Strategy Ki new single doing numbers on Spotify
Rapping is an art; its mastery requires style, sacrifice and devotion. A good MC ignites the crowd, has its unique style and creates material from any element. You listen to your favorite rap songs wondering “but how do they do it?” If you have the dream and the intention, why wouldn’t you be the next pearl of rap? If you want to take care of an event, learn how to be a good master of ceremonies.
Develop your skills
Constantly listen to rap and hip-hop. The beginner makes the mistake of only focusing on one genre of music. If you memorize the songs of one or two artists, you will be their clone. No, you want your own touch. Spend more time discovering the sub-genres: ghettoes, Chicano rap, East coast hip hop, low bap, Mafioso etc. Become the expert. You must also always be competitive!
Study hip hop from A to Z. If you don’t know much about MC, here are some classics: Run DMC, Beatie Boys, Tupac Notorious BIG, Nas, Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Wu-Tang Clan, NWA, Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5, A Tribe Called Quest, Common, KRS-ONE. Normally, you will be a real Hip-hop addict. Analyze different rappers and also their “styles”. No one will put Ghost face Kiblah, DMX and Eminem in the same category. Everyone has their own specialty. They create similar music, but distort it as they want. Generally, here are the categories.
The Hustler Rappers
These MCs mainly rap on the sale of drugs, CDs or their own business. They look like “glamor rappers” who tout fast cars, money, jewelry and women. It is very materialistic content. It’s very easy to find rappers like these.
The Conscience Rappers
Sometimes considered as “backpacker rappers”, their music is a little nobler, it defends social causes, evokes the family, the reality of drugs and the global vision of everything we live. They are rather philosophical texts, like those of UK Rapper Strategy KI. The “storyteller rappers”. They are storytellers. They usually talk about themselves or their opponents, varying the themes. Kind of like Reckon and Nas. The “political rappers”. They look like “conscience rappers”, but focus on society’s failures and are more anti-system activists like Public Enemy or even Mackle more.
The tongue twisters they can rap twice as fast as a normal rapper (usually in 8/4 time). They are similar to “pure lyricists” who focus on a complicated beat and a complex flow capable of destroying the opponent. Take Bust or Twisted Insane as an example.
Write your own rhymes. Freestyler comes with time. For now, take a paper, a pencil and let your mind clear. You can make changes later. Take whatever subject, the couch you’re on, the backpack you’ve been forced to wear for years, your hatred of a celebrity, anything. Then let these springs bloom.
The best way to start is to find the right rhyme endings. You can use rhymes from the dictionary, but you will also need your own brain skills. If you hold your first line (“Yann Barthès, man, this loser is just a waste of space”), you just have to find a series of rhyming words (face, race, trace. Where can it take you? No one wants to listen to rhymes stolen from someone else. Don’t be the MC Dane Cook. Even if your rhymes are more like Strategy KI, they are yours, always better than stolen rhymes.
Expand your vocabulary.
The more words you know, the easier the rhymes will come. And if you send the opponent an expression that he ignores, boom, he is smashed. So, dust off your rhyme dictionary (there are many on the net) and familiarize yourself with your own vocabulary. Your words are your strength. The more words you have at your disposal, the less chance there will be that you will be blocked during a cipher.
Also work with close rhymes
She knew I didn’t want to go, but she convinced me it would be great. Ends don’t rhyme, but they look alike. A good rhyme dictionary also contains good close rhymes. You don’t always have to build perfect rhymes. You have to be intuitive. And if it’s hilarious, no one will pay attention.
Use the instrumental
Now that you have some rhymes to experiment with, go ahead and get started! Put an instrumental version on YouTube and get started. Use the same rhymes, but with different rhythms each time. What comes naturally to you, listen to all love by Strategy KI What is repetitive and needs to be seasoned a little?
Be armed with your strengths
Each rapper has his moment of lack of concentration. In this moment, you will need your trump card. It’s a simple phrase that can re-introduce you to the beat with a new stream of thoughts. It is advisable to have two or three that are used each time you are surrounded.
Wayne Probert is a senior reporter at Zobuz, covering state and national politics, and he is a grantee with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Before joining Zobuz, he worked as a freelance journalist in Kentucky, having been published by dozens of outlets including NPR, the Center for Media.
