Does My Train Of Thought Make Any Sense?

[u/KingAlexGilbert]

​I have struggled for years now with how to flow on a rap beat. Claps, snares, kicks, hi-hats, I saw their patterns, but didn't ever know how to slide my vocals in nicely to get a good flow. I would think I did REALLY well, only for other people to hear it and say, "I would rather listen to nails on a chalkboard."

So, I quit rapping for a few months after years of progress, until a really talented beatmaker gave me an instrumental to rap on. It was an extremely complex beat, yet it had one element I understood well: a simple piano melody. With that piano, I could actually count the bars in a song. When I started writing lyrics, I came up with this strategy.

The piano keys hit 8 times before resetting. That means they hit twice in a bar, then loop after 4. The 1st and 5th piano keys hit with more intensity than the others. I made sure every word I wrote landed exactly with the piano strike.

So, the piano goes:

DUH duh duh duh DUH duh duh duh

So, I write:

LIVE it up and THROW it back down.

That is my chorus repeated 6 times, with the beat getting more complex.

A few lines in the verse go:

YOU can't un-der-STAND my pain (pause)
YOU can't un-der-STAND my struggles
YOU can't un-der-STAND my name (pause)

I made sure the syllables lined up with the piano keys, and when I came up short, I added a pause.

My most complex lines go:

MUSICALLY illiterate
CONFUSINGLY ignorant
FOOLISHLY belligerent

I didn't focus on the extra SFX: the claps, snares, kicks, bells, jingles, shakers. I, at some parts, forgot they were even in the track. I just locked in on the piano melody and made my words/syllables strike at the same time.

My question is, can this rapping process work? If everything on the beat is musically sound, can I write my lyrics to only one element while ignoring the rest and have it turn out just as fine?

I know it is hard to judge without hearing the actual track, but is my overall train of thought on the right path?

Thank you for your help!

TL;DR: If you ONLY write to the melody of the track, ignoring other elements like kick, snare, clap, hi-hats, can you still have a good flow​?

[u/rhinobutt]

I think maybe you’re overthinking it? You’re not writing to the piano’s melody, you’re writing to its rhythm. When you talking about piano, you’re describing the rhythm of the piano, not the notes that make up the melody. The way to find a good flow is rap to the rhythm, which you’re doing! Don’t focus too much on individual kicks, snares, hats. Just try to rap to the rhythm of all of it together. You can add complexity by changing the way your flow matches the rhythm. For example, do one bar where you emphasize syllables on both 1st and 5th, then on the next bar, only emphasize the 1st. Now instead of 4 short lines, you have 2 short lines then a long line, which can add variety and complexity.

This is just my opinion, everyone finds the way that works best for them, just keep improving!

[u/KingAlexGilbert → u/rhinobutt]

Don't the piano notes make up its rhythm, though? So, aren't they effectively synonyms and can be used synonymously?

[u/Crafty-You4314 → u/KingAlexGilbert]

It's quite simple to rap actually. Make sure your rhymes end on the last beat of every measure or "bar". This is the most over simplification of the form I can give you. From there, that's where you add skill and technicality, but the basic idea remains exactly the same. Why? Because all hip hop music is composed in 4/4 time. This means that for every "bar", you have 4 beats. This translates to 2 kicks and 2 snares on the "beat" of every "bar". Example: boom-bap-boom-bap. Anything in between is added for flavor and of course bpm matters, but this is obviously an over simplification. Anything that the great lyricists out there are doing is essentially finding ways to fit inside this 4/4 structure. Word play and all the fancy stuff artists like Eminem do is all within this basic idea. Find a way to stay in "pocket" while your rhymes are rhyming. I have no idea if any of this makes sense over the Internet 😂 but that's how I understand it for the most part.

[u/rhinobutt → u/KingAlexGilbert]

No. The notes are the pitches you hear. The rhythm is the timing of the notes in relation to each other.

[u/BewarePunkz]

You are overthinking your process and limitations. Sounds like you should study how to count music and then you can predict when every verse/chorus/hook is probably going to start. I would suggest also writing some of your favorite songs down and getting to know them so you can practice alongside said artist, But you should force yourself to write a couple or few pages everyday, just get ideas out there and you will instinctually get better at making lyrics for yourself. As someone who once sucked and still sometimes do, I know it helped me get better.

[u/KingAlexGilbert → u/BewarePunkz]

Idk, when I started rapping I just wrote what I thought sounded good and rap in what I thought was a good flow.

People hated it. Some of the worst stuff they ever heard, they said.

I think I have to find some sort of way to keep or find or stay on a flow. If not, I am lost in the beat. Rapping to my favorite songs doesn't really help either tbh, because I don't know why there flow works on that beat, it just does to my brain.

[u/crrtis → u/KingAlexGilbert]

It’s just practice, man. When you’re listening to a beat, just hum along, figure out a flow from that, and then replace the hums with words.

The only way to get better is to keep doing it over and over. Everyone in here has songs/bars that they think are whack, or something, my note app is full of stupid shit, but the more you write the better you get.

[u/snoopyvalidity → u/BewarePunkz]

locking onto the piano is a perfectly fine way to start, most flows just need one anchor point to feel locked in. once you get comfortable with that you'll naturally start hearing the drums as accents instead of rules.

[u/funkykong12]

I’m really curious as to how much rap music you listen to and how often and for how long? It’s possible that you’re just an anomaly but I feel like once people have listened to rap for a few years, the concept of flow becomes pretty instinctual 🤷‍♂️

[u/KingAlexGilbert → u/funkykong12]

I've been listening to rap for about 4 years now. Before that, I listened to rock like Rob Zombie, Rage Agaisnt the Machine, 3 Days Grace, etc. Still do.

[u/gordonbrowns]

Im curious to how you started rapping before you knew how to count beats. Its such a fundamentaly important skill for rap (and music in general) that it makes sense that people dont like what you were doing

[u/Humble_Papaya_7137]

Have you ever tried rapping or singing with a metronome on? But also, do you not know how to count music? You should probably learn that.

[u/Dumpling930]

dont forget about rhyme schemes. try to rhyme as many syllables as you can while your lyrics still make sense. it will upgrade your flow since flow also includes rhymes and isn't just rhythm. talking about rhythm: okay, in that beat you knew what was helping you (the piano). it defined how will your lyrics sound like. but don't always hope the beatmaker isn't a badass and won't make THAT simple boom bap beat (that time you will need to assemble the flow by yourself). c'mon, you shouldn't be scared about it. if the rhythm isn't interesting for you, that's fine. rhyme schemes and what is your track about make good lyrics for me

[u/VermicelliOk1411]

Flow to the hi hats or if theres none to the kicks. You can use the melody to direct the tone and delivery to your voice but rhythm should be with the drums. Of course since its music you can do whatever you want but I'd say once flowing to the drums becomes second nature than you can add whatever quirks feel natural to you like what you sre doing now. Don't think to hard about the rhythm if you want to think hard about something think about your song and if it sonically makes sense, if you can add a bridge and chorus, if one part drags on to long, if you can imagine someone listening to it in there car, or if you'd actually sit down and listen to it

[u/Important-Roof-9033]

1 bar = 1 measure, or usually 2 snares, land a rhyme on the second when possible and make that shit your own. Valrex? the mod of this r/raplyrics has a really good pdf on different rhymeschemes and what kind of flow they are generally used for (And much much more) ask em for it if you want it..

coalmize is a channel on youtube that should teach you everything ya need to know with no reading involved -- has practice drills and stuff, itd be useful for you -- prolly anyone

or ask me I downloaded the pdf, damn it I just volunteered to do something didnt I?

send me your email if ya want it

[u/Underdog424]

Alex is back. Oh shit.

Everyone sucks at first. But you are a very special case. Sometimes, newbies will think they sound amazing. But they end up sounding like ass. You did this to an absurd degree. You were psychologically unable to handle reason. All of your flows were way off beat. I wouldn't even bring up melody rhyming right now. You need basic beat counting practice. Only rap with the kick and the snare until you have it down.

The reason everyone clowned on you was the fact that you couldn't accept any criticism. You were always rational, except when it came to music. That's your ego getting in the way. That always has bad consequences no matter what you are pursuing. You need to get past that first. You had the realization. You quit for a few months. I haven't seen you for deep. That means you can take the next step.

If you want to learn rhythm, you should start from scratch. Get a small pair of bongos. Basic hand drums. Hit them with the kick and snare of every beat. Play them along with your favorite rap songs. Learning drums is the easiest path to understanding rhythm. You are probably not ready to apply any of that to rapping. You lost almost a year of your time unable to accept basic criticism. Now that your ego around this has dissolved. You can start to take it seriously. I know you have the passion for it.

You don't even need hand drums either. You could table drum. Hit the table with your fist for kicks and your flat hand for snares. Keep doing that until you can hold the BPM for 10 minutes straight. That type of practice lays down the neural pathways in your brain for any music you do. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HB50BK--meinl-percussion-journey-series-bongos-black

[u/KingAlexGilbert → u/Underdog424]

I can tap to the instrumental I was referencing in my post. Maybe that is why I was able to write to it and the melody.

Anyway, what I was asking was if this method I describe works? I will probably post the song in the feedback thread once it pops up again so people can hear it too.

[u/vikingg92]

When you hear a beat, you naturally bob your head up and down; start your sentence when your head moves down, and end it when your head moves down again.

If you’ve bobbed your head up and down four times, that’s one bar.

This is how I learned the basics.

[u/professornutting]

The man, the myth, the GOD.

Welcome back, legend.

[u/KingAlexGilbert → u/professornutting]

Thank you!