tips on freestyling: 3.01.02

alot of cats get it twisted now a dayz. they think that because you can't freestyle you ain't an emcee. which is 1/2 way true. freestyling is the basis of all skill possessed. it not only is the most challenging thing for an emcee to do, but it also reflects on a lot of areas of skill. granted 99% of cats can write better than freestyle. but its kinda like a right handed person drawing with their left hand. without practice its gonna be shit, and you ain't gonna think it sounds good. and neither is the 8 other cats you dissin in the middle of a cypher..

and you DON'T wanna be the 1 wack cat in the cypher.

so to get you away from being called the wack cat, i am gonna try to help you improve your freestyling abilities.

first thing i want you to know is that you are not going to be able to freestyle like redman after you read this. it takes years and years and years of practice to become nice with rhymin off tha top. this is simply some excersizes and tips to get you started in the right direction. it only takes you to have your skill. i can't provide you with that. so don't email me with some bullshit saying my freestyling tip didn't work. because your gonna be the one to have to do it.

alright i'm gonna start out with a few tips and games and shit.

first it is good to write constantly. cuz the more you write the more rhymes you get embedded into your head. so you won't get caught up on a word that you ain't never used before. you'll have pretty much your whole vocab in your head. which is an excellent thing. i'm not saying to use your rhymes in every freestyle session, but it is almost like having a rhyming thesaurus memorized in your brain.

next is don't think about what you are going to say before hand. especially if you starting out. cuz you gonna mess up guranteed. you just gotta go with it, after a while you will find yourself able to spit a couple of lines you thought up before hand without messing up. but i know from experience your just gonna make yourself pissed cuz you will keep messing up untill you just let it all go without thinking about it first.

it isn't about length. so don't stretch yourself out as long as you can go. cuz you just gonna start getting shitty, plus other cats will be pissed cuz you being a mic hog. at first try to go just like a minute verse or so. it don't matter on how long you can go in a freestyle, it matters if you know how to end it. when you leave on a freestyle, its just as good as when you jumped in. but if you fuck up as the ending of your freestyle then you look bunk. not in all cases but you gotta be good at que'ing in a cypher.

now i'll get into a couple games and shit yall can improve with

first is called a cypher. it can be done with 2 peeps or can be done with as many as you want. its all about words. and if you doin it with your friend have him toss words while your rhyming. and you gotta try to rhyme the word he just said, and then he tosses another, and keep goin and goin till you can't go no more. eminem has a phat cypher session on mp3, if you can find it, it is like 10 mins long, he's just goin off. that is an awesome way to do it, but the person has gotta be loud when he tossin you words.

if you cyphering with ya boys, just rhyme something off what the person before said. easy as that.

next if you are somewhat good at free'n try to make a rhyme out of anything you read or hear on tv, magazine, food labels, whatever. try to rhyme it. it won't be perfect but if you practice it will sound phat after a while.

have a mini tourney. it takes about 4-5 emcees to pull this off. but battle eachother, diss em till they drop.

rap on a topic of some sort, see how long you can go talkin bout... say shoes. or something. lol just rap about how the two hot bitches always got that fat tag-along friend that wants your number.

freestyling really isn't that tough once you get the hang of it. and don't anticipate punchlines either. just let em come to you. it is easiest like that. shit i come up with better punches freestyling then i do writing. so keep that in mind. and no i am not the illest freestylist to ever walk the face of the earth. but i know a thing or two. and all these tips is what i used to improve.