While surfing Facebook (like I usually do), I came across a post made by Boombap Nation titled “NEW CASSIDY FREESTYLE ON BarsOni95“. While going through the comments, I seen references made like, “he’s not freestyling”. “That’s a written”. It reminded me of all the other times I heard that same inaccurate statement made. Like the definitions of “patriotism”, “fascism”, and “racism”, some people weren’t properly schooled on them, and the definitions kind of took a weird turn.
Cyphers aren’t new. They’ve been around since the very beginning. Some, not all, participants have the ability to go off the top of the head (going off the dome), while others found their gifts to prosper with a pen from daily scribbles made in a notebook. What these emcees lack in spontaneity, they made up for with impeccable memories and a flair for metaphors and similes. In these instances, it is the latter that freestyles. Let me break it down:
There are many differing styles and cadences of rapping. We can discuss them in their simplest terms, like tongue twisting, speed rapping, trap, mumble, backpack, or old school, for instance, or we can get obnoxiously technical and lay out the 5 different cadence flows. For shits and giggles, let’s run those:
- Trochaic
- Spondaic
- Dactylic
- Iambic
- Anapestic
Trochaic is two syllables. First, a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable. Like “Faster”. The general stress for the word “faster” is in the first syllable “FAST-er”.
Spondaic is two stressed syllables back to back equally. For example when you say “Let’s go” in a sentence, you would stress them both the same.
Dactylic on the other hand, is a stressed syllable then followed by two unstressed syllables. A good example of this style would be The Migos.
Iambic is also made up of two syllables. An unstressed syllable and then followed by a stressed syllable. Eminem uses this a lot in his word bending to make words rhyme that shouldn’t rhyme otherwise.
For example when you say the word “about”. There are two syllables. a-bout.
When you say the word, you naturally place more emphasis on the “bout” portion of the word. It doesn’t need to be one word. As long as two syllables follow each other in this order it is iambic.
And finally, we come to the final one; Anapestic. Anapestic is different because it is three syllable style. First, an unstressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable and a stressed syllable. This style is really popular nowadays, from new school hip-pop artists, to battle style rappers over boombap beats.
As you can see, spitting isn’t as cut and dry as “just making words rhyme”. There is an art to it, and as such, there are perimeters. But to get back on track, “freestyling” is yet another style, like the name suggests.
Freestyling is a verse (or more) that is without style. What does that mean? Like mentioned above, there are perimeters, and those perimeters are pretty dependent on the beat of the song. The cadence has to ride the beat effortlessly; more-so with today’s music than the boombap and classic beats from the early 2000s and before. A freestyle is designed to be able to fit in most, if not all of those boxes. Again, it’s without style.
A freestyle is flexible, it’s compromising. It allows the freedom to use those 5 rules above like Legos: just stick ’em where you want them. The inflections are interchangeable and can be flipped on a whim. Think of premier point guards like Kyrie Irving. Every move he does has a name, but those moves are reactionary to the defense (like the beat). He can do the same move 100 times, and “break someone’s ankles” 90 of those times over 100 different defensive approaches. That, my friend, is “free of style”…or should I say, “free of restrictions”
Emceeing is beautiful. I like to think of it as creating a painting on the listeners’ soul. It could be reminiscent of Rembrandt, or something childish and juvenile as a hang man stick figure. It can make you think, make you angry, or make you laugh or cry. It could enlighten you, teach you, hype you up, or relax you. It can even make you dumber. It creates emotion from nothing more than the artist’s soul and/or imagination. There are layers to the canvas – some “paintings” more than others, just like they all tell a story, some more vague than others.
The fifth element of hip-hop is “knowledge”. If you consider yourself a “hip-hop head” it’s important to know what things mean. That is a big reason why I do what I do. I like to share the knowledge I have accumulated through decade after decade after decade of my carrying this culture every place I go. I want y’all to carry it further. The only way that will happen, is if all these pages of information I placed on this site is absorbed. It’s been acquired by Rock N Roll Hall of Famers, legends, Zulu Kings, pioneers, triple OGs, and first hand knowledge. No history books, but straight from the mouths of those that were there. So let’s all get on the same page and speak the same language. This isn’t “opinion” – this is fact! #HipHop4Life