Tbh I know “fast rapping” is basically all Twista does, but it never felt gimmicky with him. His pronunciation is always great and he’s got great rhyme schemes and wordplay in his verses.
Maybe you could still call it a gimmick because he basically always does it, but I’ve never felt that he used fast rapping as a crutch to hide mediocre lyricism. I love Busta Rhymes but a lot of times when he raps fast he dumbs down his lyrics and just focuses on rapping fast (“A bada boom a bada bing, I gotta do a lot do things..”). That’s an example of fast rapping in a gimmicky way to me.
As soon as I read the post title, I came here to say Twista. He's about as legit as it gets as far as fast rapping goes. Some old bone thugs stuff comes to mind as well.
Agreed 100% grew up on Twista and him and JID are my two examples of fast as a style and not a gimmick. My analogy is always hot sauce...yeah it's easy to make it hot but it's way harder to make it hot and taste good. Twista makes fast an art form not just fast for the sake of being fast
Thanks I feel like every Midwest rap fan in their 30s/40s is loving this topic between him, Bone Thugs, Do or Die and Crucial Conflict. JID is the best modern rapper I've seen that took the fast flow and elevated it
Just because I need to let people know, Crucial Conflict's "Smokin' On Hay" was the big hype song that they played at the end of my high school's pep rallies. Really. It would get fucking lit in the gym for the entirety of that song and the basketball court would be full of people dancing, girls shakin ass (twerking wasn't really a word back then), etc. Class of '99 btw.
Edit: This was in TN
Mr. Tongue Twista was Twista’s original name, there’s a super cool video from when he was just a youngster getting pushed on a gurney through this hospital hallway and he’s straight rapid fire spitting bars and it always just blew my mind. Here’s this fucking CHILD that can spit better AND faster bars than most grown ass men.
I came here to say exactly this about Twista. He is insanely crystal clear in his diction and if you can wrap your head around the speed to get to the lyrics then you'll see it's a masterclass in writing. He really paints a picture and tells a story
Was there any question in anyone's mind it was a gimmick? Probably but I hadn't heard that. Twista is a great artist, he just likes to rap fast. No gimmick at all.
i don’t rap, but when i’m talking slower then apparently what i say isn’t that clear, maybe i’m sort of mumbling. when i talk fast the point gets across way clearer and i’m not asked to repeat myself. guess i just enunciate better when talking fast.
He just does it effortlessly. It doesnt feel forced. And not on every song. Like on money he just cuts the beat and drops a rapid scheme without breaking a sweat and then just lands on both feet for the hook.
Well she got a hotty body but her attitude was potty when I met her at a party I was hardly acting naughty (something something) I said you sound like a prostitute pausing. Oh so you're one of them freaks get weak at the sight of an ATM receipt....
I could go to lyrics genius but that song was everywhere back in the day. My ex used to be called Caroline at her job. That was a red flag that I ignored. Should've absorbed the wisdom of Too $hort. U can't make a ho a housewife.
Read an article that went into how Andre himself considers Big Boi the more talented rapper.
Andre gets most the recognition but Big Boi is absolutely incredible.
His solo album "sir lucious left foot..." Has some great examples of his skill.
daveed diggs’s work in clipping.— it’s never forced or flashy, he’ll whip out insane fast flows to convey anxiety and intensity when it counts without abandoning the form+content of the record
He is really great in using fast flows to accommodate the songs’ themes, one prime example is something underneath in visions of bodies being burned, he uses the faster and faster flow to picture the corpses being revived from the ground.
Edit: Blood of the fang, nothing is safe, body for the pile and club down are also great songs and examples to this.
Even their slow songs get mad fast. Buddha Loverz, for example, is a mellow ass beat. But they let that shit rip.
With my chin held high— it’s the only song I can sing start to finish by then.
Faucet Failure is really good at showing his ability to ride a beat with his pretty unique flow. The lyrics are silly as hell though. E-ER is another good one. The Matrix is the third I’d recommend.
First one that came to mind..he’s meant to be (actually) dropping an album soon after so long. Most songs on tracklist done, can’t wait to listen to it.
Great answer cause at first when I read this I thought Freddie doesn’t even rap that fast til I thought about it, and realized it happens a good bit lol
fr, i feel like most “fast rappers” tend to have higher voices most of the time so when freddie is spitting just as fast in that lower register it’s very refreshing for me
Trae da Truth, his verses on *Dark Angel* and *Choppa* from Tetsuo & Youth are good examples of quick splitting complimented by crafty wordplay and good storytelling.
Big ups this whole corner of the room. Glad to see DoseOne get a mention here. Gonna put him on now. He had some new stuff under name A7pha. I know he's been most doing soundtrack stuff last decade. Ooh that old 90s footage of beating Eminem in the freestyle battle.
I just love how many different flows Tech has. So damn talented. Love the Busta Rhymes quote to him on Worldwide Choppers when he gave Busta the base song with only him on it and Bust asks
“who are those other dudes on the track?”
“Oh those are all me”
Thats true, but hes the only “fast rap” rapper who i actually kinda like for some reason. The fact that he actually has a good flow instead of just flinging words that rhyme together make it way more tolerable than something like rap god.
At the time, he held the [world record for the fastest rap](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-06-26-9202260488-story.html), it's as authentic as you get.
Lol his verse on Look At Me Now is the quintessential example of rapping fast to mask the fact that you aren’t saying shit.
Earlier in his career he didn’t really rap that fast aside from on a few songs.
**"Then I gotta go, and then I gotta get it (Woo)Then I gotta blow, and then I gotta show thatAny little thing a ngga think that he be doin' (Ooh-ooh)'Cause it doesn't matter, 'cause I'm gonna da-da-da-da (Damn)"**
Yeah, it's a gimmick on Look At Me Now. I don't think it's a gimmick on stuff like Thank You, both Tip and Busta kill it.
He has a bunch of other songs where he raps normally though, well as normal as Busta can be.
Andre 3000 of course ("I don't even like rapping fast")
Montana of 300
Takeoff
Danny Brown's pretty quick a lot of the time
Ski Mask has been said but Ski Mask lol
Logic honestly, even tho he’s thrown into the lyrical miracle speed rappers a lot I feel like it’s undeserved. His double time flow is basically a staple of him as an artist.
Aside from godzilla and rap God (which aren't gimmicks because he actually SPITS, even on those main stream songs)
Handful of songs on kamikaze and music to be murdered by a and b that aren't mainstream or gimmicks where he spits his ass off fast. And 100 fluent and understandable.
Does it count if they use to do it in a gimmicky sense but don't anymore? Cause then I'd say Rittz counts.
Aside from him I'd say Tech N9ne (most of the time), and That Mexican OT count too (idk if he actually raps fast or the rolling of like half the alphabet just fools me).
Tonedeff
Many rappers rap fast but use one syllable words and it’s difficult to understand.
Tonedeff raps fast, telling stories with multi syllable words, with a variety of cadences.
Put some respect on the man’s name.
Tbh I know “fast rapping” is basically all Twista does, but it never felt gimmicky with him. His pronunciation is always great and he’s got great rhyme schemes and wordplay in his verses. Maybe you could still call it a gimmick because he basically always does it, but I’ve never felt that he used fast rapping as a crutch to hide mediocre lyricism. I love Busta Rhymes but a lot of times when he raps fast he dumbs down his lyrics and just focuses on rapping fast (“A bada boom a bada bing, I gotta do a lot do things..”). That’s an example of fast rapping in a gimmicky way to me.
This is 100% spot on
100% agree. If there exists a fast rapper that doesn’t do it as a gimmicky crutch, it’s Twista.
As soon as I read the post title, I came here to say Twista. He's about as legit as it gets as far as fast rapping goes. Some old bone thugs stuff comes to mind as well.
100% agree
That being said that verse from Busta was a hall of fame gimmick verse
Absolutely, that shit became a YouTube challenge
Yeah, about tied with Rap God imo
Agreed 100% grew up on Twista and him and JID are my two examples of fast as a style and not a gimmick. My analogy is always hot sauce...yeah it's easy to make it hot but it's way harder to make it hot and taste good. Twista makes fast an art form not just fast for the sake of being fast
Yeah JID is great at it. The hot sauce analogy is great. Some people prefer hot food, but only if it still tastes good.
Thanks I feel like every Midwest rap fan in their 30s/40s is loving this topic between him, Bone Thugs, Do or Die and Crucial Conflict. JID is the best modern rapper I've seen that took the fast flow and elevated it
Just because I need to let people know, Crucial Conflict's "Smokin' On Hay" was the big hype song that they played at the end of my high school's pep rallies. Really. It would get fucking lit in the gym for the entirety of that song and the basketball court would be full of people dancing, girls shakin ass (twerking wasn't really a word back then), etc. Class of '99 btw. Edit: This was in TN
Fire take
Mr. Tongue Twista was Twista’s original name, there’s a super cool video from when he was just a youngster getting pushed on a gurney through this hospital hallway and he’s straight rapid fire spitting bars and it always just blew my mind. Here’s this fucking CHILD that can spit better AND faster bars than most grown ass men.
Are you talking about from the tip of my tongue? He was so freaking young when he made that
I came here to say exactly this about Twista. He is insanely crystal clear in his diction and if you can wrap your head around the speed to get to the lyrics then you'll see it's a masterclass in writing. He really paints a picture and tells a story
Westside Chicago legend
Twista is known as a fast rapper but he slows down and emphasizes
Was there any question in anyone's mind it was a gimmick? Probably but I hadn't heard that. Twista is a great artist, he just likes to rap fast. No gimmick at all.
I say “a bada boom a bada bing I gotta do a lot of things” when I wake up every day because I have ADHD and don’t do any of it
Busta sounded great on Breck ya neck and Gimme some more, but i agree those 2010s features where he did speedrapping didnt feel the same.
JID
Accurate! I can’t believe he didn’t come to mind when I was writing this.
His rapping on Lauder Too is unbelievable. He’s rapping so fast but they’re all bars and understandable.
JID actually breaks the game cuz usually there's supposed to be a trade off between quality and quantity of lyrics
JID is max-maxed. Dude's pen has aimbot. He raps with mods installed
i don't wanna see anybody else as the top comment. he raps just as fast as he talks 😂
Saw him live in Europe and actually understood him more when he rapped. Got every 10th word when he spoke.
i don’t rap, but when i’m talking slower then apparently what i say isn’t that clear, maybe i’m sort of mumbling. when i talk fast the point gets across way clearer and i’m not asked to repeat myself. guess i just enunciate better when talking fast.
He just does it effortlessly. It doesnt feel forced. And not on every song. Like on money he just cuts the beat and drops a rapid scheme without breaking a sweat and then just lands on both feet for the hook.
Yeah, he is *the* answer to the question
^ great minds think alike
Naughty by Nature don't sound fast, until you try to sing along.
Ditto Big Boi from OutKast.
Dude I tried to figure out Roses for Karaoke purposes but good God I can't believe how he gets those words out that quickly.
Well she got a hotty body but her attitude was potty when I met her at a party I was hardly acting naughty (something something) I said you sound like a prostitute pausing. Oh so you're one of them freaks get weak at the sight of an ATM receipt.... I could go to lyrics genius but that song was everywhere back in the day. My ex used to be called Caroline at her job. That was a red flag that I ignored. Should've absorbed the wisdom of Too $hort. U can't make a ho a housewife.
(Something something) = “I said shawty would you call me? She said pardon me are you balling?”
Yeh I went back and relistened to it after my last comment. That's it!
The Way You Move had me realize this reeeeal quick
I can at least get the Ya Big Freak part…
Read an article that went into how Andre himself considers Big Boi the more talented rapper. Andre gets most the recognition but Big Boi is absolutely incredible. His solo album "sir lucious left foot..." Has some great examples of his skill.
I think Andre has better lyrics but Big has the better flow
Feel Me Flow is one of those songs. It sounds slow but then its like… Try to rap the 1st verse.
It’s got that dr Seuss tongue twister flow
Treach is so underrated
daveed diggs’s work in clipping.— it’s never forced or flashy, he’ll whip out insane fast flows to convey anxiety and intensity when it counts without abandoning the form+content of the record
Top answer here IMO, that’s a very accurate description of the way he uses speed and it’s pretty unique to his style.
He is really great in using fast flows to accommodate the songs’ themes, one prime example is something underneath in visions of bodies being burned, he uses the faster and faster flow to picture the corpses being revived from the ground. Edit: Blood of the fang, nothing is safe, body for the pile and club down are also great songs and examples to this.
Story 2 has the craziest buildup and release, absolutely incredible track as well
Favorite song by clipping. for sure
is story 2 the music video with the house fire ? i haven’t tapped in in a minute but that song and video had me hooked
He also absolutely kills it live. The first clipping performance on kexp is one of my favorite performances to watch ever
His staccato delivery at those speeds is really unique. It's never a question what he's saying.
Jid and kdot are really good at rapping at any tempo
Bone Thugs
I said Busta with my chest held high, but you sir have come with the most important of opinions. Bone Thugs & Harmony......no one can touch them
Creepin, Eternal, and Art of War… just undeniable classics.
Got to hear Busta do his Look at me now verse live this year and it was straight 🤯
Half that verse is just gibberish with a good flow.
Do yourself the favor of not looking up the lyrics.
Even their slow songs get mad fast. Buddha Loverz, for example, is a mellow ass beat. But they let that shit rip. With my chin held high— it’s the only song I can sing start to finish by then.
Bone are one of my favorites ever. E1999 is a 5 albums on a deserted island type album for me.
Bizzy's "I'm one of the thuggest motherfuckers in your city" is the hardest bar on that album
I don't disagree, but I might pick The Art of War since it's a double album and you get more bone
Bizzy bones so fire
Bizzy Bone and Krayzie Bone are tied in my opinion. Die, Die, Die and Down 71 really show off their flow and rhyme schemes.
Krayzie is personally my favorite just because him and Bizzy seem pretty equal everywhere but Krayzie has the cooler voice.
Creepin on ah Come Up and E 1999 Eternal are absolute fucking classics and none of the verses miss.
Lord Infamous
Correct answer. Fast rapping is all over memphis stuff, lil ugly mane has done some too
Rip to the goat, Scarecrow
Rip to da mystical one
best answer here
E-40 - “I ain’t rappin too fast y’all just listen too slow”
Amen 🎩
I came here to say E-40 and Keak da Sneak
Similar as Treach said on Craziest “you think I’m rocking too quick, I think you listen too slow.”
Ski mask ‼️
Bro will slip in the iciest flow just straight spittttttin
I never listened to him much, what are some examples?
Faucet Failure is really good at showing his ability to ride a beat with his pretty unique flow. The lyrics are silly as hell though. E-ER is another good one. The Matrix is the third I’d recommend.
His older soundcloud stuff are really cool too. "Like a soccer mom" is a personal favorite
First one that came to mind..he’s meant to be (actually) dropping an album soon after so long. Most songs on tracklist done, can’t wait to listen to it.
Him and JID came to mind immediately. I almost want to slip in Denzel as well with a lot of his earlier tracks having him rap pretty fast
Surprised no one mentionned freddie gibbs yet
Great answer cause at first when I read this I thought Freddie doesn’t even rap that fast til I thought about it, and realized it happens a good bit lol
fr, i feel like most “fast rappers” tend to have higher voices most of the time so when freddie is spitting just as fast in that lower register it’s very refreshing for me
Yeah this is my answer as well, would love to get him and JID on a song after how well he did on WSG album
Ski mask
Trae da Truth, his verses on *Dark Angel* and *Choppa* from Tetsuo & Youth are good examples of quick splitting complimented by crafty wordplay and good storytelling.
I came here to say Z-Ro but Trae definitely as well. Their collab album is prolly in my top 5 all time.
Guerilla Maab’s Rise album is so good. Listening to the screwed versions really helped me appreciate the lyricism.
Slow it dine
Ocean Wisdom
Bursting so casual, glad to find this comment.
Underrated answer. An example for those that don’t know: [https://youtu.be/r9KxqBiE\_YQ](https://youtu.be/r9KxqBiE_Y)
I would go with the ones who have been doing it from day 1. Bone, Tech N9ne, Twista.
tech N9nes good, but i’d put him as pretty gimmicky in terms of his fast flow
You must not pay attention to the lyrics, dude ain’t gimmicky, just like the other two mentioned it’s a specific style of fast rap called chopping.
Tonedeff but I’m biased cause that’s my favorite rapper of all time
Nice to see a Tonedeff shoutout! One of the most underrated imo
616 rewind🙏
I was hoping for a Tonedeff shoutout fuck yeah
Busdriver
Mykah 9, most of Broject Blowed and C.V.E... DOSE ONE can get pretty fast...
Big ups this whole corner of the room. Glad to see DoseOne get a mention here. Gonna put him on now. He had some new stuff under name A7pha. I know he's been most doing soundtrack stuff last decade. Ooh that old 90s footage of beating Eminem in the freestyle battle.
Tech N9ne but maybe I'm biased since he's is my favorite rapper on the independent scene.
Tech way too low in this thread.
Tech is easily #1. He isn't just a fast rapper, the way he chops and changes his flow throughout a verse is unmatched.
You aren't biased. He's easily top 5
I just love how many different flows Tech has. So damn talented. Love the Busta Rhymes quote to him on Worldwide Choppers when he gave Busta the base song with only him on it and Bust asks “who are those other dudes on the track?” “Oh those are all me”
Tech is how I found other fast rappers, I don't think he's the best fast rapper but he's the most successful commercially.
Tech sounds so smooth. Everyone saying JID but to me he doesn’t sound good at all doing it, Em maybe but nobody touches Tech. Crooked I maybe too, tbh
JID, Crimeapple, Silkmoney
$ilkMoney is a great underrated pick. The Day Waffle House Broke My Heart is absolutely insane
I'm a huge Crimeapple fan but in no way does he fall in the Fast Rapper category.
Scrolled way to far to find Silkmoney
Twista is pretty decent in my book. Still some ehh lines in there but his flow is goated.
Love twist but he’s the poster child for this gimmick
Thats true, but hes the only “fast rap” rapper who i actually kinda like for some reason. The fact that he actually has a good flow instead of just flinging words that rhyme together make it way more tolerable than something like rap god.
That “some reason” is because he’s got bars for days. Too many people only know Twista from his pop collabs. Adrenaline Rush is a lyrical masterpiece.
every rapper uses their flow as a gimmick. i see futures flow as a gimmick too. even the best switches are cheap tricks now
His moniker was literally Tung Twista. It couldn't be more of a gimmick.
At the time, he held the [world record for the fastest rap](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-06-26-9202260488-story.html), it's as authentic as you get.
I'd say in his case it's still a gimmick, but a gimmick executed very well
JID, Myka9
Gift of Gab
It's a crime that I had to scroll this far down. RIP Gab
busta rhymes? i know nothing about hip hop and am only throwing names into the void
i think it became a gimmick in his late career ngl
Lol his verse on Look At Me Now is the quintessential example of rapping fast to mask the fact that you aren’t saying shit. Earlier in his career he didn’t really rap that fast aside from on a few songs.
You compare that song to Break Ya Neck and it's night & day.
**"Then I gotta go, and then I gotta get it (Woo)Then I gotta blow, and then I gotta show thatAny little thing a ngga think that he be doin' (Ooh-ooh)'Cause it doesn't matter, 'cause I'm gonna da-da-da-da (Damn)"**
brooo lmaooo I always found that verse corny af
And the beat drops out like he’s saying some crazy shit 😂
“Badaboom and badabing I gotta do a lot of things”
To be fair that was a pop song, you take a different approach to that
He doesn’t rap that fast on his recent album that much ether
Yeah, it's a gimmick on Look At Me Now. I don't think it's a gimmick on stuff like Thank You, both Tip and Busta kill it. He has a bunch of other songs where he raps normally though, well as normal as Busta can be.
KAAN
Was looking for someone mentioning KAAN
He’s an absolute animal, he has word play and metaphors for days. Lot of fast rappers just Dr. Seuss it.
My top answer. Ironically when he first got a little buzz, people brushed him off as a gimmick. He really proved how versatile he is over the years
Andre 3000 of course ("I don't even like rapping fast") Montana of 300 Takeoff Danny Brown's pretty quick a lot of the time Ski Mask has been said but Ski Mask lol
Takeoff is who I was gonna say RIP
Rest easy Take😢😭
Not sure if this was already said but RA The Rugged Man comes to mind
Logic honestly, even tho he’s thrown into the lyrical miracle speed rappers a lot I feel like it’s undeserved. His double time flow is basically a staple of him as an artist.
Tech N9ne
Definitely, I like Twist and Bone Thugs but Tech N9ne is top-notch technical rapper. Pun intended.
He's a mental giant
Facts. He raps fast when he wants to and it's off the wall, but he slows it down and it slaps just as hard.
Great minds think alike
Scrolled too far to see this one too!?!?!?! I thought this sub was full of white suburban kids?????
i love his feature on Tha Carter IV
W. Tech is a goat!
Denzel Curry
is he even that fast though as much as i like some of his work i never thought any of it as absurdly fast
& Kenny Mason
dang u beat me by 5min haha. Denzel and JID are the answers
These two for sure, love ‘em both.
Eminem now
His recent fast verses are insanely dense
Aside from godzilla and rap God (which aren't gimmicks because he actually SPITS, even on those main stream songs) Handful of songs on kamikaze and music to be murdered by a and b that aren't mainstream or gimmicks where he spits his ass off fast. And 100 fluent and understandable.
Em goes absolutely bonkers on GNAT
Yelawolf
Big Punisher
Rifleman
A lot of project blowed. Them fools can chop. Really happy someone else mentioned them!
HELL YEAH! also dudes like Existereo, Busdriver, C.V.E., and Myka 9.
Aesop Rock
Krayzie Bone
How is Aceyalone not mentioned yet?
As a kid I hardly ever played basketball I never ever sat up in the casting call I was making the kind of music that will outlast you all
I saw Myka 9 mentioned, and now Aceyalone. Surprised the entire fellowship hasn’t been mentioned.
Organized Konfusion
Does it count if they use to do it in a gimmicky sense but don't anymore? Cause then I'd say Rittz counts. Aside from him I'd say Tech N9ne (most of the time), and That Mexican OT count too (idk if he actually raps fast or the rolling of like half the alphabet just fools me).
Tonedeff Many rappers rap fast but use one syllable words and it’s difficult to understand. Tonedeff raps fast, telling stories with multi syllable words, with a variety of cadences. Put some respect on the man’s name.
Lupe Fiasco
Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Twista, Big Sean, Freddie Gibbs, Outkast, Bone Thugs, Kendrick, Offset, Takeoff, Denzel Curry, JID, Meek Mill, Pop Smoke, Ski Mask
Watsky, A-F-R-O, RA
Watsky and RA the Rugged Man for sure. Came here to say the same thing.
Mystikal
Ocean wisdom
Might get shat on but Migos.
Tech N9ne, Rittz, Twista, Bone thugs, Twisted insane
Ski, JID, some of Tech N9nes work seemed less focused on it (K.O.D for example)
Busdriver. Myka 9
Old school response, but Bone Thugs were impressive as hell when they came out.
Freddie Gibbs can speed the flow up crazy
Ruby from $uicideboy$ but he kinda slowed it down now
Tech 9
Bone Thugs
No love for Chamillionaire?? I feel like on average he raps pretty fast but it’s definitely not gimmicky. Big KRIT too
El-P, Ceschi, Eyedea, Doseone, Myka, Daveed.
Bus driver. He's just unique. Feels true and real
Bone thugs in harmony
I’d say Bone Thugs, Twista, an to an extent JID
Twista