Freestyle rap

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Freestyle rap is an improvisational form of rapping, performed with few or no previously composed lyrics, which is said to reflect a direct mapping of the mental state and performing situation of the artist. It is non-scripted, non-rehearsed, uncut, and the rawest form of hip-hop. Artists will often refer to places and objects in their immediate setting. Freestyle rapping forces an individual to think on the spot, describe his or her surroundings, and, to a certain degree, rap uncensored from what is inside. It is similar in this sense to improvisational music or acting and draws comparisons to improvisational Jazz in particular.

1 History
2 Methodology
3 Freestyle Rappers
- 3.1 Battles
4 Recent History
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] History

Freestyle rapping is generally believed to have originated in the East Coast hip hop scene in the late 1970s. The earliest MCs would spit freestyled lyrics at parties to pump up the crowd. It was cool to have pre-written lyrics, but if you couldn’t rock the spot at the spur of the moment you would lose respect.

From this the freestyle battles begin to emerge. Perhaps the earliest and most famous freestyle battle was in 1981 when Kool Moe Dee challenged Busy Bee Starsky. Busy Bee was known for his chants of "What's your zodiac sign?" and other crowdpleasers that had been originated a few years before by other rappers. Moe Dee came out with lines of hard disrespect for Busy Bee:

Every time I hear it I throw a fit Party after party the same ole shit Record after record, rhyme after rhyme Always wanna know your zodiac sign He changed the shit to your favorite jeans Come on Busy Bee tell me what that means Hold on brother man don't you say nothin' I'm not finished yet, I gotta tell you somethin'... (Vibe)

Some artists that are in the mainstream today were discovered when they were in a freestyle battle at a club or bar. This type of rapping also proves useful when beef arises between two rappers. A diss can include attacks on credibility, threats of violence, or simply bragging that one is better than the other. Disses can also be recorded over the rival rapper's beat to add further disrespect. Allegations of sleeping with the another rapper's significant other have become increasingly popular in disses (such as 2Pac claiming to have slept with Biggie's wife, or Jay-Z claiming to have slept with Nas' baby mama). Many times the audience wants to hear an immediate response from the two people involved in the beef. This makes way for so-called freestyle records. One artist takes a beat that is already out in the mainstream and spits over it so that they can quickly put something out to diss the other rapper involved. When rappers freestyle most of the time all attention shifts to them because it is so intense, which is why some artist are believed to start beef to boost sales. Freestyles are the probably the most exciting aspect of hip hop because they’re on the spot captions of the world around them.

[edit] Methodology

Due to the improvised nature of freestyle, rules for meter and rhythm are usually more relaxed than in conventional rap. Many artists base their set on the situation and mental state, but have a ready supply of prepared lyrics and rhyme patterns they can use as filler or even around which they can build their set. Often, freestyling is done in a group setting (called a cypher) or as part of a freestyle battle. In these cases, freestyle verses are often prepared in the rapper's head as the other rappers in the cypher or the opponent in the battle take their turn. Freestyling is also often used by many rappers when beginning to write a song, in order to get a feel for the beat and to brainstorm lyrical ideas.

[edit] Freestyle Rappers

[edit] Battles

It has been suggested that Freestyle battle be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

Some rappers also took freestyle rapping and used it as a form of competition, which it is commonly used for now. Artists would battle each other using specific characteristics of opponents, which were usually demeaning, to prove their authenticity and originality. Most freestyle battles are between two people that at least somewhat dislike each other so they use emotion in their flow. Emotion is one of the key factors in freestyle rapping. When the people involved have a personal interest in beating their opponent in a battle it makes for a very intense situation. As hip-hop evolved in the early-80's MCs gained their fame through live battles with other MCs. The fact that rap and hip hop are based on things like, showing out and making sure every one knows how you feel, makes freestyling the perfect tool to bring rap out of people. Freestyle battles can take place anywhere, street corners, on stage at a concert, or even in a school. Freestyle battling is even starting to go mainstream, with shows like Fight Klub and websites like Jumpoff.tv and Itshiphop.com.

[edit] Recent History

Freestyles have been mostly an underground phenomenon since the early nineties, partly due to rap lyrics becoming considerably more complex in terms of rhyme scheme and meter. Furthermore, many rappers often deliver standalone written verses on radio shows that are referred to or labelled on records or on filesharing programs as freestyles, which has somewhat distorted the meaning of the term. There is often confusion as to whether or not "freestyle verses" are in fact freestyled, with many rappers' written lyrics being simple enough to seem freestyled and many of the best freestylers' improvised lyrics being complex and confident enough to seem written.

In the early 21st century, freestyling (particularly freestyle battling) experienced a resurgence in popularity of sorts as successful freestyle battle competition TV shows were shown by both BET and MTV. In addition, Eminem's movie 8 Mile brought the excitement of the freestyle battle to mainstream movie audiences. Freestyle Friday is a segment on BET's popular show 106 & Park.Two rappers compete in a freestyle battle before the studio audience and three celebrity judges (the DJ sometimes acts as the 3rd judge). Each competitor alternates freestyling for 30 seconds in each of the two rounds(originally only 1 round when the segment first began). The rappers are not allowed to use profanities or sexually suggestive lyrics, punishable by disqualification. After the battle, the judges decide the winner, per majority vote.

Traditionally, a battle usually takes place before live audiences. Recently, however, the Internet has been used as a forum to hold online battles. Proponents of this developing artform that some call "text" say that the Internet provides a safe environment for artists to practice their skills. Without being hindered by beats, an online writer (or 'netcee') may use the full range of his or her imagination and vocabulary in a battle. When the online writer is writing everything that comes into his or her head, this is often called a "keystle".

"Text heads", the term used for rap battlers on online forums are sometimes dismissed for their lack of ability to record an actual song, control an actual mic, move an actual crowd, or kick an actual freestyle. "Audio heads", artists that record music and do battles through music, are more likely thought of as real hip-hop artists. However, programs like Adobe Audition and others, are allowing text heads to easily record songs over beats and post the songs on their webpage.

[edit] References

8 Mile. Dir. Curtis Hanson. DVD. March 18, 2003

Alan Light; et al. October 1999. The Vibe History of Hip Hop.
All Rapped Up. Dir. Steven Gregory, Eric Holmberg. Perf. Eric Holmber, Garland Hunt. Videocassette. 1991.
Blow, Kurtis. Kurtis Blow Presents: The History of Rap, Vol. 1: The Genesis (liner notes). Kurtis Blow Presents: The History Of Rap, Vol. 1: The Genesis.

Brian, Cross. It's Not About a Salary . London; New York: Verso, 1993 [i.e. 1994].

FREESTYLE: The Art of Rhyme. Dir. Kevin Fitzgerald. DVD. 2004.
Hiphop-battles.com Audio MC rap battle arena
Vibe Online. "Off the Dome". http://www.vibe.com/vibe/archive/oct95/docs/dome.html. 30 Sep, 1995.

[edit] See also

Freestyle Friday
8 Mile. Dir. Curtis Hanson. DVD. March 18, 2003
Alan Light; et al. October 1999. The Vibe History of Hip Hop.
All Rapped Up. Dir. Steven Gregory, Eric Holmberg. Perf. Eric Holmber, Garland Hunt. Videocassette. 1991. Tupac wrote a song in 1994

[edit] External links

Flocabulary Online freestyle guide.
Hip Hop's Elite Online audio, text battling and hip hop discussion site.
Its Hip-Hop Hip-Hop battling/discussion site.
Rap Battles Biggest online rap battle forum
Freestyle Battles A freestyle rap forum
FREESTYLE The Art of Rhyme A documentary on the history of freestyle rap by DJ Organic
Hiphop-battles.com Audio MC rap battle arena
Rhyme Spitters A documentary film of a freestyle rap battle tounament held in Chicago.