How to Make Up Your Own Rap

Rap about your passions and say something new about an existing topic.

Rap enables you to express your feelings, hopes, opinions and grievances in a creative way. Each rapper has her own style and flavor. This applies to delivery and choice of rhyme. For example, Eminem's delivery style is quick-fire and percussive. His lyrical style is deeply personal and confessional. Conversely, Jay Z has a smoother delivery style and favors more observational lyrics. Your rap should express a message in a new way. The words you select should have a percussive sound.

Instructions

1. Make a list of topics that inspire you. Write down things that have happened to you recently. For example "Lost my job, met a guy I like, my friends had a kid." If you want your rap to be more observational, list topics that you feel passionate about. For example "Can't get a job, the economy, war in Iraq." Your best raps will be about subjects that evoke strong emotions in you.

2. Write down a list of words related to those topics. To get a rhyme started, you need be able to experiment with words. Your list should include words and their synonyms, so you have an alternative way to portray an idea. For example "Money/dollars/cash, friend/buddy/amigo, job/work/gig." This way, if one word doesn't scan or rhyme, you can swap it out for an alternative.

3. Select the topic that yielded the most associated words.

4. Pair up words or synonyms that rhyme. For example "Job/slob, work/jerk, rent/spent." Now that you have a word for the end of each line, you can build the beginning of the line.

5. Write the first two lines, using the rhyming pairs as a guide. For example "Tryin' hard, looking out, need to find myself a job. Ain't gonna be no unemployed slob. I got the knowledge, now I gotta find the work. Ain't gonna be no unemployed jerk." Rap is characterized by informal language. Use contractions and unusual grammatical structure. For example, use "be" in place of "are," "am" and "is." So, instead of saying "we are in the club," say "we be in the club."

6. Select a title. It can be a line from the song, or a line that sums up the song's meaning. It's smart to pick the title last, rather than picking it first and then forcing the lyrics to match the title.

Tips & Warnings

• Words don't have to rhyme perfectly. Words that share a vowel sound often work just fine. For example, "Don't push me I'm close to the edge. I'm tryin' not to loose my head."

References

• Flocabulary: Multies
• Rap Monster: How to Write Rap Lyrics