Speed is an important part of an MC’s arsenal; though you don’t need to rap as fast as Twista- who currently holds the world record for fastest rap- you do need to learn how to rap fast to improve your versatility. Here are several exercises you can do to improve your rappping speed:
Follow LL Cool J’s Advice. One of the greatest rappers of all time, LL once recorded a track where he rapped the alphabet while saying “the” in between each letter.
So it came out like “The A-The B-The C- The D, etc.”
This is harder than it sounds, and is a great exercise to help you rap fast. Try going through the alphabet, saying each letter as clearly as possible, and increase the speed at which you rap it. After a week or so you will start to see results.
You can take this a step further and make several different raps based on the alphabet. For example, in one exercise you could say “A-B-C-D-E (PAUSE) F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P (PAUSE)…” and on the next time around, put the pause after D, G and P.
Why? Simple. If you want to learn how to rap fast, you’ll also need to learn how to stop fast. It’s like driving a car: NASCAR drivers are just as good stopping a car as they are speeding one up. By adding breaks in your flow, you’re also giving the listener time to process what you said before racing onto the next lyric.
Twista has some great lines, but few people ever listen closely enough to catch what he’s saying. Don’t let this happen to you!
You can learn how to rap fast using these exercises, but remember- speed is only one aspect of what makes a dope MC.