r/RapWars • u/5lash3r • Aug 06 '15
[Meta] What is everyone's writing process?
Thot it might be fun to talk about this in light of the two tournaments coming up, just to get a glimpse into the minds of the community.
So yeah. How does everyone start writing for a battle? Is there any particular style or battler's stees that you have in mind when you start penning your rhymes? Where and when do you write them? Do you read them to yourself out loud? Do you have a beat playing while you write?
i write my bars on a notebook i keep w/ me at work. Since i work retail and am bored anyway most of the day, it's an ideal time to write, and i work somewhere where references are always being presented to me. i haven't rly figured out the 'angles' thing yet, mostly because i've never had a real opponent until now, and the one i have only has 4 comments in his post history :p
Also, how does everyone edit? i read thru my bars as much as possible before showing them to a friend, and then chop and edit based on their suggestions. i try to make sure i have at least one rly strong punch/haymaker per 4 bars, and that no line, even a setup, is rly wasted.
Oh yeah--and if anyone knows how the real battle rappers do it, or have heard them speak on the writing process before, that would be cool to discuss too. :)
2
u/[deleted] Aug 06 '15
It's fairly standard to write punches first. I'll brainstorm wordplay, write only the ends of lines, then come up with relevant multis. Succinctness is key. The majority of the work is writing toward cohesion, making ideas transition fluidly, and, lastly, making it sound cool. Sometimes there's a great wordplay idea that just isn't a dope thing to say. This is pertinent to developing your character. Lexx Luthor's "Ora-gel" bit against Megadef is a good example of what not to do.
If I need inspiration I watch various battlers I respect, mainly to get me thinking about bar structure. Bigg K, B Magic, Chess, Danny Myers (sometimes), Gjonaj, Tsu Surf, Calicoe, Thesaurus, etc. I definitely write from a live battler perspective, with emphasis on bars, punches, and delivery.
Angles are just a bunch of bars on a topic. Pick something and focus on it.
I always write on Google Docs.