the 3 big aspects of rappings

[classthe_king]

@Class - I definitely agree with what you're saying. You're basically just putting rhyming into the flow category instead of lyricism. Overall, I think, based on what you said coming into account as well, that rhyming is still a large factor to rap in general though because of how much it aids your overall sound. That is essentially what is going to make somebody not only listen to you, but become a fan (I know there's other things that people like when that make them fans of an artist, but I'm pretty much referring to my own tastes here). Tech N9ne for example wouldn't be as great if he used shorter, 1-2 syllable rhymes because he wouldn't be able to build up faster flows as precisely as he does.

So, would you agree that it's still a big factor? Maybe not for lyricism, but for rap in general.

Yeah I would still say it's a big factor, just not as big of a factor as what I used to think (You guys all know I had a huge boner for rhyming)

@Wilymo I disagree, to me Eyedea is by far the greatest lyricist of all time and in some songs he'll never use more than a one syllable rhyme. Being able to rhyme well without sacrificing lyrics does add a lot to your music though.

[Willy]

@Class - I definitely agree with what you're saying. You're basically just putting rhyming into the flow category instead of lyricism. Overall, I think, based on what you said coming into account as well, that rhyming is still a large factor to rap in general though because of how much it aids your overall sound. That is essentially what is going to make somebody not only listen to you, but become a fan (I know there's other things that people like when that make them fans of an artist, but I'm pretty much referring to my own tastes here). Tech N9ne for example wouldn't be as great if he used shorter, 1-2 syllable rhymes because he wouldn't be able to build up faster flows as precisely as he does.

So, would you agree that it's still a big factor? Maybe not for lyricism, but for rap in general.

Yeah I would still say it's a big factor, just not as big of a factor as what I used to think (You guys all know I had a huge boner for rhyming)

@Wilymo I disagree, to me Eyedea is by far the greatest lyricist of all time and in some songs he'll never use more than a one syllable rhyme. Being able to rhyme well without sacrificing lyrics does add a lot to your music though.

I see, and I agree with you in that I don't think it's necessary to rhyme well to be considered a great lyricist. I was just saying that it takes a better lyricist to be able to rhyme well and not sacrifice the message. It depends on what the artist is after.

Like, for the Eyedea songs that only rhyme one syllable. I'm sure he could have rewrote them to have the same message but with more rhymes, but no matter how he did it the message would change. It's unavoidable, and to some keeping the integrity of what's being said is more important than rhyming. It's up to the artist and what he is after.

[Trimss]

I'd like to add that I don't care what you are rapping about as long as you're doing it well.

Then why do you like Kanye West? He's completely opposite of what you said. He has messages, but raps awful.

What does that have to do with what I said? I like what Kanye raps about and I like the way he does it. When it's well executed, you can rap about everything and make it dope.

I love C'mon Let Me Ride and the content isn't all great, but it's well executed. You understand what I mean?

[classthe_king]

I see, and I agree with you in that I don't think it's necessary to rhyme well to be considered a great lyricist. I was just saying that it takes a better lyricist to be able to rhyme well and not sacrifice the message, but it's not necessary for being a great lyricist. It depends on what the artist is after.

Like, for the Eyedea songs that only rhyme one syllable. I'm sure he could have rewrote them to have the same message but with more rhymes, but no matter how he did it the message would change. It's unavoidable, and to some keeping the integrity of what's being said is more important than rhyming. It's up to the artist and what he is after.

Yeah exactly, if he focused on rhyming more than the message would have changed for the worst, which would hurt the lyrics. That's why rhyming and lyricism are two different categories.

[BigBoss]

Voice and flow

[Willy]

I see, and I agree with you in that I don't think it's necessary to rhyme well to be considered a great lyricist. I was just saying that it takes a better lyricist to be able to rhyme well and not sacrifice the message, but it's not necessary for being a great lyricist. It depends on what the artist is after.

Like, for the Eyedea songs that only rhyme one syllable. I'm sure he could have rewrote them to have the same message but with more rhymes, but no matter how he did it the message would change. It's unavoidable, and to some keeping the integrity of what's being said is more important than rhyming. It's up to the artist and what he is after.

Yeah exactly, if he focused on rhyming more than the message would have changed for the worst, which would hurt the lyrics. That's why rhyming and lyricism are two different categories.

That's an interesting position, but I think I'm more inclined to say that all the big three aspects fall under lyricism rather than separating any of them. Maybe not delivery, but idk even with flow you are writing stuff conscious of how you want it to sound flow-wise. With delivery you pick certain words because you know you can pronounce them in a cool way, or this would sound cooler, or this is hard as fuck to say in a rap I'm staying away from that.

I'll reevaluate my position throughout the day, but for now I think that's how I stand. Sorry if that was hard to follow I'm tired as balls.

-reevaluated-

Perhaps they shouldn't all fall under lyricism, keeping them separate is fine. But I would definitely say that all of them inherently affect/influence the others.

[classthe_king]

That's an interesting position, but I think I'm more inclined to say that all the big three aspects fall under lyricism rather than separating any of them. Maybe not delivery, but idk even with flow you are writing stuff conscious of how you want it to sound flow-wise. With delivery you pick certain words because you know you can pronounce them in a cool way, or this would sound cooler, or this is hard as fuck to say in a rap I'm staying away from that.

I'll reevaluate my position throughout the day, but for now I think that's how I stand. Sorry if that was hard to follow I'm tired as balls.

Yeah I know what you're saying, and all three definitely fall under your writing, but I think that's different than lyricism. Lyricism is just how you're able to express yourself through words. That's independent of flow, delivery and rhyming.

I know what you're saying with delivery though, assonance is a written way of making your delivery better. I also try to avoid ending a word with the same sound that the next word begins with, especially s.

[Willy]

"Murder" is either universally the devil to rap or I have a speech impediment, haven't been able to use that in a song yet though I wanted to lol.

[classthe_king]

"Murder" is either universally the devil to rap or I have a speech impediment, haven't been able to use that in a song yet though I wanted to lol.

I don't have a problem with murder. My achilles heel is the word fire. My mom's west virginia accent kicks in. I doubt I'll ever be able to use that in a song without it sounding like shit.

[Willy]

"Murder" is either universally the devil to rap or I have a speech impediment, haven't been able to use that in a song yet though I wanted to lol.

You can't pronounce the word murder?

It's hard for me to say in a line, I'm pretty picky with how I sound so I haven't been able to leave in a song yet.

[Blu]

@Blu...I'm not talking about multisyllable rhyming or inverse rhymes or whatever, i'm talking about making the last word of each line rhyme...like try, die...etc
It'd hurt the flow if rappers made a WHOLE song without a couple rhymes.

Not really. Imagine Rock Bottom without all the crazy inverses and multi's. Keep the end rhymes though. The song would still be the same. It's the word choice that makes it so powerful.

[Slim Fiasco]

It's a complex thing but as some of you have said, it comes down to personal preference. For example, to me content and delivery are the top 2 priorities. I don't care about rhyming that much, but obviously I try to switch between synonyms or maybe rephrase the idea if that means alliteration/assonance or multies; it comes as a bonus. But delivery is very important, if you are able to change your voice and play with it in a good way - it will add so much to the lyrics and make them way better than they look on paper. As for content, or lyricism, whatever, wordplay and metaphors are way more interesting for me because they add depth and they require some thinking or at least some catching up to do; wheres as rhyming is more obvious. But that's just me.

[12characters]

"Murder" is either universally the devil to rap or I have a speech impediment, haven't been able to use that in a song yet though I wanted to lol.

I don't have a problem with murder. My achilles heel is the word fire. My mom's west virginia accent kicks in. I doubt I'll ever be able to use that in a song without it sounding like shit.

Naga fireballs.

[classthe_king]

"Murder" is either universally the devil to rap or I have a speech impediment, haven't been able to use that in a song yet though I wanted to lol.

I don't have a problem with murder. My achilles heel is the word fire. My mom's west virginia accent kicks in. I doubt I'll ever be able to use that in a song without it sounding like shit.

Naga fireballs.

Damn...even I had forgot about that verse

[CrashBand]

Rhyming is definitely a part of lyricism, lol.