Writing Raps Without A Beat

Today we give advice to rappers on how they can go about “Writing Raps Without A Beat”. This is a follow-up article to yesterday’s post: Do Rapper’s Write Lyrics Before Beats? Which was one of our most helpful featured articled to up and coming rappers.

Today, we will dive into writing raps without beats, how to start writing raps, and how to match lyrics to the beat. This will be basic training for you up and coming rappers that would like to perfect their rapping skills.

Be sure to follow us on social media and let us know how you’re coming along with building your rhymes and advancing your rapping skills.

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Also Read: Tips For Rappers in The Studio

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Writing Raps Without A Beat

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As I explained in our most recent post there are a few rappers who write their rhymes before they listen to the beat. They find it better to do so, and when they’re ready they get their producer or engineer to synch their rhymes with the beat. However, the majority of rappers write rhymes after they hear the beat. The beat inspires them to write a song according to how t makes them feel. If you are going to take the route of writing raps without a beat it’s going to take practice. Just like learning how to write lyrics to a beat. This is because writing without a beat is a learned skilled; especially if you have been writing down your rhymes for years. If you have just started rapping it may be a little easier for you to start writing rhymes in your head because writing raps down is not yet a learned habit for you.

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Also Read: What It Takes To Be A Rapper

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How To Write Rhymes Without A Beat

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When writing rhymes without a beat it’s good to have a concept of what you’re writing about first. You want to get a concept down so you know what angle to start writing from. So for example, is it going to be a club track? A track that people can play in their car? Or is it a street anthem? Whatever you want the concept to be is up to you. It’s your rhymes that you want to share with the world and whatever mood you wish to write in is up to you.

When I mention having a concept I’m talking about the concept of the rhyme itself and not the title of the song. Some up and coming rappers think they need get stuck for hours on trying to come up with a title for their song when they can easily come up with a concept of what they’re writing and start writing. Titles sometimes can be hard to come up with on the spot, but once you pretty much understand the theme of what you’re writing about you can start writing about it right away.

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Also Read: How To Write Songs For Commercials

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Writing Raps In Your Head

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Just like you can write lyrics without a beat or with a beat, you can also write lyrics in your head. The dope thing about this method is you can write rhymes in your head while listening to a beat or without a beat. Again, the choice is entirely up to you as the creator of the rhyme. Just like everything else writing raps in your head takes practice because it’s a learned skill. It won’t happen overnight but as you do it more it will come easily to you.

To do this technique you have to develop your memory muscle and it will take some work if you’re not already good at memorizing things. So what you should do is take your time. The trick is to start off with your first two sentences. For example, “I spit bars that are way too strong/you’ll get lyrically annihilated if you come at me wrong.”

Commit the first to sentences of your lyrics to memory. Write it out in your head and repeat it until you have it down pat. Meaning you’ve committed it to memory and can rap it out loud without stuttering or stumbling on the words. Then, you will create the 3rd and 4th sentence in you mind following the first two line. And so on and so forth. Do this until you have written 16 bars in your head which is a normal length verse. Once you become more proficient you can write longer versus in your head, including choruses.

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Also Read: How Do Rappers Get Signed

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How To Match Lyrics To A Beat

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Whether you wrote the rhymes in your head or your phone, it will be up to you to sync your rhymes with a beat. Only you know how the song is supposed to flow on a beat. While you’re in the studio listening to beats rap out your rhymes and see how it fits with the instrumentals. While listening to beats you will know right away if the beat is too fast or too slow for your song. If the beat almost seems to match up with what you’re saying you can ask the producer to slow down or speed up the beat a beat depending on your needs.

You are in control of  making sure the beat fits your rhymes, only when you attempt to rap over the beat can the producer listen in and give you some advice on how to sync the rhymes over the beat. When in the studio always ask the producer and engineer for a second opinion. Everyone should be working together to see that you create a masterpiece. In conclusion, it’s possible to rap without a beat and it’s possible to write full songs in your head. To become proficient at these songwriting methods you have to practice at them. Once perfected you will do them more easily and quickly. So go out there and practice and let us know how it goes for you. You can leave a comment on the site or hit us up on social media.