Free of Style or Devoid of Thought?

(Observe the video above and then the comments section where people slowly realize and lament that this isn’t a “True” freestyle, but mostly likely a series of pre-written verses.)

Here’s a problem with rap fans today. Yall are WAY to obsessed with the concept of “Freestyles”. First off the term is used interchangeably for writtens and off the dome, depends on who you talking to. Rappers back in the day, like this video, had mad fun spitting writtens for each other as much as doing stuff off the top of the head.

Second, some rappers are freestylers, some are writers, some can do both but are obviously better at one than the other. STOP thinking that EVERY rapper HAS to be able to freestyle great. Some niggas like to write, so stop asking them to freestyle. That’s like asking the QB of a football team to play wide receiver… just cause they play the same sport. Like, yeah, he could, but that’s not what he’s trains for, that’s not his specialization. Does he still contribute to the team? Of course! When it comes to the “Team” of hip hop, of course writers contribute to the genre, I’d say more than “freestylers”. Stop assuming that every nigga on the team has to be a Wide Receiver. You can’t win games like that, you can’t even play games with a team like that.

I’m a rapper myself and I personally find way more value in my writing than my freestyling. I’m a lyricist. I like writing poetry and shit. My number one pet peve is niggas that hear I’m a rapper and are like, “Yo, spit a freestyle dude!”. And I’m like, okay, I can but I don’t care that much about my freestyles. That’s not me at my best, you wanna here some of the shit I wrote? ”Nah, that’s wack yo!” Off the dome stuff is awesome, it’ll always have a place in the genre. But stop making it the absolute focus, you’re dumbing down the genre by dismissing more thoughtful material. ”Freestyling” as yall use it, is like battle, it’s immediate do or die, be sweet or fail. That’s cool. But yall get caught up in the bravado of it, which is a natural part of the form, but is becoming twisted and all-encompassing for rap fans, over creativity, authenticity and skill. Another consequence of widespread stagnation within the industry, and stereotyping without, which just feed into each other. Some people, like me, are more concerned with creating a cohesive piece, the best track I can make. Shaping and perfecting a piece of art that I can share, that’s what ARTISTS do. And that requires time and thought.

All I’m saying is you need a balance, and all the commentary I see online and in real life reflects a very unbalanced opinion of hip hop. It’s like you don’t really respect the genre as a vehicle for thoughtful expression. No other genre or type of art has to deal with this. And as someone that grew up my whole life with hip hop, relates to it and truly loves the form, that pisses me off man.

So maybe you should look at yourself and your relationship to hip hop music. Maybe you should rethink your opinion of writtens. Rappers deal in words. Maybe because we stuff more words in a bar than other types of music people think they’re not as important. But I don’t.

If you’re of the opinion that you have to freestyle well to be a rapper or an MC, then don’t call me a rapper. Call me a recording artist, call me a poet. I don’t care. My priority is to create dope music, for listening and performing, and I like my music to be tight and as impressive as possible every time, and I like to write it out before hand. So that’s what I’m going to focus on. And that’s just me. I love writing and don’t care if I never got to freestyle again. If you think that’s weird I got a hard truth for you, not every artist thinks the same exact way. Would you want them to? Does every band put blistering guitar solos in their songs? Is that a requirement to be a sweet band?

I’m aware that this isn’t a popular opinion among my fellow fans. That’s kind of why I’m writing it. But I’m not the only one thinking this, and somebody had to say it.

Freestyling is part of what makes rap unique, so I understand the attachment to it. But freestyling is also the most stereotypical aspect that you can say makes rap cool or unique. It’s something anyone who does or doesn’t avidly listen to hip hop can point to and say “That’s special and cool”. It’s a novelty to people and hiphop fans should be offended at the focus on it. If you are a REAL fan of hip hop, you should care about more than that. What about the things that casual listeners can’t pick out? Original flows, interesting vocabularies, new types of deliveries. These are subtle, but just as important.

This is in no way a diss to freestylers or the skill and effort it takes to freestyle. Eminem just started a new show about battle rapping and I applaud the attention it will give to battles and rap in general, but I fear it will exacerbate this problem. This is just a call for balance. This is a request to rethink your relationship to an entire genre of music. And if you like one particular aspect of it more, at least respect the other aspects and specializations within it. And a word of advice. If you meet a rapper, before you ask him to freestyle, how about you do him the courtesy of not assuming that all rappers around the world think exactly the same, and maybe ask him his preference first. Or else I’m gonna start going around to singers and start asking them to “Spit a yodel, man!”

(P.S. SPOILTER ALERT!: Half or more the freestyles you think are awesome are writtens, or at least start with a few bars of writtens. And you’ll never know unless you give someone a specific subject to rap about and they stick to it. Sorry!)