(long... but skimmable)

many people break down hiphop into 'beats and lyrics.' this is careless though, it should be 'beats and rapping'

right now i'm concerned with the SOUND of rapping, as opposed to what the actual message of the words is

a few loose terms are usually thrown about
- flow
- delivery
- cadence

most (not all) people take flow to mean the rhythm, cadence to mean pitch, and delivery to mean the quality of the voice or else an umbrella term for all the other sound aspects

these are aight for some purposes. the main problem is they are not singular elements, but folk fall into the trap of thinking they are. really they're comprised of many sub-facets, or subsets of something else.

if you think about video games that simulate car driving/racing, you might think 'it's all just 1. steering 2. sense of speed 3. prettyness' but that doesn't even begin to capture the complexity. apparantly the most recent racer calculates everything from suspension ratios down to individual tyre temperature, and it all affects handling etc, yet earlier games achieved similar gameplay making completely different calculations.

at this point some will no doubt say i'm thinking about this rap shit too deeply, or i'm putting emceeing in a box (shout-out to Lil Roof), but in my experience if people knew better how other musicians or other writers engaged with detailed analysis/criticism they wouldn't dream of saying that. complexity is just a challenge, not a dead end.

i mean think about piano playing. ever taken lessons? the techniques are numerous
- posture, arm/wrist/hand position, dynamics, fingering, pedalling, counting, phrasing, rubato, accent, syncopation
- more advanced stuff like right-hand rubato, colouring
and it doesn't all happen at the same time necesserily. some famous pianists disregard certain aspects of technique, like Gould playing all stacatto or Horowitz playing with flat fingers

piano method is largely 'exterior' or visible whereas rapping is all interior
enough rambling though
i see it like this

- RHYTHM:
---> pattern. this is why we listen to rap, this is rap's melody. putting the words down in a definite way that the listener will recognize, esp. if you repeat it. it's like drum patterns.
---> timing. you could have the illest patten planned out for your lines but timing is the millisecond's difference that separates a great rapper from an amateur
---> flow control. (©Imcvspl) stringing patterns together for a whole verse basically. on a basic level to avoid having to stop abruptly or cram in words, but ultimately to craft brilliant verses. this one is a common reason why seemingly dexterous rappers often don't strike you as being particularly dope.
---> pacing. rapping ahead of the beat or behind it. what does that mean? the results are complex but the principle is simple - someone like Canibus tends to rhyme exactly on the beat, so his lines start exactly on the first beat of the bar each time and the rhythm fairly steady; Slim Shady era Eminem would start all his lines midway into the bar, creating a feeling of aloofness from the beat which he would then compensate for accelerating to catch back up or/then decelerating to do the same next line. good if you want to sound pensive or laid back (like you just don't give a fuck) rather than assertive/straight-talking

- TONE
---> cadence. the trend of the notes your voice actually hits. 'stick the needle to the groove and i'm forced to fuck it up, my style carries like a pick up truck' - Deck's voice clearly started high and got progressively lower. not actually much change in pitch, more just to create the impression than anything. Rakim would keep all his cadences low and controlled to create a monotone impression (wasn't true monotone though, still lots of expression in his voice). El-P, Illogic, Ras Kass use a sort of arced cadence constantly which i'm not a fan of. I think it's best used to compliment the patterns, or provide an occassional unique-sounding line
---> volume. fairly self explanatory. fluctuates all the time of course but can also be built into a cadence
---> regularity. all the stuff i described in the 'rhythm' section could be replicated just by hitting a wooden block or something. if you think of an actual drumkit though, there's usually at least half-a-dozen different drums which produce different sounds, which is much more appealing. rappers can achieve this effect by being disciplined with the pitch/tone of their words, like they've got a vocal drumkit. B.I.G. was particularly good at this I think.... 'pass that before you get your grave dug / From the main thug, .357 slug' starts with a symbol crash then has main rhymes hit with a vocal kick-drum, if you know what i mean...
---> melody. sometimes rappers start singing melodies in the middle of a rap. Myka Nine, Pharcyde... or maybe they'll 'quote' a melody from a popular song. not required practice by any means... but i thought i should list it

VOICING
---> energy. Enter the Wu Tang featured pretty high energy rapping; although Rakim is called monotone there's plenty of energy in his expression; MF Doom has a fairly low level of energy; Killah Priest is justabout true monotone. high/low energy is neither good nor bad though... and the preference of the listener comes into play too... but you've got to be master of your own energy, know what sounds good with your voice. when this fails you sound uncool, basically.
---> enunciation. can your words be clearly heard?
---> intonation. putting that little human touch into the voice to sound 'incredulous' or 'sad' or 'flippant' or 'serious' or whatever
---> accent. those southern drawls and stuff

RHYMING
---> rhyme scheme. which word positions in the lines rhyme with eachother. leaving out the 'content' side of rhyming cause we're concerned with sound here, rhyming will draw out the patterns in the line a lot
---> accuracy. how well the two words rhyme. in hiphop the rhymes are allowed to be pretty loose (compared to Broadway musicals). hard to make any rules about... but seeming lazy is not good.
---> assonance, alliteration etc. creates a feeling of intricacy or craftmanship which is easy on the ears. can also create mental impressions through sound... like 'season of mist and mellow fruitfulness'... doesn't that just SOUND like autumn? there's probably other uses but they're hard to detail.

so..... anything i missed out or messed up?

*attaches life-jacket to post*