How To Write Rap Parts For Your Songs
Some of the hardest hitting pop songs enlist the talents of star rappers to write rap parts, and without a doubt, the rap parts become integral parts of those songs.
For example, the recent hit “American Boy,” by Estelle, an English hip hop singer, featured rapper Kanye West doing his thing while will.i.am. produced and also co-wrote the song.
If you’ve ever been a rapper or a songwriter enlisted to write rap parts for a song, you know it appears easier than it actually is! It actually takes much practice and talent to pull it off.
Rap has been known to cross over into many genres over the last several years. Jazz rap was huge in the late 80’s and early 90’s, but can you imagine how cool and refreshing you can possibly make a song if you feature a rap part on it? For example, take a straight-up, powerful rock song, and depending on the feel, see if you can write a rap part and sing it yourself, or feature a local rapper on the song. I believe you’d be amazed at the results. This goes for any music genre, too!
To get yourself off to a good start, here are a few tried and trusted tips from pro rappers to help you sound professional:
1. Listen to few songs from well-known or favorite rap artists such as Kanye West or 2Pac, and study the rhyming scheme they use.
For example in American Boy, Kanye raps:
Just another one champion sound
Yeah Estelle about to get down
Who the hottest in the world right now.
Just touched down in London town.
Bet they give me a pound.
Tell them put the money in my hand right now.
Tell the promoter we need more seats,
we just sold out all the floor seats
What can we learn here? Kanye used one of the most common rhyming techniques, which is to; rhyme lines two at a time, and sometimes use the same words in the rhyme. Notice how he rhymes sound with “down” “now” “town”, etc.
2. Let your lines breathe! For example, using the beat you’re working with, it gets tiresome to hear the same amount of syllables in every line. If you’ve just rhymed 4 lines with the same general meter, vocal delivery, and rhymes, change it up the next 1 or 2 lines to add interest.
3. One of the marks of a truly great rapper is the ability to match rhymed syllables in a fresh way. To do this, after you get a rough draft of your rap, start with the word at the end of each line and try to emulate the following example:
Look at West’s first 4 lines and notice how smooth the endings are in all 4 lines.
Just another one champion sound
Yeah Estelle about to get down
Who the hottest in the world right now
Just touched down in London town
champion sound flows seamlessly with about to get down, and
world right now flows perfectly with London town
4. Focus on what your song’s topic is about and try to flavor it with whatever desired effect you want it to have! For example, if the song were titled, “I Need More,” and was about a person needing to see more of their lover for the relationship to survive, you could approach the song either as an outsider telling the person to forget about the person or as the lover trying to fix the relationship.
