How To Rhyme Better In Rap | Breaking Rhyme Schemes

In today’s video, I’m going to show you how to rhyme better in rap by breaking rhyme schemes.

To get started let’s first establish the difference between a rhyme scheme and an internal rhyme.

RHYME SCHEME

A rhyme scheme is when you rhyme in relatively the same location for at least 2 bars.

INTERNAL RHYME

An internal rhyme is when you rhyme with at least two words within 1 bar but you don’t rhyme with those same words in the following bar.

One of the most common reasons rapper’s rhyme schemes don’t sound good is because they’re not properly keeping track of where they’re placing their rhymes within each bar.

This will cause their rhyme schemes to be chaotic and lack structure making it difficult for the listener to follow along.

Here’s an example of lyrics that have poorly structured rhyme schemes followed by a version where the rhyme schemes are structured much better.

The beat that I’m using is an instrumental I produced called bounty hunter. If you like this beat you can get it via my beat store.

EXAMPLE (BAD RHYME STRUCTURE)

(B) I wonder why my rhymes don’t sound good

Maybe I should watch some Cole Mize videos

(B) So I can learn to be a better rapper now And

then maybe I’ll learn how to sound a lot better

FOR EXAMPLE (GOOD RHYME STRUCTURE)

(B) I wonder why my rhymes don’t sound good

Cole be droppin them videos so maybe I should

Start tunning in to be a better rapper now And 

maybe with some practice I may just learn how

EVEN SCHEMES

It’s typically best for your to keep your rhyme schemes going for an even number of bars such as 2-4-6-8, etc.

If your rhyme schemes are an odd number of bars such as 3,5,7,9, etc. your rhyme scheme will feel incomplete and can be unsatisfying to the listener.

But as I often say, “when it comes to rapping, theirs no rules, theirs only techniques”. 

Well, I’m about to show you a trick that will allow you to break your rhyme scheme and have an odd number rhyme scheme while making it sound awesome! 

You can achieve this by creating a 4 bar rhyme scheme but break the rhyme scheme on the 3rd bar with an internal rhyme.

EXAMPLE (BREAKING THE RHYME STRUCTURE)

(B) I wonder why my rhymes don’t sound good

Cole be droppin them videos so maybe I should

Start tuning in, begin to pimp my pin and 

Then rock the crowd like no other rapper now could

The reason this works is that I broke the rhyme scheme on the 3rd bar of a 4 bar rhyme scheme. Before I broke it, I already completed a 2 bar rhyme scheme so everything felt complete.

So when I created an internal rhyme on the 3rd bar, the listener is thinking I’m creating a new rhyme scheme but in fact, I’m not. However, I’ve given them a payoff because I created an internal rhyme.

And then on the 4th bar I rhymed “Then” on the 1st beat with bar 3’s internal rhyme scheme of “in” sounds.

This move is always a great way to transition between two different rhyme schemes.

Then when I complete my rhyme scheme on the 4th bar the listener is realizing for the first time what I’ve actually done. Your normal listener won’t intellectually understand what happened, they’ll just know that they thought you were going to do one thing, but you did another but it still sounded really good.

This is like performing a magic trick on the listener and it’s very satisfying.

KEEPING TRACK

If you’re someone who struggles with keeping track of where your rhymes are landing within each bar, I created a free tool called Bar Sheets that will help you do just that.

And I also created a video tutorial on how to use bar sheets, and a video on how to structure your rap lyrics.