How to Write Better Raps and Rhyming Poems

Have you ever dreamed of becoming a rapper? Expressing your self with a pen in a way that make others awe. Or maybe just writing to have fun. It is never to late to get started in rhyming, learn how to now!

• Creativity
  
• Emotions
  
• Pencil & Paper or Computer

Inspiration/Ideas - When I write I typically write from personal experience. But my experience may not be what inspires me to write. Sometimes I think of a creative metaphor or line, write it down and go from there. Other times I listen to instrumental music to release the emotions that the music brings out. There are many ways to be inspired and get ideas for new material. When an event in your life invokes emotions use the opportunity to release those emotions via the written word.

Honesty - Write about stuff you know, things you have experienced. Don't attempt to write struggle if it is not something you have ever had to do. Don't write about love if you don't believe in it. Be true to you. Brutally honest poetry is the best received. 

Example- "Successful" by Drake
"But inside I'm treading water, steady trying to swim a shore"

Emotions - Express your inner feelings. Search within your soul. Release them through poetry.

Purpose - Your purpose will dictate how you write. If it is for children is will be simple, if it is strictly as a poem it has no boundaries, and if it is written as song lyrics it will need to have a rhyme scheme.

Rhyming- I am going to explain how to write a well written poem or write as if you were writing song lyrics.

You need to have rhymes within rhymes and use multis. 

What not to do

"I can't take this pain 
It hurts my brain"

This is not well written and does not captivate the reader. The lines are too short and rhyme scheme is too simple.

A better rhyme would use inner rhymes and multis.


Multis- Are phrases in which more than one syllable rhymes. Instead of rhyming "Sat" with "Bat"
a multis would be I sat/ my bat

Another example from the artist Drake "I'm Going in"

"I just tell the truth and so I'm cool in every hood spot 
Twenty one years and I ain't never met a good cop, 
Me and Wayne lean like Kareem doin hook shots "
Cover me I'm goin in to **** you when the hook drops "

See- hood spot/ good cop and hook shots/ hook drops

He also uses an inner rhyme with lean/ Kareem

Another Example "Sonnet On Approaching Italy" by Oscar Wilde

"And saw the land for which my life had yearned,
I laughed as one who some great prize had earned"

had yearned/had earned

Another Example- Eminem Mockingbird

"Hailie I know you miss your mom, and I know you miss your dad 
when I'm gone but I'm tryin to give you the life that I never had 
I can see you're sad, even when you smile, even when you laugh 
I can see it in your eyes, deep inside you wanna cry 
Cause you're scared, I ain't there, daddy's with you in your prayers 
No more cryin, wipe them tears, daddy's here no more nightmares "

Eminem uses a normal rhymes like "dad/had" 
He uses multis like "your prayer/ more nightmares"
and he uses inner rhymes like miss your/miss your and eyes/side/cry  



Similes/metaphors - Are a great way to creativity say something. Try to avoid the cliches like "high as a kite".

Example of a simile: "I am constant as the northern star" - From William Shakesphere's "Julius Caesar" 

Example of a Metaphor : “A man is but a weak reed”.

• Remember to incorporate multis
• Be descriptive
• Be yourself
• Be creative
• Don't steal someone else's words
• Use your imagination

Vocabulary - Use bigger words if you know them. Instead of saying "I saw" you can say "I observed" or instead of "I love" using 'I cherish".

Writing- Now get to writing!