Freestyle rapping – the ability to improvise and rap “off the top” of the head, is an important skill that rappers develop early on in their careers. It can make or break an MCs reputation. For example, MC Supernatural has never released a hit song, let a hit record, and is still considered a great rapper based on his freestyle rapping expertise. Let’s take a look at how you can improve your freestyles within a matter of weeks.
Firstly, you must expose yourself to as many different battle styles as possible. Start with ones you find on YouTube, particularly those from JumpOff TV. As you watch these battles, take notes on what the rappers are saying about each other: why do some work better than others? Try to come up with punchlines to use on the MCs in the battle, and write rebuttals to what is being said about them. Picture yourself in the battle itself, as you will be in your own battle shortly.
After getting a feel for the different battle techniques, you need to step up your freestyle skills. A dope freestyler can learn to battle quickly, whereas a good trashtalker must first learn how to rap (which takes longer). Here’s how you can improve your freestyles: write a list of fifteen to 20 words and try to freestyle your way through it. If you stumble, no worries… just keep rapping your way through the list. Alternatively, you can freestyle about what you see on television, down the street or a series of photgraphs in a room. Sometimes I’ll freestyle my way through a room- a trick that comes in handy when on stage.
The more words you know, the better. Reserach 20 interesting words (not obvious ones like “bat”) and consult a rhyming dictionary to build a list of words that rhyme with it. The next step is to memorize them, so that you will never draw a blank when freestyle rapping. For example, some of my words include lyrically; without even thinking about I can use empirically, clear to me, spherically, fear to be, etc. Notice these aren’t the same tired phrases you hear on the radio all the time. Make sure you choose original words and phrases, and make sure to update your list from time to time.
Freestyle rapping is not rocket science. Simply increase your vocabulary and associated rhymes, practice freestyling and don’t give up! Like push ups, it’s hard at first, but soon you get the hang of it and start seeing results.