I'm Wack, How Do I Up My Skill?

[MistaMayne]

How do you control breathing?

How do you hold you breath while rapping? it is something that is tough to do but seldomly thought of untill you begin rapping. well i am here to explain to you 1.) how to breath 2.) how to breath correctly 3.) excersizes for breath control. now you know how to breath, it is an involentary reaction that you don't have to think about doing, but can you rap 4 lines without taking a breath, or without cutting off words for a breath? prolly not. but i am here to help. alot of people say its a natural thing and yadda yadda. well it is a natural thing, you are born with it, but you lose it as you get older, ever wonder how babies can yell so long untill having to take a breath? prolly not, but they are born with the knowlage to do that as an involentary reaction. see if you have a baby around you, next time he cries watch him do it for a while. watch his stomach, see how it inflates so much while he is breathing in?

well truth is he is using his diaghram to breathe. not his lungs. wtf does a baby need a diaghram for? you dumbass.... lol not that diaghram, the muscle around your belly moving will you breathe.

if you learn how to control your diaghram just right you can go for a long time without having to gasp for air. think of it like this - when you push on a mattress (inhale alot of air before a long line) and just let go and take your hand off it is just gonna jump up just as quick as you pushed it down (meaning taking in alot of air before a long line doesn't mean you gonna have a breath long enuff to make it through the line). no suppose you push on the matress again (taking in a deep breath) but instead of letting it go quick, you slowly release it. that is how it should be done. when you take in a deep breath do so that your diaghram expands... but instead of letting it out quickly while you are spittin, just slowly let it out, control it and keep it flexed. like try this, listen to a song you spit a while ago where you had to cut the track off cuz you didn't have enough breath. then try holding your stomach during that part and rap through it. i bet you make it! that is how i figured out how i got better with my breath control.

but when you breathe take in this tip (tip from mack10souljah on rm.com)... pretend you have a tube around just above your waist and breath, and try to make that imaginary tube expand. even the backside should expand. if you don't get this to expand try leaning over so you are almost touching you toes, and put your hands around the back of your waist and take a breath, after a while it will expand. its not like a big secret or nothing, it is just that you forgot how to breath like that throughout your childhood.

also breath through your nose and mouth at the same time, it may be hard to do, but just keep trying and you will do it. this is like putting a large air intake on your car allowing more air to come in more quickly.

it is all in that muscle above your waist! not your lungs!

and a good way to see if you are beginning to improve (won't really do much to help, but it won't hurt) is to put a peice of paper on the wall and blow on it and see how long you can hold it up without it falling.




Honestly that is about it on back-ups...

if you feel something has to really stand out like the best punch in your verse, you may choose to silence the beat. But don't over use this, I hear a lot of cats lately using this, and they are better off just not even having a beat at all.[/quote]

[MistaMayne]

My flow is doo-doo cocky. How can I sound better and more appealing to others?
i've heard alot of people ask,(and i know it sounds stupid) whats your flow? what do you mean flow? lol and the best way i can tell them is how you say your syllables over a rhythm. and honestly thats what it is. it is hard really describing how to flow without me personally being by your side and telling you what to fix and which words to change around but here goes nothing.

the first notes you should jot is that your flow and your delivery go hand in hand. they really do. and i've noticed that alot of cats that rap off beat are really sluggish sounding with they delivery. so after you take my tips on improving your flow i recommend (after you practice) to start working on your delivery. the delivery will really help the points in your flow come out that should stand out a lil bit.

now i ain't gonna sit here and explain how to flow and what measurments are. so imma state it like this if you ain't on-beat then there is one of two problems -- 1.) you forcing to many words at a time - 2.) you didn't put time nor effort into your shit. but i know some ways you can fix all of this mess and make it sound fluid like jay-z.

first step is when you got a good punch or a line you like, and you can't seem to match it up with the beat, try expirementing, take out a word or two, add a word or two, just see where everything sets ya. cuz alot of the problem is that you trying to put to many syllables into one line, and i know you wanna get as visual and graphic as you can, but i'm sure you can compinsate.

next is freestyle. people seem to come a lil more on beat when they freestyle, cuz they gotta get a feel for the rhythm right away, as in writing you already got your lines ready and you just try to crunch em all in at once.

next i would recommend this tip that i do to this day on some flows. is while you are listening to a beat, mumble out the rhythm, just say some jibberish, and get it how you wanna sound. this will give you the basic idea of the outline on your flow. then keep that rhythm in your head and start adding words to it. that has helped alotta people that have asked me about improving they flow. and on my fast speedy bone-type flow that is what i do.

thing you gotta remember is that 3/4 promoters, producers, and all them important peeps is listening to is your flow. (out of my experience with shopping around and talking to people) i ask them what they target the most and they said how well the rapper flows over a beat. but that is out of my experience.[/b]


I'm learning Mista Mayne. I got my flow down now. I just sound like a bitch because I have simple rhymes and my lyrics don't have any thought.
How can I write better lyrics?

Lyrical content. it is a way of expressing yourself, ideas, and feelings. and everyone wants something now a days. they all want something with punchlines and funny battling type lyrics. which is very challenging to do. you have to be creative and innovative. i've heard alot of cats ask "whats the best way to make a punchline". fact of the matter is there is no easy way out of it. for punchlines to come natural you have to be a witty person. otherwise it will take a minute to be good and comfortable with punchlines. but alot of people don't see there is alot other shit then just punchlines that will make your lyrics so much better. similies and metaphors, rhyme schemes, adlibs, all of those combined can be a deadly combination.

i will be explaining a couple tips on some basic lyrcal setups. now realize you have your own style, i can't sit here and say "do this cuz this is what i do" cuz you gotta be yourself to be a good emcee. you don't wanna be a mold off of someone elses thoughts. so do not change everything and get flustered if you ain't good at it, cuz if you try to change your way of rapping,,, it won't work cuz you can only do you and that is it.

punchlines:

these are by far evreyone's favorite part of lyrics. they can be mad witty and funny. a punchline can be executed several different ways. and all those ways i can't explain cuz you gotta be the creative one. a punchline is a metaphor or diss that is meant to embarass and emcee your battling, or to make the listener laugh in a song. but these are like the powerhouses of rapping. and if executed swiftly and smoothly as possible they will make your lyrics stand out alot more.

a way i found of creating a punchline a little bit easier is by moving backwords. find the word you are trying to rhyme such as ... fuck 'banana'. and say... ehh 'santana.. alright you already got your opening line like:

"cats mad fruity i'm peelin his skin like a banana"//

right there is kind of a weak punchline, but will set it up for a bigtime punch. so you got santana in mind.. think of something santana does or relates to, plays the guitar, he was famous in the 70's, came back in the 90's, he had alot of other people feature on his self titled cd, while he just played the guitar.. lol there are tons of shit, just find something that relates with your topic, make kind of a mental list in your head of all the relating shit to the object of the punchline. it shouldn't be too hard but the more out there you can get, with something people don't think about to often will really catch em off guard and will get em good. so pick something and kinda relay the execution in your head.. after you have it good to flow with your verse and all lay it down. here is what i came up with

"you should quit - if you come back you prolly gonna keep quiet like santana"//

that is just an example. so don't start emailing me telling me the punch was wack. lol anyways its all executed smoothly with a flow. lets reveiw that:

opening liner>find rhyme>start backwords>mental list of relative shit>and execute.

punches should almost be easy to grasp. atleast the big timers, the best punches are should be put kind of easy but still hit hard. if you come off on a diss explaining the theory of relativity and what your opponent hasn't done for it in mathimatical terms then it will take forever to catch it. this is how alot of the best do it such as bux. they get a couple of easy to grasp punches that hit very hard, and put some in there that you might have to think about and laugh about later. that is the best way to do it. those quick and funny one liners will get it moving quick.

the easiest way for me to make a punch though is to freestyle about my opponent and alot of punches will come out of that. they won't be as complicated but they will hit hard. just remember some of your lines while you free'n.

also if you call your opponent a bitch or something easy like that try to really emphasize that. almost delay it a lil bit in your flow. and say the 'B' nice and loud.

wordplay (metaphors and similies):

this can be difficult for some but it is actually pretty easy. it really consists of re-wording something basic. but more graphically and visually. i think the illest wordplayer is deacon the villian. if you listen to his track 'blood on the moon' there is some ill ass wordplay and dope metaphors.

i am good with wordplay if i get in the mood. like if i get into a fight with someone over yahoo messager or aim. that is where i can blow the other cat away. all i do is put a bunch of words together and use it towards a diss. i know it is tough for alot of cats, but i am an artistic person, and have a very good visual mind, if you ain't good at art i don't know if you are good or not at wordplay, but i comes easy to me cuz i just think of sick disgusting shit and put it into words.. like my all time fav was "prostate pretzle" or "regurgitated cum bubble". i also am good with wordplay in a positive sense too like a poem i wrote went like this i can't remember it all but i rember these lines. "... (something something) beatleguise is growing/ black trees shaky knees, purple rivers flowin" which has alot of symbolic metaphors for my life. (ie. purple rivers flowin - purple is supposed to be the color of heart, and rivers flowing means by blood is thick with my love all kinds of elements, in together it is a metaphor of sayin i have alotta of heart for what i do).

i would recommend to visualize what is going on and describe it with being as metaphoric and intellectual as possible.

it is tough to describe how to do wordplay cuz it comes naturally for me. but i hope i helped on that subject matter.

multis:

multis are tough. very tough. but you devolop them after a while, shit it took me 2 years to grasp the concept. and i recommend if you wanna improve you better write alot. and get a feel for your vocab. because you can't just sit down and say im going to write a flow with nothing but multi's if you aren't very good at them in the first place. multi's are like taking a word and disecting it and rhyming each syllable of the word. and its really not tough if you don't really emphasize too much on it, cuz it does just come to you after a while. it comes down to the flow as well. you gotta have a good flow to line up the multis so they noticable.

a good example of a multi user is warbux. he is amazing, and not many people see his multi's or don't give him props for it. but his multis really revolve around the structure of the flow, and that is how it is for alot of people that can use multi's.

i'd say be creative with your multis. and flex your vocab a lil bit. and don't worry if you multi's don't come to you. they are for some people and aren't for some people. so don't hold up your flow just cuz you can't get a multi out. cuz it is no big deal, multi's are kinda like the icing on the cake.

[MistaMayne]

Well I'm the best there is now thanks to you MistaMayne. I love you. I think you're cute. I have one final question. I hear people use doubles or adlibs which some of you call it. Are those necessiary or beneficial?
What good are doubles and how to you properly record them?



Back up vocals are an excellent way to bring up emphasis on a certain part of you song. Such as backing up a punch line or the rhyming words. But a lot of people don't do their backup's right; it seems like the just don't put enough time into it. And if it is messed up it can really make a whole song sound un-professional.

My best tip on your backups, is if you mess up, do it over, until it sounds like it is perfectly on point with the flow. I hear a lot of shitty sounding songs when the backups are lined up correctly or are off point.

and be creative with them... maybe cut out a certain line, and punch in with the back up, this sound cool as shit, it is like the beastie boys type shit. I think it sounds really phat on a punch line or something.

Everyone has there own style. I think my vocals sound best when they are not backed up fully, where as my partner sos thinks his sound better with the whole thing backed up. And some cats don't even back theirs up. It all is based on personal preference.

As for mixing. Be creative. Here is what I do for the main backups.

First I do noise reduction, and silencing in between all the backup'd parts.

Next I normalize them, depending on the beat and track to 40% - 60%.

Then I go to

amplify>pan/expand

then go to the expand tab on top, and where that curve is, I just straighten it out all the way to the top. This sound really nice in stereo, I think anyways. Or you may choose to do a very small chorus... its all up to you. But I am all about expanding my backups. It gives it a more 3d out there affect.

Next I would pan out certain parts (mostly sound effects) to the left and right simultaneously. It helps kind of wake up the listener, almost freak them out, cuz they hear something for the most part centered, then all of the sudden there is a noise out in left field, it will catch them off guard, which is always good to do in a song.