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dark.nowhere · Post by **dark.nowhere** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 12:37 am

Hey folks,

I'm looking for good resources on theory as applied to rap lyrics and related styles. I've only found one publication that really gets its nerd-on: http://www.mtosmt.org/issues/mto.09.15. ... adams.html—there's a lot of good stuff in there, but it's a bit too rigid.

I mentioned analysis in the subject, but I'd love to find something that is presented from a synthetic perspective, or ideally is both analytical and synthetic.

TIA

Tricky-Loops · Post by **Tricky-Loops** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 12:47 am

As far as I know, most good rappers are simply listening to beats and rapping & freestylin' to it, and they're practicing this for years to get better - I don't know any rapper who has read music theory books about how to achieve the perfect flow...

dark.nowhere · Post by **dark.nowhere** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 12:55 am

I don't doubt you're right, but nonetheless I'm interested in reading written publications. I've found some analyses to be elucidating in ways I'd never have picked up on, as in all things, and I'd like to read more on the subject if there's anything to read.

Tricky-Loops · Post by **Tricky-Loops** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 1:04 am

You could try this:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Rap-Art-Scien ... ywords=rap

or this:

http://www.amazon.com/Anthology-Rap-Ada ... ywords=rap

If you're a professor of rap after reading them, please call me and show me how to hook the right flow...

dark.nowhere · Post by **dark.nowhere** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 1:18 am

Thanks, the anthology looks like it might be worth checking out. I've got a bad feeling about the other one. If I do manage to get my flow to where I want it, I wouldn't be able to credit a single source. I'm certain I'll learn the most from hearing other emcees, like you said¹, but I find a framework to compare to doesn't hurt either.

1. hell, if it wasn't for a certain few emcees I wouldn't even be interested, or have learned enough to try.

tapper mike · Post by **tapper mike** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 2:10 am

Comparisons whether earned or assumed are inevitable in any genre.

One cannot be both generic (sharing traits of the genre) and anti generic(sharing no traits of the genre) at the same time. Influences affect the outcome as well as the ever evolving individual. You enter the field because you like the field(why else would you choose to do this) and are influenced by artists in the field. That influence does not subside and can be a catalyst for your own direction whether it be to or away from the source.

A better path would be to study those that you are most influenced by and try to merge what you learn from them and merge it with your own conscious of how you see yourself fitting into the landscape.

Tricky-Loops · Post by **Tricky-Loops** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 2:16 am

tapper mike wrote:A better path would be to study those that you are most influenced by and try to merge what you learn from them and merge it with your own conscious of how you see yourself fitting into the landscape.

Do you mean this?

I said a hip hop,
Hippie to the hippie,
The hip, hip a hop, and you don't stop, a rock it
To the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie,
To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat.
(The Sugar Hill Gang, "Rapper's Delight")

I tried to rap it 10 times in a row, and I always get stuck on a word...

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:29 am

[Mod edit: Part of squabble removed.]

One of the things someone said to me when I was young was 'Never try to write with a [theory] book in your hand.'; that's some valuable words right there.

From this paper, this:

the best approach [to rap] is first to disregard the semantic meaning of the lyrics, and to treat the syllables of text simply as consonant/vowel combinations that occupy specific metrical locations

is interesting to me.

I started to write a rap a little bit ago, with a particular kind of 'text' in mind and it was a real challenge to get syllables to fall in happy places and get the idea(s) across. I wasn't going to be doing the rap myself. I didn't have anything lined up as far as executing it, so I abandoned it, it was freaking hard. And I have some experience getting things to scan against the time and I don't have a problem coming up with rhymes so much. This would take a lot of practice over some time to master.

I think this was a good read. I didn't quite get to the point of 'flow' out of that but I understand what the writer was after with it.

debra1rlo · Post by **debra1rlo** » Sun Sep 08, 2013 6:30 pm

@OP: I think it's about dissing.

Winstontaneous · Post by **Winstontaneous** » Sun Sep 08, 2013 8:26 pm

[Mod edit: Squabble-related bit removed.]

I haven't read it, but The RZA's Wu Tang Manual probably has tasty nuggets in that direction. Also, I'm sure DJ Spooky has written a zillion highly erudite postmodern words on the subject. Beyond that, IMO the Fugees/Wyclef Jean were some of the first to really approach rapping as singing rather than rhythmic speaking. Be sure to read up on Blowfly, Gil-Scott Heron, Last Poets, and Nina Simone as well, for the backstory.

dark.nowhere · Post by **dark.nowhere** » Sun Sep 08, 2013 8:46 pm

[Mod edit: Squabble-related bit removed.]

e: @Winstontaneous, thanks, that list sounds very promising.

D.H. Miltz · Post by **D.H. Miltz** » Mon Sep 09, 2013 4:33 am

Squabble removed. Please don't restart it.

Aroused by JarJar · Post by **Aroused by JarJar** » Mon Sep 09, 2013 7:30 am

Gormless

You got game, I am gormless
my rhymes are formless
my rap is crap I need a bitch-slap
my threats are harmless

you have never heard a beat more weak
it ain't ghetto, more like Chesapeake
the bass ain't fat, it's got no bottom
I had things to say but I forgot 'em

some hick whose neck is red
has got more street cred
than I have ever had
now that is sad

you got game, I am gormless
my flow is charmless
even a cop is more Hip Hop
'cuz I am hopeless

I'm gormless
yeah home-bwaw I'm gormless
but you'd better be nice
or my mom will beat you senseless

I'm gormless

ps. Use sample "I'm all out of love" from Air Supply
pps. Dont make millions off this without giving me a fat slice of the doubloons, ese.

dark.nowhere · Post by **dark.nowhere** » Mon Sep 09, 2013 7:48 am

Heh, people have made millions on much much worse, but I doubt they ever battled. And then Jean Grae is going on about how broke she is all the time.

Analyses of Rap styles / Rhyming and Flow