In today’s lesson I’m going to be sharing the shocking truth behind what makes a rap good or bad.
My name is Cole Mize and I’ve been helping rappers perfect their rap skills on this channel for the past 10 years.
[1] Symmetry
Now the first determining factor if a rap is good or bad is its symmetry. Symmetry just means balanced proportions or similarity.
For example rappers are musicians because our lyrics aren’t just words, they’re music.
And the thing that makes music sound pleasing to our ears are patterns which is symmetry.
Every single syllable you rap equates to a rhythmic music note such as 8th, 16th, or 32nd notes to name a few. And the combination of these different rhythmic music notes is what creates your cadences which are musical patterns. And just like how there’s musical patterns within every instrumental, as a rapper you are another instrument within the instrumental.
And in Rap there’s 3 types of patterns you’ll be creating and the more symmetrical they are the better they will sound to the listener. In other words, you want these patterns to repeat within the same place across your bars for as long as you use them.
[1] RHYME
You’ll have a rhyme scheme pattern where you rhyme relatively in the same spot for as long as you use it.
[2] CADENCE
You will also have a cadence pattern where you may begin or end the bars in the same place to create a groove pattern. Or you may use clusters of the same rhythmic music notes across each bar.
[3] DELIVERY
And the 3rd pattern you will create is a delivery pattern. This is where you create a pattern with the tonal changes of your voice. For example the most common delivery pattern rappers will make is we’ll slightly go up in tone to add more emphasis to our rhyme schemes.
This means that we often stack these 3 patterns on top of each other which is something I like to refer to as anchor points.
If you would like to see a demonstration of this, check out this video of me breaking down a few bars of Juice WRLD’s song “All Girls Are The Same”.
[2] Dynamics
The 2nd factor that will determine if a rap is good or bad comes down to dynamics.
Once you’ve got your patterns going if you keep the patterns the same throughout the entire duration of your rap verse, while you’re verse will have symmetry will not have have any dynamics. So it will sound flat.
Dynamics just means change and change keeps things interesting, evolving, and less predictable.
It’s not a rule, but if you change your cadence, rhyme schemes, and delivery patterns every 4 bars, your raps will have a nice balance of dynamics and will hold the attention of the listener longer.
Remember how I just said your just like another instrument within the instrumental? Well when you get a chance, play a song or an instrumental and count 4 bar chunks at a time, and it’s highly likely that something will happen every 4 bar for the sake of dynamics.
So as the instrumental is taking steps and evolving you also want your rap verse to be taking steps and evolving as well.
If you wish to dig a little deeper into this, check out my video called “The 4 Bar Theory”
[3] Intentions & Methods
Now once you have the Symmetry and the Dynamics of your rap worked out most people would consider this a good well balanced rap, and if you’re looking at it from just a musical standpoint I would agree. But while rappers are musicians we aren’t only musicians we are also lyricists. And I like to think of RAP as an acronym for Rhythm And Poetry.
So the 3rd factor to whether your rap is good or not comes down to your intentions and your methods.
INTENTIONS
Let’s start with intentions.
Every rap you write will likely not have the same intentions. For example, if you’re writing a diss track against a lyrical foe of yours, one of your main intentions is going to be to embarrass your opponent. So your top priority will probably be to execute as many punchlines as possible.
METHODS
Now let’s talk about methods.
Your method is the techniques you’re using to execute your intention.
So if your intention is to write a diss track with a lot of good punchlines but you choose to rap really fast and rhyme as much as possible then your punchlines likely will not hit as hard because it will be difficult for most listeners to catch all of your well thought out wordplay at such a quick speed resulting in your punch lines not hitting as hard.
So in this situation if you want to show off your rhyming and speed rapping skills you will need to let the clarity of the punchlines to take top priority and then fit the faster rhyming and dense rhyme schemes around them.
Here’s a few more examples.
Let’s say your intention is to make the listener cry? Then neither punchlines or rapping fast will likely match that emotion. And you will likely need to get the listener invested into the subject you’re talking about before you reveal the tragedy that may make them cry.
Or let’s say your attention is to show off your rap skills? Bring out those punchlines, get tricky with your cadences, maybe show them that you can rap fast.
What Makes A Good Rap?
So In addition to your rap having symmetry and dynamics make sure there’s also a clear intention behind the purpose of your rap and then make sure the techniques you’re using aren’t getting in the way of it.
And that is my definition of a good rap.
And to simplify it even more, a good rap should make the listener have some type of emotional response.
What’s your definition of a good rap? I’d love to hear your thoughts so be sure to keep the conversation going on the comments section below.
THE RAP ESSENTIALS BUNDLE
And before you leave, if you’re trying to perfect your rap skills make sure you get my FREE Rap Essentials bundle which includes…
The #1 Fundamental To Rapping eBook
Bar Sheets to help you improve the structuring of your lyrics
6 practice instrumentals which includes dedicated video tutorials
The CMS Catalog which has my favorite studio gear recommendations
Plus I’ll be sharing via e-mail the most essential video tutorials I’ve made that I recommend every aspiring rapper to watch. These lessons are going to teach you all the core techniques you need to be a better rapper now!
And all of this 100% FREE when you join my mailing list.
My name is Cole Mize with colemizestudios.com and always remember, when it comes to rapping, there’s no rules, there’s only techniques. Peace!
