• Forget the vocabulary you most readily associate with the hip hop genre. Open your mind to all vocabulary. There is no established protocol of acceptable words in rap. Rap is poetry and poetry is literarily infinite.
• Be patient. If there’s something you want to express that is complex and difficult to realize, work through it. Take it one line at a time and make it happen. Do you want to be the rapper or the fan? The fan waits around for the rapper to articulate what he himself cannot.
• Avoid committing to a phrase or word choice immediately after you write it. While looking for its rhyming counterpart, a better option may emerge. Always be willing to revise your work, both for the sake of discovering which words sound best together and maximizing the originality of your choice of words. I can’t tell you how many times I wrote ‘beautiful’ for lack of a more creative choice, then later replaced it with either a better-sounding or more unique adjective:
Example:
Lay upon my mattress beautiful Catholic actress (rhymes better)
Girl with the beautiful musical face (more original)
It’s all true if it’s according to you, but you should always use a mirror look at your reflection when you think things through (more accurate – self-evaluation was what I really meant when I initially wrote ‘use a mirror’)
• The punch line of a joke is more satisfying when everything leading up to it is funny. The setup of a joke is part of the punch line. In the same way, every word you write is part of the rhyme. Alliteration increases the momentum of the rhyme and makes the words sound like they belong together. Many rappers give you one rhyme for every two bars, as in the classic, “My name is Chris Burns and I’m here to say, I rock the microphone in a major way.” Why waste two bars on one rhyme when you can use alliteration to create a sea of similar sounds?
Example:
Bar 1. thank God I don’t stutter, my words are butter, a plethora of odd
Bar 2. utterances, sentences with a penchant for senselessness,
Bar 3. it’s my sensible nature I’m sensitive and simply a hater,
Bar 4. I tend to degrade that which was meant to be greater.
• Visualize that the set of words in a line you wrote is a city skyline. Each sound is a different-sized building. When you write the next line, try to build an equal skyline:
I like you like like like you like high school
you’re bright &cool like white Nikes & ice cubes
• By no means does a rhyme need to be written linearly. If you have a specific phrase in mind that you feel is the perfect way to end a verse, write it down. Then go back and decide how you can set it up to rhyme. Below, I’ve numbered the order in which I wrote each of these rhyming phrases. Note the contrast between the origin of the content and when it appears within the verse:
1. lower-back tattoo
2. at or too
3. new latitudes
4. bad achoo
The eventual structure:
I resent sentences ending with at or too, bad sneeze is a disease, it’s called ‘bad achoo,’
girls keep getting the same lower-back tattoo, I keep liking them, no, I’m not mad at you, I breathe in and ascend to new latitudes
• The beauty of writing before you record is that you can rhyme retroactively, and that is truly a gift.
Tips on recorded rap:
• Resist the temptation to inform a girl* that she is your muse or source of inspiration. If you’ve written a song for a girl, tell her you want her to hear it and give her a copy. Let your music do the talking. If she doesn’t realize it’s about her, she doesn’t deserve the song, I mean, she doesn’t even know you for gosh sakes.
*feminine gender randomly used
• Don’t release a song to your friends or fans when you know it can be improved with a couple more days’ or weeks’ worth of work. You want nothing more than to share your finished product with others – the praise, the acclaim, the feedback – but it’s always worth making it as good as it can be before you take that step.
• Be aware that listeners generally accept the content of a rapper’s lyrics as his personality. If you can’t beat up the biggest bully in school then don’t say you can in a rap, because you won’t be able to back it up in reality. It’s far more effective to acknowledge that, of course, he is physically stronger, but you’re smart enough to destroy his credibility with your vocalized, poetic thoughts.
• Part of the reason the rap genre is considered so ‘real,’ aside from its rough inner-city origins, is because rappers usually express themselves in a way that is stripped of these literary devices (such as metaphor and symbolism) so frequently found in rock & roll lyrics. The result: as listeners we know a lot more about Eminem’s family life than we do of U2’s Bono. Rap lyrics are traditionally very personal. Protect yourself – spitting 16 bars about your significant other, your parents or your best friend is an excellent way to increase the vulnerability of those relationships.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Procedures to be Considered when Composing Hip-Hop Lyrics
Ever wanted to write Hip-Hop lyrics? Ever wondered what the formula was to writing a good Hip-Hop song? Are you the one listening and wondering, “Why do they speak that way in their songs”? Well in these following few steps you, yes you, will learn how to write hip hop lyrics.
This document on writing rhymes and lyrics is only a foundation in becoming a good emcee or lyricist. Most of the things you say in your songs and the way you constitute yourself is the major factor to your success. This guide will show you many ways to write a rhyme and lead you through techniques which you, may or may not, want to use.
Terms that you'll encounter and what I'm going to cover:
1. Rhyme structure - How a verse's written. Such as amount of bars and location of rhyming words.
2. Simile - A comparison using the word "like" or "as".
3. Metaphor - A comparison without using the word "like" or "as".
4. Wordplays - A pun or words that have double meaning.
5. Multi-syllables and Multi - Rhyming using words or combination of words that contain more then one syllable.
6. Punch-line – Rhymes used for insulting people
7. Alliteration - Rhymes or verse that contain words that start with the same first letter.
Let's begin by pointing out the differences between a "battle verse" and a "non-battle verse". A "battle verse" is just that, a verse that's written to battle another Hip-Hop lyricists or M.C. These types of verses usually contain heavy usage of Punch-lines, Word-play, and Multi-syllable styles. Along with it a small usage of Similes and Metaphors, a "battle verse" is a verse that belittles your opponents. One mistake that most lyricists make in battle verse is that they tend to talk about themselves. Your focus is supposed to be mainly on your opponents. You're not supposed to talk about yourself; rather you should be degrading your opponents.
A "NON-battle" verse is any verses that’s written as topical, or even a freestyle about a certain thing or incidents. This could include almost everything. What make it different from a "battle verse" is that rarely does it have any punch-lines. In this particular verse, the usage of Simile and Metaphor is heavy. Included with it are light usages of multi-syllable, Wordplay, and Alliterations. In this type of verse, it's acceptable to talk about yourself. Though, it's not necessary.
Subject matter of your lyrics does not matter when writing or making a song, using a Hip-Hop lyric format. The focus is on how you creatively write, the grammar you use and the originality of your subject. The first component you should focus on, in written lyrics is Rhyme Structure.
1. Rhyme Structure- keeping your lyric sentences the close to the same length for easy reading, for instance:
“My rhymes of philosophy, brings wisdoms of Socrates.//”
“Avoiding hypocrisy, trying to defeat worldly monopolies.//”
Note: The “//” is what I used to stop a verse or complete thought in a rhyme, you may use something different.
This also helps for easy rhyme placement that makes it easier to perform in a song or a battle.
2. Simile- Being able to use similes in your rhymes helps the entertaining value and also can raise the level understanding that your message relays to its audience. Basically using “like” or “as” helps give meaning to what you say and amplifies what people get from your thoughts. Simile usage:
“You must be joking like comedians.//”
“I got it hot like customers ordering peppers.//”
3. Metaphor- Another form of comparison emitting the words “like” or “as”. Creativity is your main goal when using metaphors. It captures your audience and may delight them with your creative intelligence.
Metaphorical usage:
“My rhymes are so sharp, they cut through diamonds.//”
“The streets are ringing so much, the telephones are getting jealous.//”
4. Wordplay- The part of lyricism that, distinctly, separates it from all other forms of lyrics in any other music genre. Commonly used in battles and used in songs, Wordplay is constructing lyrics using puns. Puns are words or a word that have a double meaning, used to conjoint two different concepts together, making sense out of both. In its simplest, it’s playing with words. Wordplay usage:
“You must be facing forward, the way your fronting.//”
-That was a battle rhyme. It may say you’re facing forward, the direction you stand when you’re in front or fronting. But the second and true meaning is using the first part to pun the second part, because fronting is also slang for lying or bluffing. Its double meaning is the Word-Play.-
“In this battle, I know you’re raw, but I like to eat this meat uncooked.//”
-That was another battle rhyme that also uses slang (Keep in mind that you don’t have to use slang when using Wordplay.). Its first meaning is to call say that the opponent is like raw meat. The second and Wordplay meaning is to say that his opponent is “raw” (slang for good), but he will still eat him uncooked, as in defeat him easily even though he is “raw”. -
5. Multi and Multi-syllable rhyming- First multi rhymes are rhymes using more than one word at the end of the verse. Many people use it to show skill or to use as a means to increase speed of performing with ease. Multi-syllable rhymes are rhymes that consist of using the syllables in the last word of the previous or upcoming verse. Multi rhymes:
“Its college-time, I go and arrive to receive knowledge-prime.//”
“The cat-attacks, I need to get him off me with bat-smacks.//”
Multi-syllable rhymes:
“My rhymes must be Gobstoppers by Willy Wonka, the way their everlasting.//”
“The lyrical skills imitate tempests, when I rhyme its like weather-blasting.//”
-The words eh-ver-last-ing (everlasting) and weh-ther-blast-ing (weather-blasting) are in a direct synchronous rhyming pattern. That is what’s meant by Multi-syllable rhyming.-
6. Punch-line- Mostly used in battles to insult an opponent but can be used in a song if you want to insult someone.
Punch-lines:
“Your rhymes are so broke homeless people give you money.//”
“This guy going down in a hurry, he reminds me of today’s stock market.//”
7. Alliteration- Using the first letter of the first word of the rhyme throughout the complete rhyme. Although rarely used, they are very nice to use at the beginning of a song or in a battle. Alliteration:
“Simplistic styles rate your statistics as sporadically spiraling in stupidity.//”
These foundational techniques and usages are only the beginning when writing Hip-Hop lyrics. The rest is all up to the effort you put in rhyming and originality. Using these guidelines will get you recognition as a skilled lyricist that knows the basics. If there are any questions or comments you can e-mail me at carnalkay@gmail.com.
__________________
I aint rhyme in a minute but yall aint catch up...
and that aint blood on ya vest .. thats ketchup!
-fugees
This document on writing rhymes and lyrics is only a foundation in becoming a good emcee or lyricist. Most of the things you say in your songs and the way you constitute yourself is the major factor to your success. This guide will show you many ways to write a rhyme and lead you through techniques which you, may or may not, want to use.
Terms that you'll encounter and what I'm going to cover:
1. Rhyme structure - How a verse's written. Such as amount of bars and location of rhyming words.
2. Simile - A comparison using the word "like" or "as".
3. Metaphor - A comparison without using the word "like" or "as".
4. Wordplays - A pun or words that have double meaning.
5. Multi-syllables and Multi - Rhyming using words or combination of words that contain more then one syllable.
6. Punch-line – Rhymes used for insulting people
7. Alliteration - Rhymes or verse that contain words that start with the same first letter.
Let's begin by pointing out the differences between a "battle verse" and a "non-battle verse". A "battle verse" is just that, a verse that's written to battle another Hip-Hop lyricists or M.C. These types of verses usually contain heavy usage of Punch-lines, Word-play, and Multi-syllable styles. Along with it a small usage of Similes and Metaphors, a "battle verse" is a verse that belittles your opponents. One mistake that most lyricists make in battle verse is that they tend to talk about themselves. Your focus is supposed to be mainly on your opponents. You're not supposed to talk about yourself; rather you should be degrading your opponents.
A "NON-battle" verse is any verses that’s written as topical, or even a freestyle about a certain thing or incidents. This could include almost everything. What make it different from a "battle verse" is that rarely does it have any punch-lines. In this particular verse, the usage of Simile and Metaphor is heavy. Included with it are light usages of multi-syllable, Wordplay, and Alliterations. In this type of verse, it's acceptable to talk about yourself. Though, it's not necessary.
Subject matter of your lyrics does not matter when writing or making a song, using a Hip-Hop lyric format. The focus is on how you creatively write, the grammar you use and the originality of your subject. The first component you should focus on, in written lyrics is Rhyme Structure.
1. Rhyme Structure- keeping your lyric sentences the close to the same length for easy reading, for instance:
“My rhymes of philosophy, brings wisdoms of Socrates.//”
“Avoiding hypocrisy, trying to defeat worldly monopolies.//”
Note: The “//” is what I used to stop a verse or complete thought in a rhyme, you may use something different.
This also helps for easy rhyme placement that makes it easier to perform in a song or a battle.
2. Simile- Being able to use similes in your rhymes helps the entertaining value and also can raise the level understanding that your message relays to its audience. Basically using “like” or “as” helps give meaning to what you say and amplifies what people get from your thoughts. Simile usage:
“You must be joking like comedians.//”
“I got it hot like customers ordering peppers.//”
3. Metaphor- Another form of comparison emitting the words “like” or “as”. Creativity is your main goal when using metaphors. It captures your audience and may delight them with your creative intelligence.
Metaphorical usage:
“My rhymes are so sharp, they cut through diamonds.//”
“The streets are ringing so much, the telephones are getting jealous.//”
4. Wordplay- The part of lyricism that, distinctly, separates it from all other forms of lyrics in any other music genre. Commonly used in battles and used in songs, Wordplay is constructing lyrics using puns. Puns are words or a word that have a double meaning, used to conjoint two different concepts together, making sense out of both. In its simplest, it’s playing with words. Wordplay usage:
“You must be facing forward, the way your fronting.//”
-That was a battle rhyme. It may say you’re facing forward, the direction you stand when you’re in front or fronting. But the second and true meaning is using the first part to pun the second part, because fronting is also slang for lying or bluffing. Its double meaning is the Word-Play.-
“In this battle, I know you’re raw, but I like to eat this meat uncooked.//”
-That was another battle rhyme that also uses slang (Keep in mind that you don’t have to use slang when using Wordplay.). Its first meaning is to call say that the opponent is like raw meat. The second and Wordplay meaning is to say that his opponent is “raw” (slang for good), but he will still eat him uncooked, as in defeat him easily even though he is “raw”. -
5. Multi and Multi-syllable rhyming- First multi rhymes are rhymes using more than one word at the end of the verse. Many people use it to show skill or to use as a means to increase speed of performing with ease. Multi-syllable rhymes are rhymes that consist of using the syllables in the last word of the previous or upcoming verse. Multi rhymes:
“Its college-time, I go and arrive to receive knowledge-prime.//”
“The cat-attacks, I need to get him off me with bat-smacks.//”
Multi-syllable rhymes:
“My rhymes must be Gobstoppers by Willy Wonka, the way their everlasting.//”
“The lyrical skills imitate tempests, when I rhyme its like weather-blasting.//”
-The words eh-ver-last-ing (everlasting) and weh-ther-blast-ing (weather-blasting) are in a direct synchronous rhyming pattern. That is what’s meant by Multi-syllable rhyming.-
6. Punch-line- Mostly used in battles to insult an opponent but can be used in a song if you want to insult someone.
Punch-lines:
“Your rhymes are so broke homeless people give you money.//”
“This guy going down in a hurry, he reminds me of today’s stock market.//”
7. Alliteration- Using the first letter of the first word of the rhyme throughout the complete rhyme. Although rarely used, they are very nice to use at the beginning of a song or in a battle. Alliteration:
“Simplistic styles rate your statistics as sporadically spiraling in stupidity.//”
These foundational techniques and usages are only the beginning when writing Hip-Hop lyrics. The rest is all up to the effort you put in rhyming and originality. Using these guidelines will get you recognition as a skilled lyricist that knows the basics. If there are any questions or comments you can e-mail me at carnalkay@gmail.com.
__________________
I aint rhyme in a minute but yall aint catch up...
and that aint blood on ya vest .. thats ketchup!
-fugees
Sunday, August 17, 2008
How to Study a Lyric's Form
Step1Begin with the most common form in popular music, the "ternary song form." We think of this as A A B A. (Let's use Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" as an example.)
Step2Look at the initial musical statement, A. This is usually eight measures (bars) long. (This ends after the first "Anything goes.")
Step3Examine the second A. It's an exact, eight-measure repeat of the music in the first A, but the lyric continues to move along. (This brings us to 16 measures, to the end of the second "Anything goes.")
Step4Note that this second A is critical in two ways: the listener's ear perceives the melodic material better after hearing it twice, and the lyricist retains the rhythm of the first A so that the musical idea is not disturbed.
Step5Go on to B, the "bridge," an 8-measure departure from the musical material of the A section and its repeat. (We've now used up 24 bars, through "silly gigolos.") Listen to how the composer or lyricist departs from the rhythmic and melodic material used in the A sections to draw the listener's ear away from familiar ground and establish a fresh idea.
Step6Finish with A in the final eight-measure section. This is a return home to the familiarity of the beginning melody and rhythm - leaving the wilderness of the bridge. (This brings us past the third and final "Anything goes.")
Step7Note how this A A B A form seems deceptively simple. In fact, it can be quite intriguing in the hands of a master composer-lyricist like Cole Porter.
Step8Study another common, basic form - A B A C. Analyze "Gigi," with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. "Gigi" is written in this form.
Step9Make an intensive study of other lyricists and other styles. Although creating a song is a very personal endeavor, you will increase the colors on your own palette and foster the growth of your own versatility by doing so
Step2Look at the initial musical statement, A. This is usually eight measures (bars) long. (This ends after the first "Anything goes.")
Step3Examine the second A. It's an exact, eight-measure repeat of the music in the first A, but the lyric continues to move along. (This brings us to 16 measures, to the end of the second "Anything goes.")
Step4Note that this second A is critical in two ways: the listener's ear perceives the melodic material better after hearing it twice, and the lyricist retains the rhythm of the first A so that the musical idea is not disturbed.
Step5Go on to B, the "bridge," an 8-measure departure from the musical material of the A section and its repeat. (We've now used up 24 bars, through "silly gigolos.") Listen to how the composer or lyricist departs from the rhythmic and melodic material used in the A sections to draw the listener's ear away from familiar ground and establish a fresh idea.
Step6Finish with A in the final eight-measure section. This is a return home to the familiarity of the beginning melody and rhythm - leaving the wilderness of the bridge. (This brings us past the third and final "Anything goes.")
Step7Note how this A A B A form seems deceptively simple. In fact, it can be quite intriguing in the hands of a master composer-lyricist like Cole Porter.
Step8Study another common, basic form - A B A C. Analyze "Gigi," with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. "Gigi" is written in this form.
Step9Make an intensive study of other lyricists and other styles. Although creating a song is a very personal endeavor, you will increase the colors on your own palette and foster the growth of your own versatility by doing so
Saturday, August 16, 2008
How to Compose a Lyric
Step1Select a topic - love or a humorous or novelty theme like "Never Hit Your Grandma With a Shovel" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," which are other exceptions.
Step2Select your approach - compose your lyric and melody simultaneously; write the lyric, then find a melody to fit; or fit your lyric to a melody previously written.
Step3Write both the lyric and the melody yourself if you possess the musical skills. This may be the most advantageous route. Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim and Irving Berlin, for example, worked more productively alone.
Step4Collaborate with a partner if you work best this way. Gilbert and Sullivan, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe are collaborations made in heaven. Choose wisely - the two key requirements are creativity and personal drive.
Step5Select a form. A working knowledge of form and structure is an absolute necessity for composers, arrangers, orchestrators and lyricists. (See "How to Study a Lyric's Form," under Related eHows.)
Step6Work out your rhyme scheme. The most common practice is to rhyme the last word of each section, but the better lyricist will display his or her skill with a generous helping of interior rhymes as well.
Step7Write. If you wait around for divine inspiration to drop the completed product in your lap, it's doubtful you'll ever write a note. Put something on paper. Word by word, note by note, change by change, your ideas will gradually take shape.
Step8Be disciplined in your work habits. In the musical comedy "No Strings," Broadway composer Richard Rodgers penned this phrase: "The sweetest sounds I've ever heard are still inside my head." Without a solid, sustained effort to get it on the page, your "sweetest sounds" cannot become a reality. Best wishes and welcome to the club!
Step2Select your approach - compose your lyric and melody simultaneously; write the lyric, then find a melody to fit; or fit your lyric to a melody previously written.
Step3Write both the lyric and the melody yourself if you possess the musical skills. This may be the most advantageous route. Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim and Irving Berlin, for example, worked more productively alone.
Step4Collaborate with a partner if you work best this way. Gilbert and Sullivan, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe are collaborations made in heaven. Choose wisely - the two key requirements are creativity and personal drive.
Step5Select a form. A working knowledge of form and structure is an absolute necessity for composers, arrangers, orchestrators and lyricists. (See "How to Study a Lyric's Form," under Related eHows.)
Step6Work out your rhyme scheme. The most common practice is to rhyme the last word of each section, but the better lyricist will display his or her skill with a generous helping of interior rhymes as well.
Step7Write. If you wait around for divine inspiration to drop the completed product in your lap, it's doubtful you'll ever write a note. Put something on paper. Word by word, note by note, change by change, your ideas will gradually take shape.
Step8Be disciplined in your work habits. In the musical comedy "No Strings," Broadway composer Richard Rodgers penned this phrase: "The sweetest sounds I've ever heard are still inside my head." Without a solid, sustained effort to get it on the page, your "sweetest sounds" cannot become a reality. Best wishes and welcome to the club!
How to Write a Song
Things You’ll Need:
Musical instrument
Step1Get inspired. This is hard to do consciously, but it's how every great song gets started. Start with a catchy or meaningful lyric that you can't get out of your head, a haunting emotion, or a melodic hook that you can't stop whistling. Get something pure and inspired to begin working with.
Step2Play with your idea. If you play an instrument, try jamming around the melody or finding a chord progression that fits the lyric. If you have a beat or a groove in mind, have someone else play it over and over in the background while you riff over it. Explore the possibilities in a free-form fashion until you start to feel something that works.
Step3Record your initial progress. Great ideas are fleeting, so when you have something that you can keep, even if it is just a couple seconds long, either write it down or get it on tape. You can even call your voicemail and record it. Don't let it slip away from you!
Step4Expand upon what you have. Start developing your idea. If it is a chorus or a verse, think of an intro to lead into it. If it is a lyric or a thought, continue from that thought. Think about what was working during a jam or improvisation and try to recreate it.
Step5Keep generating ideas. Go back to Step 1 and start thinking of lyrics on the same theme, riffs or melodies in the same key. Don't worry about where these new parts will fit yet.
Step6Put it all together. Once you have all the essential parts of a song—a beat, a chord progression, a melody, lyrics (verses, refrain)—start putting them together.
Step7Play it through. Play, sing or record all the parts in sequence. Take notice of rough parts or awkward transitions.
Step8Put on the finishing touches. Smooth out any problem areas in the song, add vocal harmonies or extra flourishes.
Musical instrument
Step1Get inspired. This is hard to do consciously, but it's how every great song gets started. Start with a catchy or meaningful lyric that you can't get out of your head, a haunting emotion, or a melodic hook that you can't stop whistling. Get something pure and inspired to begin working with.
Step2Play with your idea. If you play an instrument, try jamming around the melody or finding a chord progression that fits the lyric. If you have a beat or a groove in mind, have someone else play it over and over in the background while you riff over it. Explore the possibilities in a free-form fashion until you start to feel something that works.
Step3Record your initial progress. Great ideas are fleeting, so when you have something that you can keep, even if it is just a couple seconds long, either write it down or get it on tape. You can even call your voicemail and record it. Don't let it slip away from you!
Step4Expand upon what you have. Start developing your idea. If it is a chorus or a verse, think of an intro to lead into it. If it is a lyric or a thought, continue from that thought. Think about what was working during a jam or improvisation and try to recreate it.
Step5Keep generating ideas. Go back to Step 1 and start thinking of lyrics on the same theme, riffs or melodies in the same key. Don't worry about where these new parts will fit yet.
Step6Put it all together. Once you have all the essential parts of a song—a beat, a chord progression, a melody, lyrics (verses, refrain)—start putting them together.
Step7Play it through. Play, sing or record all the parts in sequence. Take notice of rough parts or awkward transitions.
Step8Put on the finishing touches. Smooth out any problem areas in the song, add vocal harmonies or extra flourishes.
How to Improve Your Songwriting Skills
Step1Compose something every day. It doesn't need to be extravagant or even complete.
Step2Put your first thoughts down on paper, tape, disc or whatever. Not everything you do will be good, but the exercise will yield some bits and pieces that you can later turn into something special.
Step3Listen to music every day. Listen carefully and then apply what you learn to your own work.
Step4Imitate other composers by writing in their style. Imitation is critical to improving your composition skills.
Step5Pick artists you admire, and compose in their style. To imitate without directly copying is harder than it sounds.
Step6Try other styles and forms of composition that you usually ignore. Just because you don't like or aren't comfortable in a particular musical genre doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a whirl.
Step7Choose a simple tune like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and try to write multiple versions in various styles like hip-hop, jazz, orchestral, New Age and so on. Without having to worry about the melody, you're free to experiment with structure, chords, countermelodies and so forth.
Step8Record and play your pieces for friends and associates and ask for criticism. Find someone whose opinion you trust, and play your music all the way through. Then ask open-ended, leading questions.
Step9Play the track again and analyze it in detail. Once you get opinions and advice, go back to the drawing board and put all you've learned to work.
Step10Evaluate your past work. Don't let your old music fade away. Dust it off and give it a critical listen. When you let music sit for some time, the warts really stick out. Use this distance from your work to improve your past, present and future music.
Step2Put your first thoughts down on paper, tape, disc or whatever. Not everything you do will be good, but the exercise will yield some bits and pieces that you can later turn into something special.
Step3Listen to music every day. Listen carefully and then apply what you learn to your own work.
Step4Imitate other composers by writing in their style. Imitation is critical to improving your composition skills.
Step5Pick artists you admire, and compose in their style. To imitate without directly copying is harder than it sounds.
Step6Try other styles and forms of composition that you usually ignore. Just because you don't like or aren't comfortable in a particular musical genre doesn't mean you shouldn't give it a whirl.
Step7Choose a simple tune like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and try to write multiple versions in various styles like hip-hop, jazz, orchestral, New Age and so on. Without having to worry about the melody, you're free to experiment with structure, chords, countermelodies and so forth.
Step8Record and play your pieces for friends and associates and ask for criticism. Find someone whose opinion you trust, and play your music all the way through. Then ask open-ended, leading questions.
Step9Play the track again and analyze it in detail. Once you get opinions and advice, go back to the drawing board and put all you've learned to work.
Step10Evaluate your past work. Don't let your old music fade away. Dust it off and give it a critical listen. When you let music sit for some time, the warts really stick out. Use this distance from your work to improve your past, present and future music.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tips on writing rhymes
• Forget the vocabulary you most readily associate with the hip hop genre. Open your mind to all vocabulary. There is no established protocol of acceptable words in rap. Rap is poetry and poetry is literarily infinite.
• Be patient. If there’s something you want to express that is complex and difficult to realize, work through it. Take it one line at a time and make it happen. Do you want to be the rapper or the fan? The fan waits around for the rapper to articulate what he himself cannot.
• Avoid committing to a phrase or word choice immediately after you write it. While looking for its rhyming counterpart, a better option may emerge. Always be willing to revise your work, both for the sake of discovering which words sound best together and maximizing the originality of your choice of words. I can’t tell you how many times I wrote ‘beautiful’ for lack of a more creative choice, then later replaced it with either a better-sounding or more unique adjective:
Example:
Lay upon my mattress beautiful Catholic actress (rhymes better)
Girl with the beautiful musical face (more original)
It’s all true if it’s according to you, but you should always use a mirror look at your reflection when you think things through (more accurate – self-evaluation was what I really meant when I initially wrote ‘use a mirror’)
• The punch line of a joke is more satisfying when everything leading up to it is funny. The setup of a joke is part of the punch line. In the same way, every word you write is part of the rhyme. Alliteration increases the momentum of the rhyme and makes the words sound like they belong together. Many rappers give you one rhyme for every two bars, as in the classic, “My name is Chris Burns and I’m here to say, I rock the microphone in a major way.” Why waste two bars on one rhyme when you can use alliteration to create a sea of similar sounds?
Example:
Bar 1. thank God I don’t stutter, my words are butter, a plethora of odd
Bar 2. utterances, sentences with a penchant for senselessness,
Bar 3. it’s my sensible nature I’m sensitive and simply a hater,
Bar 4. I tend to degrade that which was meant to be greater.
• Visualize that the set of words in a line you wrote is a city skyline. Each sound is a different-sized building. When you write the next line, try to build an equal skyline:
I like you like like like you like high school
you’re bright &cool like white Nikes & ice cubes
• By no means does a rhyme need to be written linearly. If you have a specific phrase in mind that you feel is the perfect way to end a verse, write it down. Then go back and decide how you can set it up to rhyme. Below, I’ve numbered the order in which I wrote each of these rhyming phrases. Note the contrast between the origin of the content and when it appears within the verse:
1. lower-back tattoo
2. at or too
3. new latitudes
4. bad achoo
The eventual structure:
I resent sentences ending with at or too, bad sneeze is a disease, it’s called ‘bad achoo,’
girls keep getting the same lower-back tattoo, I keep liking them, no, I’m not mad at you, I breathe in and ascend to new latitudes
• The beauty of writing before you record is that you can rhyme retroactively, and that is truly a gift.
Tips on recorded rap:
• Resist the temptation to inform a girl* that she is your muse or source of inspiration. If you’ve written a song for a girl, tell her you want her to hear it and give her a copy. Let your music do the talking. If she doesn’t realize it’s about her, she doesn’t deserve the song, I mean, she doesn’t even know you for gosh sakes.
*feminine gender randomly used
• Don’t release a song to your friends or fans when you know it can be improved with a couple more days’ or weeks’ worth of work. You want nothing more than to share your finished product with others – the praise, the acclaim, the feedback – but it’s always worth making it as good as it can be before you take that step.
• Be aware that listeners generally accept the content of a rapper’s lyrics as his personality. If you can’t beat up the biggest bully in school then don’t say you can in a rap, because you won’t be able to back it up in reality. It’s far more effective to acknowledge that, of course, he is physically stronger, but you’re smart enough to destroy his credibility with your vocalized, poetic thoughts.
• Part of the reason the rap genre is considered so ‘real,’ aside from its rough inner-city origins, is because rappers usually express themselves in a way that is stripped of these literary devices (such as metaphor and symbolism) so frequently found in rock & roll lyrics. The result: as listeners we know a lot more about Eminem’s family life than we do of U2’s Bono. Rap lyrics are traditionally very personal. Protect yourself – spitting 16 bars about your significant other, your parents or your best friend is an excellent way to increase the vulnerability of those relationships.
• Be patient. If there’s something you want to express that is complex and difficult to realize, work through it. Take it one line at a time and make it happen. Do you want to be the rapper or the fan? The fan waits around for the rapper to articulate what he himself cannot.
• Avoid committing to a phrase or word choice immediately after you write it. While looking for its rhyming counterpart, a better option may emerge. Always be willing to revise your work, both for the sake of discovering which words sound best together and maximizing the originality of your choice of words. I can’t tell you how many times I wrote ‘beautiful’ for lack of a more creative choice, then later replaced it with either a better-sounding or more unique adjective:
Example:
Lay upon my mattress beautiful Catholic actress (rhymes better)
Girl with the beautiful musical face (more original)
It’s all true if it’s according to you, but you should always use a mirror look at your reflection when you think things through (more accurate – self-evaluation was what I really meant when I initially wrote ‘use a mirror’)
• The punch line of a joke is more satisfying when everything leading up to it is funny. The setup of a joke is part of the punch line. In the same way, every word you write is part of the rhyme. Alliteration increases the momentum of the rhyme and makes the words sound like they belong together. Many rappers give you one rhyme for every two bars, as in the classic, “My name is Chris Burns and I’m here to say, I rock the microphone in a major way.” Why waste two bars on one rhyme when you can use alliteration to create a sea of similar sounds?
Example:
Bar 1. thank God I don’t stutter, my words are butter, a plethora of odd
Bar 2. utterances, sentences with a penchant for senselessness,
Bar 3. it’s my sensible nature I’m sensitive and simply a hater,
Bar 4. I tend to degrade that which was meant to be greater.
• Visualize that the set of words in a line you wrote is a city skyline. Each sound is a different-sized building. When you write the next line, try to build an equal skyline:
I like you like like like you like high school
you’re bright &cool like white Nikes & ice cubes
• By no means does a rhyme need to be written linearly. If you have a specific phrase in mind that you feel is the perfect way to end a verse, write it down. Then go back and decide how you can set it up to rhyme. Below, I’ve numbered the order in which I wrote each of these rhyming phrases. Note the contrast between the origin of the content and when it appears within the verse:
1. lower-back tattoo
2. at or too
3. new latitudes
4. bad achoo
The eventual structure:
I resent sentences ending with at or too, bad sneeze is a disease, it’s called ‘bad achoo,’
girls keep getting the same lower-back tattoo, I keep liking them, no, I’m not mad at you, I breathe in and ascend to new latitudes
• The beauty of writing before you record is that you can rhyme retroactively, and that is truly a gift.
Tips on recorded rap:
• Resist the temptation to inform a girl* that she is your muse or source of inspiration. If you’ve written a song for a girl, tell her you want her to hear it and give her a copy. Let your music do the talking. If she doesn’t realize it’s about her, she doesn’t deserve the song, I mean, she doesn’t even know you for gosh sakes.
*feminine gender randomly used
• Don’t release a song to your friends or fans when you know it can be improved with a couple more days’ or weeks’ worth of work. You want nothing more than to share your finished product with others – the praise, the acclaim, the feedback – but it’s always worth making it as good as it can be before you take that step.
• Be aware that listeners generally accept the content of a rapper’s lyrics as his personality. If you can’t beat up the biggest bully in school then don’t say you can in a rap, because you won’t be able to back it up in reality. It’s far more effective to acknowledge that, of course, he is physically stronger, but you’re smart enough to destroy his credibility with your vocalized, poetic thoughts.
• Part of the reason the rap genre is considered so ‘real,’ aside from its rough inner-city origins, is because rappers usually express themselves in a way that is stripped of these literary devices (such as metaphor and symbolism) so frequently found in rock & roll lyrics. The result: as listeners we know a lot more about Eminem’s family life than we do of U2’s Bono. Rap lyrics are traditionally very personal. Protect yourself – spitting 16 bars about your significant other, your parents or your best friend is an excellent way to increase the vulnerability of those relationships.
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