What up y’all, I’m Rob Level, and today we are talking about eight tricks for freestyling I learned from rapping my whole life.
We’ve got some good freestyling tips in here, plus other ideas for how to keep yourself getting better daily.
Obviously, there are a lot more than just these, but I wanted to share them with you to help you succeed faster, get stronger songs now to help you gain the momentum you need to really get going in the industry. This is Smart Rapper. Let’s get into it.
Number ONE: DON’T TRIP ON RHYMING
When it comes to freestyling, don’t worry about rhyming every single line all the time.
When you’re getting comfortable with it, the most important thing is to keep it going. The longer and longer you can make your freestyles, you’ll feel yourself getting better and becoming a more skilled rapper.
You’ll be able to keep going through distractions or interruptions. Think about the flow and the continued freestyle more than just the words being said – after all, it’s just a freestyle and it doesn’t matter.
What matters is you being more confident in holding the flow and holding people’s attention for longer spans of time. So focus on that and don’t trip on word choice when it comes to freestyle, especially as you’re practicing to get better.
NUMBER TWO: FREESTYLING ISN’T FREE
Another freestyling tip – and I know you’ve heard me say this before – is that freestyling isn’t really all that “free.” Most good freestylers have a little mental catalogue of phrases and words that rhyme or go together well in a freestyle sequence.
They use them like ‘fill-ins’ when they can’t think of something to say. Those are pre-memorized things that they already know sound good – that they then plug in to make things pop.
You can easily do this too and make your freestyles a lot more impressive very quickly. With practice, you’ll start remembering more and more complicated rhyme schemes that you can use in freestyles whenever you want.
NUMBER THREE: GET FILLER BARS
A good way to keep your freestyles going is by having what we call “filler” bars – backups you can use that you already wrote and memorized.
These can be really simple. You can even develop little catchphrases you use in your songs or freestyles. Then, when you’re stuck without an idea about your next bar, you can pull one of your backup bars out and keep your flow going more and more.
Make sure they are vague enough that you can really use them for any freestyle topic and you’ll get much more use out of them – and they won’t stick out so much.
NUMBER FOUR: MEMORIZE YOUR FAVORITE BARS
Most of my best lines come to my head when I’m freestyling, not when I’m writing.
So if you’re freestyling and you just spit a set of some really good lyrics, take a moment to write them down or repeat them for memory. You’ll definitely thank yourself later when the perfect time comes to use that bar.
NUMBER FIVE: USE WHAT’S AROUND YOU
Rap about what’s around you. Not only does this prove to people you’re actually spitting off the top, but it’s also a great way to involve your audience in what you’re saying.
Interactive rapping will also help immensely with your improvisation skills, and is a good way to practice staying on one subject, concept, or mood in your flows.
By rapping about the people, objects, or situations happening around you, you’re training yourself on processing information and instantly spitting it out under pressure.
This will only raise your skillset and your ability to create lines and bars out of nothing.
NUMBER SIX: PRACTICE DIFFERENT PATTERNS
Flows get passed around, re-used, and recycled. If you listen to a lot of freestyle rappers, a lot of them spit the exact same flow!
Soundcloud mumble rap has definitely become a big part of the music we are hearing in the “mainstream” rap world, and a lot of people get stuck in their same patterns over and over again and never break out.
When that happens, their stuff becomes stale and less exciting to listen to, because it’s so predictable. DEFINITELY AVOID THAT.
Force yourself to practice different flows and flow patterns. If you’re stuck and having trouble switching it up, try listening to two completely different rappers and copying their rhythm and flow on two different beats.
This will cause your ear to really hear the difference and let you practice multiple styles.
NUMBER SEVEN: SWITCH UP THE BEATS
A good freestyler can rap over anything. You don’t want to be the guy who says “I can’t rap over this beat”.
Plus, having beats you can’t rap to limits you as a rapper and an artist. To be perfectly honest, anything with a consistent beat can be rapped to.
You can even rap to a car alarm, okay. So make sure that you are really pushing yourself in terms of style and letting you stretch your wings with what you can accomplish.
Of course you’re not going to release a song of you rapping over a mariachi band (or maybe you are, because youre awesome, but whatever) BUT if you do decide one day to try a little freestyle over a mariachi song, you might find cool rhythms and flows you never would have found if you hadn’t gone outside your comfort zone.
Sometimes distracting your brain in one way helps free up your creativity in other ways. Take advantage of that and keep pushing yourself to try new beats and styles.
NUMBER EIGHT: RAP EVERY DAY
You gotta at least TRY to rap EVERY DAY.
That’s right. Every day motha fucka!
Your brain, your skills, everything you use when you rap is just like a muscle. You work out to get stronger.
Why wouldn’t you work out your rap skills daily? Think about how much progress you see after a couple weeks of lifting weights daily.
Take that, and apply it to your rap skills. Get those reps in. Keep going back. You’ll see results and improvements that are undeniable.
Use whatever is going on in your life to get ideas for material. Bored? Rap about being bored! It dont matter. Just do it.
Even if you’re just starting on a beat mumbling out a little pattern or melody with nonsense words, gradually you’ll get into it and your day or life or whatever you want to talk about will start spilling out. Do it more and you’ll start gaining confidence.
Alright, this has been 8 tricks freestyling better, I’m Rob Level, hit me with a like, hit me with a subscribe and let me know what your favorite backup freestyle bars are in the comments! Keep hustling, Smart Rapper! I’ll see you at the top!