NationMaster - Encyclopedia: 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. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Improvisation is the act of making something up as you go along. ... Rap redirects here. ... Lyrics are the words in songs. ... Improvisation is the practice of acting and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of ones immediate environment. ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ...

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. East Coast hip hop is a style of hip hop music that originated in New York City during the early-1970s. ... Mohandas Dewese (born 8 August 1962), better known as Kool Moe Dee, was an American old-school rapper prominent in the late 1980s and early 90s. ... Busy Bee Starski born 1950s is an old school hip hop MC. First coming on the scene in 1977, New York-based Busy Bee worked with many of hip-hops founding fathers, including Melle Mel, Afrika Bambaataa, and Kool DJ AJ. Known for his comedic rhymes, he originally...

Freestyle battles sometimes bring mainstream attention to previously unknown rappers. This type of rapping also proves useful when an argument 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 conflict. This makes way for so-called freestyle records. One artist takes a beat that is already out in the mainstream, and talks over it so that they can quickly put something out to insult the other rapper involved. Years after his death, Tupac Shakur is still considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of all time. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Jay-Z (aka the Jigga, HOV and Hova, born Shawn Carter on December 4, 1970 in Brooklyn, New York) is an African American rapper/hip hop artist and record label executive; one of the most popular and successful rappers of the late 1990s and early 2000s. ... For other uses, see Nas (disambiguation). ...

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. Metre or meter (US) is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western music notation by a symbol called a time signature. ... Rhythm (Greek = flow, or in Modern Greek, style) is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

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 in school. Generally, a battle is an instance of combat in warfare between two or more parties wherein each group will seek to defeat the others. ... Contest may refer to: A contest, is an event in which two or more individuals or teams compete against each other, often for a prize or similar incentive. ... Rap redirects here. ... An insult is a statement or action which affronts or demeans someone. ...

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. Lyrics are the words in songs. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Honour (disambiguation). ...

Freestyle battling is a prominent part of rap or hip hop culture. Hip hop is a cultural movement that began amongst urban African American youth in New York and has since spread around the world. ...

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. A rhyme scheme is like the pattern of rhyming like lines in a poem or in like lyrics for music. ... File sharing is the activity of making files available to other users for download over the Internet, but also over smaller networks. ...

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. 20XX redirects here. ... Black Entertainment Television is an American cable network based in Washington, D.C. targeted toward African-American and urban audiences in the United States. ... This article is about the original U.S. music television channel. ... 8 Mile stars Eminem (Marshall Mathers) as the young white rapper Jimmy Smith Jr. ... 106 & Park: BETs Top 10 Live is a top-ten video countdown that has airs weekdays on BET. It is the networks #1 rated show. ...

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 freestyle community sites like Dopetracks which offer users the ability to rap battles with vocal recording software built in.

Sites like Youtube host lots of freestyle raps by all sorts of artists, as freestyling is long gone mainstream. YouTube is a popular video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips. ...

References

See also

Categories: Cleanup from February 2007 | All pages needing cleanup | Rapping This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Hip hop is a cultural movement that began amongst urban African American youth in New York and has since spread around the world. ... Hip hop music is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. ... Rap redirects here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ... Turntablism is the art ofSubscript text manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and an audio mixer. ... Hip hop is a subculture, which is said to have begun with the work of DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, and Afrika Bambaattaa. ... A boy hitting (holding) a pike Breakdance (media coined phrase), also known as breaking, b-girling or b-boying, is a street dance style that evolved as part of the hip hop movement that originated among African American youths in the South Bronx of New York City during the early... For other uses, see Graffiti (disambiguation). ... Faada Freddy of the Senegalese rap crew Daara J in Germany, 2005. ... Breakdance, the first hip hop dance style, performed at MTV Street Festival, Thailand. ... // In Hip hop music, people individually and separately vocalize over beats, instrumental tracks, usually consisting of repeated phrases. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Old school hip hop is a term used to describe the very earliest hip hop music to come out of the block parties of New York City in the 1970s and 1980s. ... The golden age of hip hop, derivative of old school hip hop, was probably introduced with the popularity of Run-DMCs 1986 album Raising Hell. ... New school hip hop is a rarely-heard term referring to hip hop created later in the forms development, contrasted with old school hip hop. ... 2007, the year in hop hip. ... See also: Category:Hip hop genres Hip hop music can be subdivided into subgenres, fusions with other genres and regional hip hop scenes. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... East Coast hip hop is a style of hip hop music that originated in New York City during the early-1970s. ... West Coast hip hop, also known as West Coast rap or California hip hop, is a style of hip hop music that originated in California in the early 1980s. ... Midwest hip-hop is a style of hip hop music originated within the Midwestern United States. ... This is a list of influential albums in the history of hip hop music. ... For other article subjects named Jazz see jazz (disambiguation). ... Funk is a distinct style of music originated by African-Americans, e. ... Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ... In the United States, African American culture or Black culture includes the various cultural traditions of African American communities. ...

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