON’T GET BOXED IN
Now that you understand the science behind why Juice WRLD’s raps sound so good it’s also important that you don’t overthink this stuff when you’re writing your next lyrics. I’m pretty sure Juice WRLD didn’t write his rhymes using all my nerdy graphs, he likely did it by ear and by feeling.
Now that you know all of this stuff, try to be free of it but if something isn’t feeling good about your raps you probably need to take a look at your anchor points and see how they’re holding up.
My name is Cole Mize with colemizestudios.com where I strive to make you a better rapper now! If you’re trying to perfect your rap skills make sure you get a FREE copy of my eBook The #1 Fundamental To Rapping below.
And always remember, when it comes to rapping, there’s no rules, there’s only techniques, peace!
