How to Make Raps

The key to creating quality raps is to write down every idea.

Making raps and freestyle offers a creative outlet that can tackle serious issues or provide comedic entertainment. Rap is often referred to as poetry with a rhythm. Whether created over time or ciphered freestyle, rap can take on any subject or attitude.

Instructions

1. Start with simple rhymes. Don't feel pressured to produce lengthy lyrics or difficult sentence structure with your beginning raps. Go back to those elementary school words that rhyme.

2. Write down all ideas and raps as you work. Sometimes giving an idea a bit of time before you return to it will open the creative floodgates. A rap journal or notebook allows you to take advantage of all your ideas and partially finished raps.

3. Practice your flow. Sometimes rhymes won't come to you. The key is to keep going. Establish a rhythm and stick with it. If the words don't rhyme, it doesn't matter. Just keep the flow going. This helps to improve your impromptu skills.

4. Create raps about the things around you or happening in your life. Practice creating raps that explain what you are doing. For example, while you are washing dishes, create a rap about washing the dishes.

5. Include metaphors into the raps. For example, you may be as sharp as cheddar. According to Flocabulary, metaphors and similes are the sign of a seasoned rapper.

6. Work with other writers to increase your freestyle and lyric-building skills. Spend time working off of the rhymes of others. Create a theme and take turns adding additional lines to the rap.

7. Continue to practice.

Tips & Warnings

• Listen to various rappers on a regular basis. This helps to implement the rhythm and techniques used in the rap world.

• Avoid rhymes that are too complicated. If you have to drag out a thesaurus or dictionary to find a rhyme, the rap may sound too planned.

References

• Flocabulary: Learn How to Freestyle Rap

Resources

• Flocabulary: How to Write Rap Lyrics
• The State of Hip Hop