Freestyle rap

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.

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 freestyle lyrics at parties to pump up the crowd, 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 Starski. 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)

Freestyle battles sometimes bring mainstream attention to previously unknown rappers. 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's mother). Many times the audience wants to hear an immediate response from the two people involved in the beef(hip hop rivalry or conflict). 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.

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.

Battles

A freestyle battle is a contest in which two or more rappers compete or battle each other using freestyle rap. Each competitor's goal is to 'diss' their opponent through clever lyrics. As hip-hop evolved in the early-80's, MCs gained their fame through live battles with other MCs. Freestyle battles can take place anywhere, street corners, on stage at a concert, or even in a school.

A live audience is critical to a freestyle battle. Each MC must use skill and lyrical ability to not only 'break down' his or her opponent, but to convince the audience that they are the better rapper. Appointed judges have been used in formal contests, but even when no winner is announced, the rapper who receives the best audience response is viewed as the victor. In addition, it is considered an act of dishonour to recite written and memorized raps in a battle, because it shows the rapper to be incapable of 'spitting' spur-of-the-moment lyrics.

Freestyle battling is a prominent part of rap or hip hop culture.

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 watered-down battle 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 "keystyle".

"Text heads", the term used for rap battlers on online forums, are sometimes dismissed for their lack of ability to record a song, pump up crowd, or doing an actual freestyle.

Recently, emcees have been able to record vocals online too, on freestlye community sites like Dopetracks which offer users the ability to rap battles with vocal recording software built in.

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.

History

Methodology

Battles

Recent History

References

See also