Today I’m going to show you why you should stop always aligning your rhymes perfectly in time.
This lesson mainly applies to more experienced rappers who are wanting to learn how to rhyme better.
If you’re new to rapping then you should certainly focus on being able to align your rhymes in time correctly. This is what gives your rhymes structure so that the listener can follow along to it and make sense of it.
How To Rhyme Better
EXAMPLE 1 – Perfect Rhyme Structure
For example, I’m about to rap 2 bars and notice how I land rap and cap on the 4th beat of each bar.
The instrumental I’ll be rapping over today is a beat that I produced called “Drowning” and if you like this instrumental you can get it on my beat store.
I got some techniques that you can use to rap
And I’m givin’ it away a free, there’s no fee, that’s no cap
Now this sounds totally fine, and this is a great example of perfectly structured rhymes. But as you advance in rapping you need to give yourself more freedom on how you structure your rhymes. This will cause your rhymes to be less predictable and give your overall raps more dynamics.
EXAMPLE 2 – 4th and 3rd beat
For example, l’m about to rhyme on the 4th beat for the 1st bar and then on the 3rd beat of the 2nd bar.
I got some techniques that you can use to rap
And I’m givin’ it away a free, that’s no cap
These rhymes sound perfectly fine as well but they feel different due to them not landing on the same beat of each bar.
EXAMPLE 3 – 4th and 1st
Let’s push this concept to the extreme and I’m going to place my rhyme on the 4th beat of bar one and then I’m not going to rhyme with it at all on bar 2 because I’m going to place the rhyme on beat 1 of bar 3.
One of the keys to pulling such a drastic move off is by using internal rhymes to give the listener a payoff before completing a rhyme scheme with such a large gap in between both rhymes. In this example, I used this exact technique by creating an internal rhyme on bar 2 with “free” “fee” and “deed”
I got some techniques that you can use to rap
And I’m givin’ it away a free, there’s no fee, yes indeed
that’s no cap
DEMO EXAMPLE 4 – 3rd and 4th
Now just for funsies let’s reverse our last two techniques
Instead of rhyming on beat 4 of bar 1 and then beat 3 of bar 2 I’m going to rhyme on beat 3 of bar 1 and beat 4 of bar 2.
I got some techniques for rap, and plus
I’m givin’ it away a free, there’s no fee, that’s no cap
EXAMPLE 5 – 1st and 4th
And let’s reverse the most extreme example and instead of rhyming on the 4th beat of bar 1 and the 1st beat of bar 3, I’m going to rhyme on the 1st beat of bar one and the 2nd half of beat 4 of bar 2.
Rap techniques is what I teach
No BS, I can’t stress enough man this aint no cap
More Reasons To Do This
Not only does shifting your rhymes give your raps more dynamics but it also gives you more flexibility to express what you’re really trying to say. Often times rappers will take too many words out of their lyrics to make their rhymes land perfectly but then the phrasing of their lyrics doesn’t sound natural, or make sense anymore
You can’t always convey exactly what you’re trying to say when you box yourself into a strict rhyme scheme structure this way.
Also playing around with shifting your rhyme schemes can give your raps a more gritty, less polished, and human feel and sound.
So please keep structuring perfect rhyme schemes but also play around with shifting the placement of your rhyme schemes as well.
