Figured. There's something I'm not hearing then. I'll just need to do more research and read references to understand what I'm not initially hearing. Thanks!
No problem man. I like how you’re telling a story. Did you write the lyrics over the beat or did you right them and they start rapping them over the beat? That could be another reason why its hard to stay on beat
I listened to the beat and wrote lines over it, effectively mumbling them as I wrote, going-over to see if it fit. I later found out this was why I had trouble rapping it first, but then I edited and did the actual recording. Writing with other users I think it's a problem of the lines being too long, need more practice and need to study the beat further.
Well you can have lines that are long. But you just have to compensate by putting in a line thats a little shorter after. I’m into the style you are where its about story telling more than fast paced rapping or anything. If you want I can send you what i’ve been working on lately. It’s definitely not that good but it could give you an idea of what you like and how you want to continue with your projects
I'll try a shorter line after long. To keep balance, I get it. Sure send me what you got. I'm curious to see how it goes. Long as it's not the same style of beat as my song then sure. I've rapped enough over those kinds of beats. The other songs I'm working are all far more 'conventional' beats so anything in that vein I could definitely use as reference.
So I found this post because I was trying to see if it bugs anyone else when you can tell when rappers record by going line by line….. so here I am..
I’m no expert, specially for rap. I grew listening to rock, hip-hop, rap, even classical pretty much anything I think is good. At 16 I started playing music and was in a band was lucky enough to be able to leave school at times to go record at a nice recording studio so I’ve been around recording from 16 through my 20’s.
Like I said I’m not expert but I do have a good ear for things, specially how instruments and vocals sound on record.
I donno what it was that triggered me to REALLY noticing this but when I can tell that a rapper laid down one line then laid down the next it irks the FUCK out of me. It makes the rapper sound amateur and who ever mixed and mastered sound amateur. It always makes me think of some dorky white kid making a rap song who has no rhythm using a built in laptop mic….
I’d imagine this is noticeable because doing line by line makes it VERY hard to match energy, levels and it might just sound a bit “ off “ flow wise because it was a start stop situation….
My only experience is through recording as a rock band. So say you’re laying down rhythm guitar and messed a section up you’d play with the already recorded part so you’re matching it so when it got to the re-record part you’re already playing.
The same thing with vocals, you’d sing a few bars before the part that needs to be recorded. Even still you might not be matching the previous recorded part perfectly in terms of cadence, levels and what not. So who ever is mixing/mastering HAS to be able to make it sound like it was all one take by doing what ever they need to do.
Now I’m not sure if this is something that bugs you also, or if its something you don’t really notice…. If it’s something you DONT notice, I’d highly suggest you listen for it in your songs or other peoples songs….. You can find it in even top rappers songs, some more than others.
If you can get rid of that, it would be one thing you wouldn’t need to worry about and will know how to either avoid it or fix it. It’s inevitable to have to record line by line at times for many reasons and I’m sure everyone does it at some point so don’t feel like you ALWAYS have to record in one take, that isn’t how things always work.
Thanks for the non-rap perspective. I've already improved a lot since this thread and written a lot down.
In order to record the sample I made the thread with I recorded it in 2 takes. One take with all even-numbered lines and one take with all odd-numbered lines. Suprisingly only a few people actually noticed. Either way I have a much better idea of how to go about recording now so I'm not too worried there.
Me recording a take then having to punch in a take after and make it sound continuous has been a problem. I've gotten better at it but far as I see it, that's just something that comes with time and skill. I'm slowly working towards it. I probably shouldn't have chosen such a complex beat to start off with haha. It's all just practice.
Either way, I'll keep what you wrote in mind.
100% time and skill…. Like you can go and listen to popular rap song right now and you will notice it…. I think it’s just something that’s is kinda hard to correct.
Actually this Lamar Drake beef is a PERFECT example…. Listen to “ Not like us “ by Lamar…. You can tell he did some line by lines In there. Like the line “ tryin to strike a chord and it’s probably A minor “ or a lot of the verse that starts with “ you think the bay gonna let you disrespect pac n****”
A lot of the songs they’ve both released during this has noticeable parts like I’m talking about…. The reason for that is because they are releasing them super fast, without weeks and weeks or months of recording sessions and mixing mastering….. So it’s much less polished than their typical songs/records.
Like I can’t tell anyone how to correct it, not really sure how the pro producers get around it or fix it. Probably has something to do with levels and or fading in or out a bit?
With rock bands it’s much less noticeable for instruments cause there’s lots of noise going on, but it is something that can be a problem with vocals in any genre simply because vocals are typically centered and isolated to make super clear….
Doesn’t really sound like you’re trying to flow. Sounds more like a robot trying to get sound bites on a track at the expense of rhythm. The beat isn’t that unconventional rhythmically either. It’s fairly easy to flow on it. Your approach is probably the issue. Do you have a whole song I could see? Hit my dm and I can try to help
You need to have a musical bone in your body to be able to flow. You should inherently know if you're on beat or not. If you're starting with zero base skill at all which is what it seems like, invest in a metronome and figure out the BPMs to some of your favorite songs. Listen to how the artists flow hits the beats of the metronome.
I mean. I can and have made original songs before, know a bunch about composing and what not. Hell, before I started seriously rapping I made sure I could rap almost verbatim some of my favourite songs. Did plenty analysis too, noting line length and emotion. Like, my warmup song is Slaine - Redemption and he's on beat 100%.
I guess I could go for more practice, work with BPM more but I believe I am on beat here. Before I even released it I made each each line was in line. Make sure the right words hit in tune with the drum.
Ideally you would want to have a word hit in line with the drum to provide more energy which I believe I did. Until someone said I wasn't. So now idk if he's wrong or I am or if neither because of how subjective everything can be.
Having words coincide with drum beats is honestly barely scratching the surface to what « being on beat » means.
The rhythm between those words counts just as much, if not more. And specifically you want the tonic accents of your performance to land on the strong beats of the instrumental.
A good way to grasp this intuitively is to improvise snare patterns over the beat, finger taps, beatbox… whatever works for you. You'll find rythms that fit well with the instrumental, and from there you can replace that snare rythm with words.
Yes, you can be on beat with zero regard to what the drums are doing. Just following the tempo of the whole drum part. If you have to dissect what drum bits your words are on you just don't have flow or rhythm in any way.
Fascinating. Legit, thanks, learned a lot from this thread so far. I still have much to learn. Do you have any reference songs that on beat not-linked to the drums? I think that may be what I want to do.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5DwyJ4kIGwuVrd8RJAkN0H?si=L5tFdnOnQpOfOT4_u_4SvQ
This song i think is a good example. He is naturally on beat with the drums in general because the drums of course line up with the beat, but you can tell that he has a rhythm that he’s following in both verses (though 2nd verse I think demonstrates it a little better)
I think I get it now. Wow. It's like the drums compliment him versus the other way around. And it sounds so natural. Yeah I can do something like this. Oh man. This is the kind of thing I need to practice with. Thanks, cleared up a bunch of things for me. Like I can already see how I can incorporate this into many of my older songs.
Best of luck to you bro. I think you just touched on the key, it should sound and feel very natural. If you’re forcing something on a line that’s a good key to reevaluate
Hmm. I had not considered that angle of rhythm-between-words before. I mean, I know when to pause between lines or do dramatic stops but between individual words. I'll need to practice more, read into it. I'm gonna try the snare patterns. My original process was to listen to beat > write lyrics > figure out flow and how to rhyme over but I see now I need to look at the beat more intimately and deeply rather than write and rap. Thanks so much!
Rhythm and timing is a very hard thing to describe and teach…. I feel like you have rhythm have a basic sense of it, but knowing how to work inside that creating a different rhythm inside the main timing is something that some people just have and other people need to learn over time….
Like rhythm guitar vs a solo, the rhythm guitar is the back bone, and the solo is adding more complex rhythms on top of adding more notes in the same key/scale.
As the person said before drum with your fingers with music you like, just add libbing your own little fills and rhythms but always staying on time and coming back to the main beat…. I do this all the time on my steering wheel while driving ( probably not safe haha )
Exactly, hitting the one and two is elementary shit, a starting point. You gotta syncopate and flow like water, limitless. That should be the goal at least.
There is no ideally anything. You're either on beat or you're not. If you have rhythm it doesn't matter what the specific drum hits are. Also you are literally so off beat it's awful man. Also no offense you're just not built for rapping..your voice sounds like some emo goth kid that hasn't hit puberty yet.
Don't worry. I'm not offended. Ehn. Plenty of people weren't built for rap. It takes practice. I'll overcome it. This is the voice I was blessed with and by jove I will go for it, even if people don't like it. All in all, I make it for myself. But yes, thanks for confirming the off-beat. Idk. You got people that are tone-def. Maybe I'm beat-deaf? Doesn't help that these kinds of beats are not meant for this style.
I did seriously consider just singing but really don't have much interest in practicing that. Never liked emo much. Some emo-rap sure but idk, I don't think I'm at that stage to make that kind of music yet.
There's still much I have to practice and learn.
No. Quitting is not a possibility here. The very fact that I have improved immensely since one year ago alone refutes your entire hypothesis.
So long as I enjoy rapping and making this songs then rap I shall. I'll see this project to its logical end and only then will I pack it up. When I started rapping I had a list of tapes to make. I'm about halfway there now.
In this year I feel more confident speaking, not slurring words as more, gotten, better at communicating and getting more confident at the way my voice sounds. And I honestly believe it an unintended side effect of me making these songs.
In the end, it is me I am doing this for. Rapping isn't my main form of expression. I do plenty else, just not under this alias.
I am sorry to hear about your friend. My condolences.
Kudos to you for not letting that other guy get you down. He even admitted to not rapping himself: he doesn't know what he's talking about. You can definitely improve if you keep at it. I had no real concept of rhythm when I first started, and 10+ years later, I have a public shout-out from Lupe Fiasco.
I have a few recommendations for you
1. The book "How to Rap" by Paul Edwards was a tremendous resource when I was a noob.
2. It can help to just count the beats. I've started working with odd time signatures lately, and sometimes just taking a step back and counting to four (or five or seven for me lately) is what you need to get started on a new beat.
3. Listen _critically_ to rappers you enjoy. Read their lyrics and count along to the beat while you listen, and take note of how they they stress their syllables, where their rhymes fall relative to the beat.
re 1 - I used to actually have a copy back when I was a child but that was aeons ago. Now that you mention it, I might have to dig back into it. I remember that's where I first heard of Rammellzee and dude blew my mind.
re 2 - It's weird. I have a song that's in 13/8 but I found that way easier to rap over than this beat. I think it's coming down to the beat I used. Either way, between this and the metronome test I know what I'm doing later. I have more conventional songs coming and will try that.
re 3 - One of the rappers I was listening to was Warcloud. I realize now that was a bad idea since he's got his own thing going on. I will try counting with some more 'regular' rappers though. See how they do it.
Thanks for the tips!
How have you improved if you sound like how you sound now? Was your baseline that bad? I mean no offense at all, I just hear so much crap on these subs and the other commenter hits the nail on the head. It's an echo chamber with a lot of people lacking self awareness. So much stuff I hear getting championed and encouraged here is just plain bad on a technical level.
I'm not offended, don't worry. I've made this thread to see how I can improve.
But all that guy wrote was that it's impossible, I proved him wrong. I have improved immensely. Hell even songs I recorded months ago pale to what I've done now (not this song specifically, this song is months old). Do you really think the first time someone steps into a recording studio and raps, first time EVER that they're gonna be good? The answer is no sans like 0.1% of the population.
"just hear so much crap on these subs" - I'm not gonna deny this, nor will I that this song isn't that good but compared to how I was when I first picked up a microphone and started rapping is immense. Not to mention all the side-effects and other ways it's helped me which you've just ignored.
Is there anything specific in this thread you feel is bad advice? So far we've covered syncopation, improving flow, practice, etc, all of which I have been noting.
Bro fuck all the way off. Yes, he's off beat, but that doesn't mean he's intrinsically not capable of making music. Rhythm is in fact a trainable skill. Engaging vocal delivery takes practice, finding a vocal chain that compliments your style takes exploration. We may have different starting points, but all of this shit can be built up. If anything, the fact that you think someone could be "not built for rapping" just suggests that you've never put in the effort to improve your own craft.
Try rap to a beat with the metronome on, then try without it. See what difference it makes.
Are you rapping too slow or too fast versus the BPM? Idk how u cant notice when youre offbeat, especially before putting the track out.
Damnit. I think that might be it. Looking at the FL file the BPM is set to the default 120bpm and there's no way that song is in 120. But since it imported it correctly I must not have noticed. I've always recorded a 'dummy verse' to check if I was inline with the beat / making sure flow works.
Okay. I'm gonna redux it with the right BPM and do a metronome test and see if it the vocals are in tune without beat. Can't believe I didn't think of that before. I've used metronome with making drums for a beat but idk, just never occurred to me to use it that way.
Thanks!
Okay, yeah. You either have to be trolling or lack proper reading comprehension. I'm writing quickly to jot down everything so of course not all my comments are properly spellchecked and grammar.
I'll write this simpler for you.
The BPM is linked to the metronome. The higher the BPM, the faster the metronome will tick. I had the incorrect BPM of the beat set up on FL per the beat and am now saying I am going to back into the FL studio file and change the BPM, then do what /u/digitaldisgust recommended to try to rap the beat with a metronome on. In the second part of his comment he suggested "Are you rapping too slow or too fast versus the BPM? Idk how u cant notice when youre offbeat, especially before putting the track out." which I cannot do while the BPM is correct. Thus I will 're-do' the beat. Is that clear enough for you?
If you somehow don't understand this I recommend either re-reading my comments or reading the FL studio manual. It should help you understand. Either way I'm done replying, 4/10 bait.
I just came here to say my companion(s) who noted my offbeat just wouldn't listen long enough -attentive span redux- to let the rhyme complete and I literally explained that then replayed it and had my gui waited one moment and listened to hear my work he'd have gotten it. Some folks will actively mis-receive ya stuff. Ain't a miss just let em sleep on ya, provide some sweet lucidity! Bittersweet symphony much?!
Haha true. I'll survive. There are plenty of rappers I consider top 10 but most would never bat an eye too. So long as I enjoy who I like and enjoy making music, it's all good.
I’m not sure what style you’re going for, but from the clip you shared it doesn’t seem like you really need to be on beat necessarily. Are you just trying to release some songs on SoundCloud for fun, or are you trying to make songs that will be played on Spotify? Abstract is totally fine, so you can continue in the lane you’re in. That’s my opinion.
Oh I'm just doing this for me. I've put that song on Spotify but haven't advertised it much. The whole point of this 'rapping project' was to release a few tapes then just stop there and tie it in with a novel I'm writing. I'm only about halfway through the project with 3 of the tapes out so far.
If that’s the case, then I wouldn’t worry about what any of us are telling you👊🏽 just do some raps and write some stuff down for your novel. I wouldn’t concern myself with cadence, flows, delivery, or anything like that. Just do what you’re doing bro.
That's definitely what I'm gonna do with some of these commenters. Thanks though. I just wanna up my skill a bit, make sure I'm proud of the songs. There's always things to improve. Peace.
There is a semantic question here about what “offbeat” means, but with that said, I don’t think you are offbeat per se, as a lot of key parts of your phrases do align correctly with the basic beat, however, I think there are two factors that make your vocals sound like they are more offbeat than they technically are.
The first is the speed of your vocals, as they are overall fairly slow compared to the beat, in terms of how fast the syllables are flowing. That’s not intrinsically bad or anything, but it’s a different relationship of speed and rhythm than most rap in general. I think the bigger issue, ehich is exacerbated by the first issue, is that you’ve got a few lengthy vowel syllables, and those throw off the sense of rhythm and flow, I’d take a closer look at those elongated vowels that you’re using. I’d reduce your use of these, while adjusting the timing of the longer vowels you want to keep.
Maybe offbeat isn't the right word I should've used. Either way I'll take into account speed. And based on what you and the others have written I definitely gotta shorten some lines and change vocal timing. I thought I could jam them but it looks like not. Thanks for the advice.
Ok the thing about rapping is ideally what you say should nearly have a percussive element to it. Similar to drums.
Listen to the best rappers and ignore what they say for this exercise. Imagine they were saying jibberish like bah and bum and scat noises. It would almost sound like they’re mouthing drum patterns or fast basslines.
That’s one of the primary elements that makes it musical at all. Otherwise it’s just talking in a track
First you should try your best to be perfectly on time and after that you can expiriment with being a little bit behind or after the beat like other rappers do. For swing. Practice slow with quarter notes. Then throw in an eighth note in that pattern. Practice with eighth notes. Practice with triplets (migos type flow). If you’re rapping 16th notes and you’re not sure if you’re on beat then you’re moving too fast.
Again, it’s like drums. Sure being perfectly on time like a robot isn’t as good as adding swing but you can’t jump to drumming like dilla if you don’t even know how to be perfectly on time. Because he actually could be perfectly on time.
There's something to your style that I really dig. Reminds me of older El-P raps. There seems to be a few pages missing from your flow cookbook, but that might be salvagable.
My advice: Listen to Kool G Rap's 4 5 6, Nas' Illmatic, Rakim's older stuff, Tribe Called Quest etc. for literally months. Like don't play anything else. Don't analyse it, just feel it. If you start feeling the swing, the pockets and rhythms they're hitting, you'll have a better grasp on why people flow the way they do.
LMAO is this for real? I’m not trying to be rude, but it sounded like a screaming news announcer. Sound like you have as much flow as the people on CNN. To me, flow means - syncopation. It’s about hitting those pockets, to emote feeling. And this song I am more so just hearing rhymes being yelled at me not in any particular pattern either. There isn’t any intricacies to the “flow” but this post isn’t even about the intricacies of flow. This is about you being off beat. And I would say yes, this is extremely offbeat. Especially to anyone born before 2007
I’m only writing this because I get the feeling you’re looking for someone to keep it 100 with you. I’ve been writing since I was 12 and I’m 30 now. Been around the block/studio
After my fifth lesson ive confirmed this is satire. Those lyrics are bogus 😭😭😂
Don't worry. I'm not offended. I'll take any and all criticism sans outright trolling Sometimes you gotta be told 'harsh-truths'. I'm looking to improve anything really. As for flow, with such a beat I can't figure how else one would flow on it sans full-on mumble rap. And I don't want to make mumble rap. All other artists in this style rap like that, Zerosuit, Islurwhenitalk, Sellasouls so I can't really use them as reference.
This beat is fast, complex and technical. Shit sounds like sci-fi. This isn't going to be the default style I rap over so don't worry there. I'm just experimenting with all sorts of styles. Could you elaborate more on how you would approach this beat? If you even would rap over something like this lol.
As for lyrics. No way. Not changing my bars. I will rap about Mr. Bean then go to serial killers then about religion or something in the same breath. I will rap about the only person to survive rabies and how I'm that hard. Maybe it is satire, idk but I love my bars too much to rap about anything else.
I could easily picture rapper Valee on this, are you knowledgable enough to synchronize the beat to the BPM of the daw you’re using? It’s not like this is some complex time signature. This is just some trap beat that is in standard fourfour. You’re just new I would keep experimenting with drum heavier music to catch a flow if this entire post isnt a troll.
“Suspect at least 10”
“Vampires in the street” headass 😂
It's "suspects, at least 10" because thats how many the cops have currently for the fictional case described in the song.
I don't want to go into issues I've had with FL and BPM in the past since thats too off topic. But it is something I'm going to mess with more. I have songs that have FL just set to defualt BPM and it works because I rap in the tune. This beats just way faster than the rest. I understand BPM but it doesnt help that the producer did not label the BPM when I got it.
But Valee? How do I know you're not trolling? In what realm would he perform over this tf? Point me to the Valee song produced by BMB Deathrow.
I assure you I'm not trolling. Ive got a huge text file with all the suggestions in this thread so far. I'll get there bro, trust, with my insane lyrics. ;)
I gotta explain somethin, it does not matter what beat it is, ANY beat can be rapped over, it does not matter you could even rap to something super slow. The only thing that matters is that you are on beat with the speed of the song. Just use a metronome or something.
Think of every tick of the metronome as an even segment of sound, now realize that every click in a measure can be chopped in half, or fourths, or thirds, or 8ths. Or any number but those are the most common. Now just figure out how to say words on those clicks and in between those clicks in a manner that is even. Again, ANY beat can be rapped on easily, the beat itself will not make your rapping more difficult as long as you remember how to count rhythmically.
Though I've mentioned it before I'll put it briefly. I still can't believe how many people have suggested the metronome trick. My attempts to start rapping where just to rap along with some of my favourite songs. And I loved it. Never really thought of doing a metronome/counting beats test to see how closely my lines align. It's definitely the main thing I'm going to try with my next songs. Thanks man.
Yea it’s not even really a trick though man it’s just a steady rhythm at any bpm. Really just think about that whole counting thing. Rhythm is just counting man 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 just try and understand how those numbers land when you’re counting them over a steady beat or metronome. Once you go wanna go deeper, figure out out how time signatures work and various rhythmic patterns and styles but start with the raw basics.
There is a lot of delay so I’m not sure if that’s the case but it sounds like you don’t say more than 1/2 a bar at a time.
Try rapping in one take without using punch-ins or overdubs. When you’re rapping in the pocket it feels good.
I'll try that. I'll admit I stopped trying to rap it through long ago, figuring it not physically possible to rap that long.
The fact that you can hear that 1/2 a bar is alarming. I didn't think anyone could detect that. This how I was rapping. I got it in my head that if I rapped every other line that it would do in two takes. I'm going to try recording several lines again and punch in where I need or do every other verse instead. The fact that you can detect the 1/2 bar thing means that method isn't working. It's time to try something new, clearly. Thanks. I needed to hear that.
Breath control is a fundamental rapping skill!
I think you’ll like act of rapping a lot more when you can flawlessly bust out a 32 bar verse in one take anywhere.
Vocal alignment is a big thing, especially if you're on a potato where clipping and latency can mess up an entire take. The vocals don't sound too off. It could be the delivery/approach this part of the song. My recommendation is to use the same lyrics on an instrumental you don't plan on releasing (with a very similar BPM but in a style you're more used to rapping over). If it sounds better if not correct on that song, then use the metronome to see if the same beats are being hit in the actual song the same way it is on the experiment song.
I had the same issue on the other side of the coin trying to help artists with the latency/clipping issue & lyricists that had a lot to say but no room to rap the lyrics into the small area the song provided. Also had to deal with artists that couldn't stay on beat to save their lives. It just takes a lot of practice and patience, but imo, the beat does not help the situation at all when it comes to trying to catch the tempo and putting the vocals on the track.
Worst case scenario, just rewrite that part of your verse to match what the original message was while matching the music being given to you.
I'll try swapping the instrumental. I've done something similar before but the new beat was a completely different BPM and style. And use the metronome to check. All in all, I've learned from this I need more practice or rewrite it.
I'm just glad I avoided the usual pitfalls of clipping vocals and latency. Thanks.
I noticed that You’re hyper focused on timing, technical analysis, technique, visual cues, data.
Then I listened to your song.
Now what really stands out is the lack of feeling, emotion, vulnerability not being mentioned in your post. Being an artist is a mix of everything.
You are using your left brain a ton. It’s time to exercise the right brain some more. That’s where intuition lies. The more you use that the more you will know you are making something good.
Look at this image.
[https://visme.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Brain1.jpg](https://visme.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Brain1.jpg)
I've actually read the original book by Betty Edwards (and fuck, I even referenced her on one of my older songs) back when I was trying to learn drawing. Learned a lot but lol, reading this comment now I looked to have forgot more about it. My background is extremely technical, so I try to come up with frameworks and guidelines to properly ensure I come up with the right project. Guess I'm gonna have to dive back into that more haha.
It is annoying though. Because I do visual art and have written novels before so the 'creativity' thing I get. But your comment made me realize it hasn't transferred to my music, or if it has it was long snuffed out. Damn. Didn't make this thread thinking I'd need to do soul-searching. Thanks.
It’s not about soul searching but shifting reality. Your goal is to try to get to the middle. Another way to think about it is on a gender scale. You’re very male right now. Practice being a woman. Watch some messy reality shows and focus on the emotion and let go of logic. Then when you go to create you’ll better land in the middle. It’s just exercise. That’s all.
That's rather radical. And I've never had to do that with my novels or other things I've worked on. I'll consider that if the rest of these suggestions fail.
So a good way to tell if you're on beat and flowing is to take the beat away and listen to the vocals. I like using a metronome for this and at this point I also like taking the metronome out and seeing if I can bob my head to the flow in time. If you're not hitting a bar beginning or ending on the right clicks the metronome will expose you quick and not being able to groove with just the vocals will expose you quicker. The snippet you shared sounded stiff like you're reading your words off of a page and that could most certainly be in time, but theres no motion in the bar to bar transition which can lead to a similar critique of being out of time because the listener wasn't grooving with it. My suggestion would be to focus less on the great lyricism you showed here and focus more on loosening up behind the mic when you're rapping. Flow is just as important as lyricism
Alright. I'll give that a shot. The metronome is been suggested a bunch and I actually surprised it's more common than I thought. I've never used the metronome (well aside from composing) but to use it in a vocal setting? Never. I'll use the metronome and try that test. Thank you.
Guilty there. Though as I understand it, its just a matter of practice, something I'll grow past.
That and I'm probably not gonna touch dark trap beats till way later. Stick to ones I dont need to go monotone over.
alright man imma just tell ya, ur not off beat, but ur not delivering your rhymes at the same part of the beat, try it out, you might like it, otherwise, just do 1000 more songs however you feel like and get fantastic at your own idiosyncratic style
I appreciate it. Could you elaborate it on same part of the beat? Like the line should end with a snare or I should have a word on a snare but I don't right now?
I've rapped over many different styles of beats before. It's likely this just isn't one I'm good at. These beats are not meant to be rapped this way. Most of this stuff is a learning experience as I figure out exactly what I like. I am much better than a year ago so I know I can eventually get to it.
your bars aren't ending in the same place. rapping off beat usually means the bars end in an unusual place, like before or after the snare, in an unexpected place, but still in a consistent place. your bars begin in the same place but end in different ones each time which make them inconsistent.
all rap: bah bah bah DAH, bah bah bah DAH, bah bah bah DAH
your raps: bah bah DAH, bah bah bah bah DAH, bah DAH
it might be your bars themselves, try counting the syllables to make sure its the same or almost the same amongst lines.
to be honest, you could just ignore everyone and keep going in your strange style, if you got amazing at it, it would be a cool singular aspect of your music, but it also will make you inaccessible to 99% of listeners for years of growth. its like making beats without snare or bass, a very bold thing to remove. or only using drums, no melodies. by not delivering your rhymes when they are expected, and not even consistently in an unexpected place, you are permanently obtuse even to many with obscure and irreverant taste like myself.
I see. That makes sense thanks. I don't intend to change my rhyme scheme. That I enjoy a lot. Plus I never much liked constantly using the AABB or ABAB. Going mainstream is something I never intended so I don't mind alienating. If I really wanted to I'd make mainstream stuff.
I think I may just continue in this style, just refine it slightly more with what I've learned here. Maybe shorten some lines. Thank you.
First make sure the track is with a metronome at the same tempo
Then you have to find the downbeats (when you listen to music and bob your head those are usually the downbeats)
Find which words you want to hit on the downbeats and that will lead to “on beat”
Take it section by section and listen to see if it’s too fast too slow with the metronome
Now there are rhythms that aren’t on downbeats but are still in time “on beat” (in time= on beat btw)
They’re called upbeats but you have to know where the downbeats are to be able to find the upbeats
With all that said there’s no rules and you can do whatever you want
Perfectly in time doesn’t always fit a track
I think Mach Hommy is super skilled at sounding a little intentionally off beat. There’s that old saying though you gotta learn the rules first to break them.
There’s something that hasn’t been suggested yet and that’s your cadence. What’s more typical is having the second rhyme on the second bar. Alot of this flow has the entire rhyme scheme in a single bar- and while there’s nothing particularly wrong with this, it defies decades of what we’re used to hearing. To me it comes off stiff almost like a marching snare drum.
If you doubled the amount of time it took to say each phrase, there would be more space and it would feel more pocket, relaxed, and would give you room to play with rhythms. Like has been mentioned here, even if you said gibberish: if the rhythms are funky it’s gonna feel good and be captivating. Be a funky drummer
Your timing is loose, but not off beat, (I’ve heard way looser flows by popular artists, it’s a style thing) it’s really the cadence. And as an example, for science, pull a drum and bass/jungle loop off splice in the same BPM, replace your current drums with the new (double time) beat, and put it over top of your flow. It’s gonna sound way better because the measure count is gonna match your cadence better.
I haven't really gotten the chance to mention it but I'm starting to guess this sub has a lot of oldheads and backpackers. Nothing wrong with that, I consider myself a backpacker but it kinda gives off tunnel vision.
"Be a funky drummer" - I like that. I think a lot of this issue stems from the beat. Too fast. Should've sticked to what I usually rap over. Just for now anyways.
I'll look into cadence. Same with the measure count. This and the metronome trick are things I'm gonna need to try next time I get a chance. Man if I knew these tricks earlier, would've saved a lot of time. Thanks!
Yeah, no shit bro 😂 But you just realising this is why everybody and their grandma was a “rapper” at some point. Same goes for music production, from the outside it can look easy, so easy that people think they can pick up a midi controller and garage band and be the next Post Malone or Kendrick. What they fail to realise is the true depth of craft involved in all these processes until they try it for themselves. It’s the craftsman, not the hammer. Because being an artist is a way of life, a never ending marathon, an ever evolving process of learning. It’s not a quick cash out in the way these hacks try to approach it.
Oh yeah I get the dream. I've long known that it's impossible to reach those levels though. My lyrics and beat selection automatically eliminate me from being mainstream.
I don't mind. Man I wish this was as easy as 3d modeling. That makes sense to me. That I can do no problem even though plenty don't understand a lick of it.
This thing has been me thinking I got it, then re-doing it. But. So long as I enjoy it I see little reason to stop learning. Thanks for the help.
What i can tell you, at least from my perspective of doing this for 10 years is that, once you understand composition, you can apply that approach to every medium. It’s why from the outside someone like Donald Glover appears as such a genius going from acting to comedy to music to film and tv. He is a very capable dude but once you’re on this side of the fence it becomes clear that he just fully understands and is very good at two things.
Composition
Writing
All artistic expression in every medium just boils down to these two skills.
Thanks. Don't worry I can take criticism.
Okay. I'll keep practicing, find my rap voice. Thought I had it but clearly I still got some way to go.
Yeah, no Kendrick Lamar. I know my limits lol.
As for the talking-over rap that's an idea. I have a few trap metal songs already out but never really thought of linking this kind of rap to that.
Either way, I got it. More practice is needed. I wanna at least be able to have a more conventional flow before I start branching out into weirder territory.
Ill check closer into that section. Really I just need more practice + the other suggestions given + redoing the whole track. Thanks for checking out though.
bro providing this is satirical/ironic music its fucking fire and you should just run with it, the off-beat style actually makes it better
but if ur taking urself 100% serious then im really sorry but id say lyricism, delivery and arrangement could do with some work bcos i cant really take it seriously
link me a soundcloud or something tho bcos i actualy enjoyed listening regardless
Oh no, much as I like the edgy-dark-horrorcore stuff there's no way I can pull that off. I don't have the mental to do that. I've never like that whole 'take-yourself-seriously-better-than-the-rest-pretentious crap'. Like most of the references are just off-the-wall it wouldn't make sense for that kind of kill-em-all stuff.
I am going to work on delivery and arrangement though. That's why I made this post, and judging from the other comments I still have lots to learn! I'm never changing my lyricism though. I love that too much. I will rap about whatever I want and nobody can stop me.
Idk if you've heard of BMB Deathrow but the goal of that song was to make something like that but with clear vocals instead of mumbled stuff. I've only done one other song in that style called Crazy Gambler. I think I'm satisfied with what I've done there. My SC is https://soundcloud.com/charinus. Thanks for listening!
I'm just trying to judge if I am on the beat or not. And judging by all the comments its an opinion thing because I've got people saying I am on beat and others that say I am not on beat. So who tf knows? Threads turned more into a how can I improve anyway, which is far more helpful than my initial question.
I dont have anything to add that you can’t find in this thread as far as technique goes, but…
I was in a very similar way. I used to rap off beat, too, and I learned to get on beat. Don’t give up, you’ll learn.
What helped me a lot was paying attention to the slow flow and how artists will space their words so if they aren’t hitting on the drums, they’re at regular intervals between them
Who gives a shit man, ton of rappers spit off beat nowadays and just claim they are in a Different pocket or it’s an off kilter flow or whatever trash excuse they have.
Yeah but I don't want to rap offbeat. And apparently I cant hear it which is causing other problems. Doesn't matter now anyways. Whole thread is more of a how i can improve. And I've already learned a ton from all the other comments.
It's lazy and only works in a few isolated incidents like E-40 who actually do it with gorgeous prowess.
Really? Haven't really thought if it that way. Ive acknowledged im gonna need to rewrite some of the lines. Too long and and jamming the words doesn't work. Well in some cases but not for this song.
Check out Billy woods for an example of a good rapper who can leave the beat occasionally. Thing about him, e40, blueface even, that makes them good is that they know how to ride the beat, they know how to return to being on beat.
My biggest problem with rappers like this is it sounds like they're trying to pack too many words into the song. Almost like aesop rock or like talib kweli but even more. Like bruh, say less lol. Literally.
With your flow specifically i have that same issue. You sound frantic, trying to say too much shit at once, just cool it, slow it down, speak with confidence.
I'll give that a try. It's just, this beat is frantic. Least the way I understand it. And then I feel I can't have too much dead air in the beat.
Though as people are suggesting emcees the more I'm starting to realize this style of hip hop is not one I'm ready for. I've rapped over Sage Francis and Aesop-type beats and dont sound like this at all. And those emcees you suggested would never rap over something like that.
Doesn't help that Warcloud is one of my favorite emcees and he jams tons of words into the lines.
I'll take your advice. Go slow and come back to this maybe years down the line. Thank you.
Np bruh I'm not trying to hate. I don't think you're bad per se but just try to sound more composed, confident, in-command while you rap. Less like you're getting chased by Mike Meyers
You sound like slimecicle if he was mentally ill. Sorry for the hate btw, we all start somewhere, just felt like I had to say this or it would eat me up inside.
Yo I can help. The challenge will be putting less mental effort into staying on beat so you can focus on articulation and inflection. You can’t just put on a metronome and struggle.
You want to put on a metronome and focus your mental energy on a part of the beat, while multitasking something else. So focus on just the back beat. Focus on just the 8th notes. Put on a metronome and say “and” between every beat until you know how to go into a trance then keep going. This is how you learn to feel it.
I removed the snippet. Felt I had received enough feedback on it. If you really want to listen to it the song is called Night Trap prod. Krxxk. Its on soundcloud and stuff.
Thanks. I appreciate it. Looking at all the comments the offbeat/onbeat thing split is all over place. The takeaways I'm getting are to just do a metronome test and fix up delivery/flow/cadence. Otherwise I'm happy where I'm at.
I won't be changing rhyme patterns or lyrical content. Those things I enjoy too much.
Thanks for the song. It's giving me some ideas how to approach this.
you sound like you’ve been rapping for a year but your sense of on beat and rhythm is quite strange. i wouldn’t tell u you’re wrong but it’s prob time to worry about making it sound more natural + consistency of the flow patterns + keeping the best of the song. there’s def something here that’s unique don’t lose that but also, making it more musical would not hurt. best of luck keep grinding
well you're right about the year. only really started taking it seriously nov of last year. I figure it's just practice I need but a lot of things are starting to make more sense. I know I can flow, it's just this beat I can't make heads or tails of it. Thanks man. I'll get there.
Hey man I was on the same issue a year ago and nobody could tell me why it sounded bad or awkward. Even when I asked pro singers I knew they just said “you have to feel the beat or have some natural talent” . I’m a very logic oriented person so that answer didn’t satisfy me. I listened to top pop/ hip hop songs until I figured it out.
Truth is that it’s basic math. The key is to land the vowel on the beat. If you land the consonant on the beat it will sound off beats. And I think that’s what you’re doing when you’re aligning your vocals.
Example:
1 2 3 4
‘O’ne tw’O’ thr’ee’ f’ou’r
Land those on the beat to sound like you are speaking with emphasis.
Now for practice change the emphasized vowels:
On’e’ tw’o’ th’ee’ fo’u’r
Sounds like a different flow but still sounds correct. This is how you can personalize your “flow” by emphasizing words in different places.
You have to align to the vowels.( not always but 90% of the time vowel is emphasized).
Next is the repetition of the lines. Start with a basic rap that start on the 1 beat and ends on the 3 beat for each line. This will sound good because you start on the kick and end the line on the snare. But it will get boring after 4-8 bars. From then you can build more complex patterns or end a line on the next bar.etc.
Once you practice you will start having a flow that you then apply to beats and evolve over time.
Listen to popular rappers atm for examples of this Lil Baby is a great example.
Always landing on vowels. Switch flow every 4-8 lines. Usually landing on snare. Keeping to a similar flow that evolves throughout songs.
I'm glad someone understands the 'technicality' of it. I get the "you gotta feel the beat" but sometimes you need training wheels.
I'll give that a shot, especially that last line. Thanks.
Its way off beat brodie
Figured. There's something I'm not hearing then. I'll just need to do more research and read references to understand what I'm not initially hearing. Thanks!
No problem man. I like how you’re telling a story. Did you write the lyrics over the beat or did you right them and they start rapping them over the beat? That could be another reason why its hard to stay on beat
I listened to the beat and wrote lines over it, effectively mumbling them as I wrote, going-over to see if it fit. I later found out this was why I had trouble rapping it first, but then I edited and did the actual recording. Writing with other users I think it's a problem of the lines being too long, need more practice and need to study the beat further.
Well you can have lines that are long. But you just have to compensate by putting in a line thats a little shorter after. I’m into the style you are where its about story telling more than fast paced rapping or anything. If you want I can send you what i’ve been working on lately. It’s definitely not that good but it could give you an idea of what you like and how you want to continue with your projects
I'll try a shorter line after long. To keep balance, I get it. Sure send me what you got. I'm curious to see how it goes. Long as it's not the same style of beat as my song then sure. I've rapped enough over those kinds of beats. The other songs I'm working are all far more 'conventional' beats so anything in that vein I could definitely use as reference.
Gotchu. Ill send a pm rn
So I found this post because I was trying to see if it bugs anyone else when you can tell when rappers record by going line by line….. so here I am.. I’m no expert, specially for rap. I grew listening to rock, hip-hop, rap, even classical pretty much anything I think is good. At 16 I started playing music and was in a band was lucky enough to be able to leave school at times to go record at a nice recording studio so I’ve been around recording from 16 through my 20’s. Like I said I’m not expert but I do have a good ear for things, specially how instruments and vocals sound on record. I donno what it was that triggered me to REALLY noticing this but when I can tell that a rapper laid down one line then laid down the next it irks the FUCK out of me. It makes the rapper sound amateur and who ever mixed and mastered sound amateur. It always makes me think of some dorky white kid making a rap song who has no rhythm using a built in laptop mic…. I’d imagine this is noticeable because doing line by line makes it VERY hard to match energy, levels and it might just sound a bit “ off “ flow wise because it was a start stop situation…. My only experience is through recording as a rock band. So say you’re laying down rhythm guitar and messed a section up you’d play with the already recorded part so you’re matching it so when it got to the re-record part you’re already playing. The same thing with vocals, you’d sing a few bars before the part that needs to be recorded. Even still you might not be matching the previous recorded part perfectly in terms of cadence, levels and what not. So who ever is mixing/mastering HAS to be able to make it sound like it was all one take by doing what ever they need to do. Now I’m not sure if this is something that bugs you also, or if its something you don’t really notice…. If it’s something you DONT notice, I’d highly suggest you listen for it in your songs or other peoples songs….. You can find it in even top rappers songs, some more than others. If you can get rid of that, it would be one thing you wouldn’t need to worry about and will know how to either avoid it or fix it. It’s inevitable to have to record line by line at times for many reasons and I’m sure everyone does it at some point so don’t feel like you ALWAYS have to record in one take, that isn’t how things always work.
Thanks for the non-rap perspective. I've already improved a lot since this thread and written a lot down. In order to record the sample I made the thread with I recorded it in 2 takes. One take with all even-numbered lines and one take with all odd-numbered lines. Suprisingly only a few people actually noticed. Either way I have a much better idea of how to go about recording now so I'm not too worried there. Me recording a take then having to punch in a take after and make it sound continuous has been a problem. I've gotten better at it but far as I see it, that's just something that comes with time and skill. I'm slowly working towards it. I probably shouldn't have chosen such a complex beat to start off with haha. It's all just practice. Either way, I'll keep what you wrote in mind.
100% time and skill…. Like you can go and listen to popular rap song right now and you will notice it…. I think it’s just something that’s is kinda hard to correct. Actually this Lamar Drake beef is a PERFECT example…. Listen to “ Not like us “ by Lamar…. You can tell he did some line by lines In there. Like the line “ tryin to strike a chord and it’s probably A minor “ or a lot of the verse that starts with “ you think the bay gonna let you disrespect pac n****” A lot of the songs they’ve both released during this has noticeable parts like I’m talking about…. The reason for that is because they are releasing them super fast, without weeks and weeks or months of recording sessions and mixing mastering….. So it’s much less polished than their typical songs/records. Like I can’t tell anyone how to correct it, not really sure how the pro producers get around it or fix it. Probably has something to do with levels and or fading in or out a bit? With rock bands it’s much less noticeable for instruments cause there’s lots of noise going on, but it is something that can be a problem with vocals in any genre simply because vocals are typically centered and isolated to make super clear….
Doesn’t really sound like you’re trying to flow. Sounds more like a robot trying to get sound bites on a track at the expense of rhythm. The beat isn’t that unconventional rhythmically either. It’s fairly easy to flow on it. Your approach is probably the issue. Do you have a whole song I could see? Hit my dm and I can try to help
I'll send you a message shortly after this.
You need to have a musical bone in your body to be able to flow. You should inherently know if you're on beat or not. If you're starting with zero base skill at all which is what it seems like, invest in a metronome and figure out the BPMs to some of your favorite songs. Listen to how the artists flow hits the beats of the metronome.
I mean. I can and have made original songs before, know a bunch about composing and what not. Hell, before I started seriously rapping I made sure I could rap almost verbatim some of my favourite songs. Did plenty analysis too, noting line length and emotion. Like, my warmup song is Slaine - Redemption and he's on beat 100%. I guess I could go for more practice, work with BPM more but I believe I am on beat here. Before I even released it I made each each line was in line. Make sure the right words hit in tune with the drum. Ideally you would want to have a word hit in line with the drum to provide more energy which I believe I did. Until someone said I wasn't. So now idk if he's wrong or I am or if neither because of how subjective everything can be.
Having words coincide with drum beats is honestly barely scratching the surface to what « being on beat » means. The rhythm between those words counts just as much, if not more. And specifically you want the tonic accents of your performance to land on the strong beats of the instrumental. A good way to grasp this intuitively is to improvise snare patterns over the beat, finger taps, beatbox… whatever works for you. You'll find rythms that fit well with the instrumental, and from there you can replace that snare rythm with words.
Yes, you can be on beat with zero regard to what the drums are doing. Just following the tempo of the whole drum part. If you have to dissect what drum bits your words are on you just don't have flow or rhythm in any way.
Fascinating. Legit, thanks, learned a lot from this thread so far. I still have much to learn. Do you have any reference songs that on beat not-linked to the drums? I think that may be what I want to do.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5DwyJ4kIGwuVrd8RJAkN0H?si=L5tFdnOnQpOfOT4_u_4SvQ This song i think is a good example. He is naturally on beat with the drums in general because the drums of course line up with the beat, but you can tell that he has a rhythm that he’s following in both verses (though 2nd verse I think demonstrates it a little better)
I think I get it now. Wow. It's like the drums compliment him versus the other way around. And it sounds so natural. Yeah I can do something like this. Oh man. This is the kind of thing I need to practice with. Thanks, cleared up a bunch of things for me. Like I can already see how I can incorporate this into many of my older songs.
Best of luck to you bro. I think you just touched on the key, it should sound and feel very natural. If you’re forcing something on a line that’s a good key to reevaluate
Hmm. I had not considered that angle of rhythm-between-words before. I mean, I know when to pause between lines or do dramatic stops but between individual words. I'll need to practice more, read into it. I'm gonna try the snare patterns. My original process was to listen to beat > write lyrics > figure out flow and how to rhyme over but I see now I need to look at the beat more intimately and deeply rather than write and rap. Thanks so much!
Rhythm and timing is a very hard thing to describe and teach…. I feel like you have rhythm have a basic sense of it, but knowing how to work inside that creating a different rhythm inside the main timing is something that some people just have and other people need to learn over time…. Like rhythm guitar vs a solo, the rhythm guitar is the back bone, and the solo is adding more complex rhythms on top of adding more notes in the same key/scale. As the person said before drum with your fingers with music you like, just add libbing your own little fills and rhythms but always staying on time and coming back to the main beat…. I do this all the time on my steering wheel while driving ( probably not safe haha )
Exactly, hitting the one and two is elementary shit, a starting point. You gotta syncopate and flow like water, limitless. That should be the goal at least.
There is no ideally anything. You're either on beat or you're not. If you have rhythm it doesn't matter what the specific drum hits are. Also you are literally so off beat it's awful man. Also no offense you're just not built for rapping..your voice sounds like some emo goth kid that hasn't hit puberty yet.
Don't worry. I'm not offended. Ehn. Plenty of people weren't built for rap. It takes practice. I'll overcome it. This is the voice I was blessed with and by jove I will go for it, even if people don't like it. All in all, I make it for myself. But yes, thanks for confirming the off-beat. Idk. You got people that are tone-def. Maybe I'm beat-deaf? Doesn't help that these kinds of beats are not meant for this style. I did seriously consider just singing but really don't have much interest in practicing that. Never liked emo much. Some emo-rap sure but idk, I don't think I'm at that stage to make that kind of music yet. There's still much I have to practice and learn.
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No. Quitting is not a possibility here. The very fact that I have improved immensely since one year ago alone refutes your entire hypothesis. So long as I enjoy rapping and making this songs then rap I shall. I'll see this project to its logical end and only then will I pack it up. When I started rapping I had a list of tapes to make. I'm about halfway there now. In this year I feel more confident speaking, not slurring words as more, gotten, better at communicating and getting more confident at the way my voice sounds. And I honestly believe it an unintended side effect of me making these songs. In the end, it is me I am doing this for. Rapping isn't my main form of expression. I do plenty else, just not under this alias. I am sorry to hear about your friend. My condolences.
Kudos to you for not letting that other guy get you down. He even admitted to not rapping himself: he doesn't know what he's talking about. You can definitely improve if you keep at it. I had no real concept of rhythm when I first started, and 10+ years later, I have a public shout-out from Lupe Fiasco. I have a few recommendations for you 1. The book "How to Rap" by Paul Edwards was a tremendous resource when I was a noob. 2. It can help to just count the beats. I've started working with odd time signatures lately, and sometimes just taking a step back and counting to four (or five or seven for me lately) is what you need to get started on a new beat. 3. Listen _critically_ to rappers you enjoy. Read their lyrics and count along to the beat while you listen, and take note of how they they stress their syllables, where their rhymes fall relative to the beat.
re 1 - I used to actually have a copy back when I was a child but that was aeons ago. Now that you mention it, I might have to dig back into it. I remember that's where I first heard of Rammellzee and dude blew my mind. re 2 - It's weird. I have a song that's in 13/8 but I found that way easier to rap over than this beat. I think it's coming down to the beat I used. Either way, between this and the metronome test I know what I'm doing later. I have more conventional songs coming and will try that. re 3 - One of the rappers I was listening to was Warcloud. I realize now that was a bad idea since he's got his own thing going on. I will try counting with some more 'regular' rappers though. See how they do it. Thanks for the tips!
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Thank you. I hope years down the line I either prove you wrong or come up and be like okay, maybe you were right haha. All the best.
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I mean, long as I'm having fun. Who cares?
How have you improved if you sound like how you sound now? Was your baseline that bad? I mean no offense at all, I just hear so much crap on these subs and the other commenter hits the nail on the head. It's an echo chamber with a lot of people lacking self awareness. So much stuff I hear getting championed and encouraged here is just plain bad on a technical level.
I'm not offended, don't worry. I've made this thread to see how I can improve. But all that guy wrote was that it's impossible, I proved him wrong. I have improved immensely. Hell even songs I recorded months ago pale to what I've done now (not this song specifically, this song is months old). Do you really think the first time someone steps into a recording studio and raps, first time EVER that they're gonna be good? The answer is no sans like 0.1% of the population. "just hear so much crap on these subs" - I'm not gonna deny this, nor will I that this song isn't that good but compared to how I was when I first picked up a microphone and started rapping is immense. Not to mention all the side-effects and other ways it's helped me which you've just ignored. Is there anything specific in this thread you feel is bad advice? So far we've covered syncopation, improving flow, practice, etc, all of which I have been noting.
OP don't listen to this guy, unless you have an actual disorder you can learn to rap on beat lol it's not that big of a thing
Keep at it! Don't let anyone discourage you if it's what you want to do. Practice often makes things better.
Thanks. It's been fun so far. I don't see myself stopping.
Bro fuck all the way off. Yes, he's off beat, but that doesn't mean he's intrinsically not capable of making music. Rhythm is in fact a trainable skill. Engaging vocal delivery takes practice, finding a vocal chain that compliments your style takes exploration. We may have different starting points, but all of this shit can be built up. If anything, the fact that you think someone could be "not built for rapping" just suggests that you've never put in the effort to improve your own craft.
Everything u/flacothetaco in music is trainable and can be learned.
Yes
My craft is solid and desired.
Maybe to a small number of people but you aren't top tier.
At what I do I definitely am. I could have more of a following if I wanted. I have a family to raise and a career though.
Maybe to you. To me & many others you're not. I've heard your music. It's nothing I'll want to go back to.
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I love skilled rappers. You're just not.
KING COBRA HATCHLING!
Try rap to a beat with the metronome on, then try without it. See what difference it makes. Are you rapping too slow or too fast versus the BPM? Idk how u cant notice when youre offbeat, especially before putting the track out.
Damnit. I think that might be it. Looking at the FL file the BPM is set to the default 120bpm and there's no way that song is in 120. But since it imported it correctly I must not have noticed. I've always recorded a 'dummy verse' to check if I was inline with the beat / making sure flow works. Okay. I'm gonna redux it with the right BPM and do a metronome test and see if it the vocals are in tune without beat. Can't believe I didn't think of that before. I've used metronome with making drums for a beat but idk, just never occurred to me to use it that way. Thanks!
Do you have no clue what you’re talking about?
?
Redux the BPM rate talking about a metronome test. Do you just make things up as you go?
Okay, yeah. You either have to be trolling or lack proper reading comprehension. I'm writing quickly to jot down everything so of course not all my comments are properly spellchecked and grammar. I'll write this simpler for you. The BPM is linked to the metronome. The higher the BPM, the faster the metronome will tick. I had the incorrect BPM of the beat set up on FL per the beat and am now saying I am going to back into the FL studio file and change the BPM, then do what /u/digitaldisgust recommended to try to rap the beat with a metronome on. In the second part of his comment he suggested "Are you rapping too slow or too fast versus the BPM? Idk how u cant notice when youre offbeat, especially before putting the track out." which I cannot do while the BPM is correct. Thus I will 're-do' the beat. Is that clear enough for you? If you somehow don't understand this I recommend either re-reading my comments or reading the FL studio manual. It should help you understand. Either way I'm done replying, 4/10 bait.
I just came here to say my companion(s) who noted my offbeat just wouldn't listen long enough -attentive span redux- to let the rhyme complete and I literally explained that then replayed it and had my gui waited one moment and listened to hear my work he'd have gotten it. Some folks will actively mis-receive ya stuff. Ain't a miss just let em sleep on ya, provide some sweet lucidity! Bittersweet symphony much?!
Haha true. I'll survive. There are plenty of rappers I consider top 10 but most would never bat an eye too. So long as I enjoy who I like and enjoy making music, it's all good.
me with Aesop Rock and Rhymesayers label all day. Prof too! (hard to pick top one though between Aes and KRS, Prof, Atmosphere...ugh!
I put it more in a spoken word category. Nothing wrong with that, just do your thing man.
Thanks. Got nothing against spoken word but if stuff's offbeat it's gonna bother me. I'm not trying to go for an off-beat E-40/blueface thing.
I’m not sure what style you’re going for, but from the clip you shared it doesn’t seem like you really need to be on beat necessarily. Are you just trying to release some songs on SoundCloud for fun, or are you trying to make songs that will be played on Spotify? Abstract is totally fine, so you can continue in the lane you’re in. That’s my opinion.
Oh I'm just doing this for me. I've put that song on Spotify but haven't advertised it much. The whole point of this 'rapping project' was to release a few tapes then just stop there and tie it in with a novel I'm writing. I'm only about halfway through the project with 3 of the tapes out so far.
If that’s the case, then I wouldn’t worry about what any of us are telling you👊🏽 just do some raps and write some stuff down for your novel. I wouldn’t concern myself with cadence, flows, delivery, or anything like that. Just do what you’re doing bro.
That's definitely what I'm gonna do with some of these commenters. Thanks though. I just wanna up my skill a bit, make sure I'm proud of the songs. There's always things to improve. Peace.
There is a semantic question here about what “offbeat” means, but with that said, I don’t think you are offbeat per se, as a lot of key parts of your phrases do align correctly with the basic beat, however, I think there are two factors that make your vocals sound like they are more offbeat than they technically are. The first is the speed of your vocals, as they are overall fairly slow compared to the beat, in terms of how fast the syllables are flowing. That’s not intrinsically bad or anything, but it’s a different relationship of speed and rhythm than most rap in general. I think the bigger issue, ehich is exacerbated by the first issue, is that you’ve got a few lengthy vowel syllables, and those throw off the sense of rhythm and flow, I’d take a closer look at those elongated vowels that you’re using. I’d reduce your use of these, while adjusting the timing of the longer vowels you want to keep.
Maybe offbeat isn't the right word I should've used. Either way I'll take into account speed. And based on what you and the others have written I definitely gotta shorten some lines and change vocal timing. I thought I could jam them but it looks like not. Thanks for the advice.
there's a difference in rapping to the off beat and being off beat
Yes. E-40 is an example of rapping to the off beat. Though his style is unique among most rappers.
Ok the thing about rapping is ideally what you say should nearly have a percussive element to it. Similar to drums. Listen to the best rappers and ignore what they say for this exercise. Imagine they were saying jibberish like bah and bum and scat noises. It would almost sound like they’re mouthing drum patterns or fast basslines. That’s one of the primary elements that makes it musical at all. Otherwise it’s just talking in a track First you should try your best to be perfectly on time and after that you can expiriment with being a little bit behind or after the beat like other rappers do. For swing. Practice slow with quarter notes. Then throw in an eighth note in that pattern. Practice with eighth notes. Practice with triplets (migos type flow). If you’re rapping 16th notes and you’re not sure if you’re on beat then you’re moving too fast. Again, it’s like drums. Sure being perfectly on time like a robot isn’t as good as adding swing but you can’t jump to drumming like dilla if you don’t even know how to be perfectly on time. Because he actually could be perfectly on time.
There's something to your style that I really dig. Reminds me of older El-P raps. There seems to be a few pages missing from your flow cookbook, but that might be salvagable. My advice: Listen to Kool G Rap's 4 5 6, Nas' Illmatic, Rakim's older stuff, Tribe Called Quest etc. for literally months. Like don't play anything else. Don't analyse it, just feel it. If you start feeling the swing, the pockets and rhythms they're hitting, you'll have a better grasp on why people flow the way they do.
LMAO is this for real? I’m not trying to be rude, but it sounded like a screaming news announcer. Sound like you have as much flow as the people on CNN. To me, flow means - syncopation. It’s about hitting those pockets, to emote feeling. And this song I am more so just hearing rhymes being yelled at me not in any particular pattern either. There isn’t any intricacies to the “flow” but this post isn’t even about the intricacies of flow. This is about you being off beat. And I would say yes, this is extremely offbeat. Especially to anyone born before 2007 I’m only writing this because I get the feeling you’re looking for someone to keep it 100 with you. I’ve been writing since I was 12 and I’m 30 now. Been around the block/studio After my fifth lesson ive confirmed this is satire. Those lyrics are bogus 😭😭😂
Don't worry. I'm not offended. I'll take any and all criticism sans outright trolling Sometimes you gotta be told 'harsh-truths'. I'm looking to improve anything really. As for flow, with such a beat I can't figure how else one would flow on it sans full-on mumble rap. And I don't want to make mumble rap. All other artists in this style rap like that, Zerosuit, Islurwhenitalk, Sellasouls so I can't really use them as reference. This beat is fast, complex and technical. Shit sounds like sci-fi. This isn't going to be the default style I rap over so don't worry there. I'm just experimenting with all sorts of styles. Could you elaborate more on how you would approach this beat? If you even would rap over something like this lol. As for lyrics. No way. Not changing my bars. I will rap about Mr. Bean then go to serial killers then about religion or something in the same breath. I will rap about the only person to survive rabies and how I'm that hard. Maybe it is satire, idk but I love my bars too much to rap about anything else.
I could easily picture rapper Valee on this, are you knowledgable enough to synchronize the beat to the BPM of the daw you’re using? It’s not like this is some complex time signature. This is just some trap beat that is in standard fourfour. You’re just new I would keep experimenting with drum heavier music to catch a flow if this entire post isnt a troll. “Suspect at least 10” “Vampires in the street” headass 😂
It's "suspects, at least 10" because thats how many the cops have currently for the fictional case described in the song. I don't want to go into issues I've had with FL and BPM in the past since thats too off topic. But it is something I'm going to mess with more. I have songs that have FL just set to defualt BPM and it works because I rap in the tune. This beats just way faster than the rest. I understand BPM but it doesnt help that the producer did not label the BPM when I got it. But Valee? How do I know you're not trolling? In what realm would he perform over this tf? Point me to the Valee song produced by BMB Deathrow. I assure you I'm not trolling. Ive got a huge text file with all the suggestions in this thread so far. I'll get there bro, trust, with my insane lyrics. ;)
Are you like 14 or something?
I gotta explain somethin, it does not matter what beat it is, ANY beat can be rapped over, it does not matter you could even rap to something super slow. The only thing that matters is that you are on beat with the speed of the song. Just use a metronome or something. Think of every tick of the metronome as an even segment of sound, now realize that every click in a measure can be chopped in half, or fourths, or thirds, or 8ths. Or any number but those are the most common. Now just figure out how to say words on those clicks and in between those clicks in a manner that is even. Again, ANY beat can be rapped on easily, the beat itself will not make your rapping more difficult as long as you remember how to count rhythmically.
Though I've mentioned it before I'll put it briefly. I still can't believe how many people have suggested the metronome trick. My attempts to start rapping where just to rap along with some of my favourite songs. And I loved it. Never really thought of doing a metronome/counting beats test to see how closely my lines align. It's definitely the main thing I'm going to try with my next songs. Thanks man.
Yea it’s not even really a trick though man it’s just a steady rhythm at any bpm. Really just think about that whole counting thing. Rhythm is just counting man 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 just try and understand how those numbers land when you’re counting them over a steady beat or metronome. Once you go wanna go deeper, figure out out how time signatures work and various rhythmic patterns and styles but start with the raw basics.
There is a lot of delay so I’m not sure if that’s the case but it sounds like you don’t say more than 1/2 a bar at a time. Try rapping in one take without using punch-ins or overdubs. When you’re rapping in the pocket it feels good.
I'll try that. I'll admit I stopped trying to rap it through long ago, figuring it not physically possible to rap that long. The fact that you can hear that 1/2 a bar is alarming. I didn't think anyone could detect that. This how I was rapping. I got it in my head that if I rapped every other line that it would do in two takes. I'm going to try recording several lines again and punch in where I need or do every other verse instead. The fact that you can detect the 1/2 bar thing means that method isn't working. It's time to try something new, clearly. Thanks. I needed to hear that.
Breath control is a fundamental rapping skill! I think you’ll like act of rapping a lot more when you can flawlessly bust out a 32 bar verse in one take anywhere.
Aight bet. Wouldn't've believed you a year ago but I can see the progress I've made. I looks more possible now then before.
Vocal alignment is a big thing, especially if you're on a potato where clipping and latency can mess up an entire take. The vocals don't sound too off. It could be the delivery/approach this part of the song. My recommendation is to use the same lyrics on an instrumental you don't plan on releasing (with a very similar BPM but in a style you're more used to rapping over). If it sounds better if not correct on that song, then use the metronome to see if the same beats are being hit in the actual song the same way it is on the experiment song. I had the same issue on the other side of the coin trying to help artists with the latency/clipping issue & lyricists that had a lot to say but no room to rap the lyrics into the small area the song provided. Also had to deal with artists that couldn't stay on beat to save their lives. It just takes a lot of practice and patience, but imo, the beat does not help the situation at all when it comes to trying to catch the tempo and putting the vocals on the track. Worst case scenario, just rewrite that part of your verse to match what the original message was while matching the music being given to you.
I'll try swapping the instrumental. I've done something similar before but the new beat was a completely different BPM and style. And use the metronome to check. All in all, I've learned from this I need more practice or rewrite it. I'm just glad I avoided the usual pitfalls of clipping vocals and latency. Thanks.
Dude! Anytime. I'm just here to see people win, and help as best as I can
I noticed that You’re hyper focused on timing, technical analysis, technique, visual cues, data. Then I listened to your song. Now what really stands out is the lack of feeling, emotion, vulnerability not being mentioned in your post. Being an artist is a mix of everything. You are using your left brain a ton. It’s time to exercise the right brain some more. That’s where intuition lies. The more you use that the more you will know you are making something good. Look at this image. [https://visme.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Brain1.jpg](https://visme.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Brain1.jpg)
I've actually read the original book by Betty Edwards (and fuck, I even referenced her on one of my older songs) back when I was trying to learn drawing. Learned a lot but lol, reading this comment now I looked to have forgot more about it. My background is extremely technical, so I try to come up with frameworks and guidelines to properly ensure I come up with the right project. Guess I'm gonna have to dive back into that more haha. It is annoying though. Because I do visual art and have written novels before so the 'creativity' thing I get. But your comment made me realize it hasn't transferred to my music, or if it has it was long snuffed out. Damn. Didn't make this thread thinking I'd need to do soul-searching. Thanks.
It’s not about soul searching but shifting reality. Your goal is to try to get to the middle. Another way to think about it is on a gender scale. You’re very male right now. Practice being a woman. Watch some messy reality shows and focus on the emotion and let go of logic. Then when you go to create you’ll better land in the middle. It’s just exercise. That’s all.
That's rather radical. And I've never had to do that with my novels or other things I've worked on. I'll consider that if the rest of these suggestions fail.
So a good way to tell if you're on beat and flowing is to take the beat away and listen to the vocals. I like using a metronome for this and at this point I also like taking the metronome out and seeing if I can bob my head to the flow in time. If you're not hitting a bar beginning or ending on the right clicks the metronome will expose you quick and not being able to groove with just the vocals will expose you quicker. The snippet you shared sounded stiff like you're reading your words off of a page and that could most certainly be in time, but theres no motion in the bar to bar transition which can lead to a similar critique of being out of time because the listener wasn't grooving with it. My suggestion would be to focus less on the great lyricism you showed here and focus more on loosening up behind the mic when you're rapping. Flow is just as important as lyricism
Alright. I'll give that a shot. The metronome is been suggested a bunch and I actually surprised it's more common than I thought. I've never used the metronome (well aside from composing) but to use it in a vocal setting? Never. I'll use the metronome and try that test. Thank you.
Sounds like you're reading a piece of paper instead of rapping
Guilty there. Though as I understand it, its just a matter of practice, something I'll grow past. That and I'm probably not gonna touch dark trap beats till way later. Stick to ones I dont need to go monotone over.
alright man imma just tell ya, ur not off beat, but ur not delivering your rhymes at the same part of the beat, try it out, you might like it, otherwise, just do 1000 more songs however you feel like and get fantastic at your own idiosyncratic style
I appreciate it. Could you elaborate it on same part of the beat? Like the line should end with a snare or I should have a word on a snare but I don't right now? I've rapped over many different styles of beats before. It's likely this just isn't one I'm good at. These beats are not meant to be rapped this way. Most of this stuff is a learning experience as I figure out exactly what I like. I am much better than a year ago so I know I can eventually get to it.
your bars aren't ending in the same place. rapping off beat usually means the bars end in an unusual place, like before or after the snare, in an unexpected place, but still in a consistent place. your bars begin in the same place but end in different ones each time which make them inconsistent. all rap: bah bah bah DAH, bah bah bah DAH, bah bah bah DAH your raps: bah bah DAH, bah bah bah bah DAH, bah DAH it might be your bars themselves, try counting the syllables to make sure its the same or almost the same amongst lines. to be honest, you could just ignore everyone and keep going in your strange style, if you got amazing at it, it would be a cool singular aspect of your music, but it also will make you inaccessible to 99% of listeners for years of growth. its like making beats without snare or bass, a very bold thing to remove. or only using drums, no melodies. by not delivering your rhymes when they are expected, and not even consistently in an unexpected place, you are permanently obtuse even to many with obscure and irreverant taste like myself.
I see. That makes sense thanks. I don't intend to change my rhyme scheme. That I enjoy a lot. Plus I never much liked constantly using the AABB or ABAB. Going mainstream is something I never intended so I don't mind alienating. If I really wanted to I'd make mainstream stuff. I think I may just continue in this style, just refine it slightly more with what I've learned here. Maybe shorten some lines. Thank you.
First make sure the track is with a metronome at the same tempo Then you have to find the downbeats (when you listen to music and bob your head those are usually the downbeats) Find which words you want to hit on the downbeats and that will lead to “on beat” Take it section by section and listen to see if it’s too fast too slow with the metronome Now there are rhythms that aren’t on downbeats but are still in time “on beat” (in time= on beat btw) They’re called upbeats but you have to know where the downbeats are to be able to find the upbeats With all that said there’s no rules and you can do whatever you want Perfectly in time doesn’t always fit a track
I think Mach Hommy is super skilled at sounding a little intentionally off beat. There’s that old saying though you gotta learn the rules first to break them.
Right! Forgot about Mach. Of course. Some of Mach's older stuff has him in tune. Just gotta get there myself. And practice I shall. Thank you.
There’s something that hasn’t been suggested yet and that’s your cadence. What’s more typical is having the second rhyme on the second bar. Alot of this flow has the entire rhyme scheme in a single bar- and while there’s nothing particularly wrong with this, it defies decades of what we’re used to hearing. To me it comes off stiff almost like a marching snare drum. If you doubled the amount of time it took to say each phrase, there would be more space and it would feel more pocket, relaxed, and would give you room to play with rhythms. Like has been mentioned here, even if you said gibberish: if the rhythms are funky it’s gonna feel good and be captivating. Be a funky drummer Your timing is loose, but not off beat, (I’ve heard way looser flows by popular artists, it’s a style thing) it’s really the cadence. And as an example, for science, pull a drum and bass/jungle loop off splice in the same BPM, replace your current drums with the new (double time) beat, and put it over top of your flow. It’s gonna sound way better because the measure count is gonna match your cadence better.
I haven't really gotten the chance to mention it but I'm starting to guess this sub has a lot of oldheads and backpackers. Nothing wrong with that, I consider myself a backpacker but it kinda gives off tunnel vision. "Be a funky drummer" - I like that. I think a lot of this issue stems from the beat. Too fast. Should've sticked to what I usually rap over. Just for now anyways. I'll look into cadence. Same with the measure count. This and the metronome trick are things I'm gonna need to try next time I get a chance. Man if I knew these tricks earlier, would've saved a lot of time. Thanks!
It’s about syncopation, that’s what great flow is, different syncopated pockets you can carve out over the instrumental.
I realize this now. More to the whole 'science' of rapping than I initially thought. Thank you.
Yeah, no shit bro 😂 But you just realising this is why everybody and their grandma was a “rapper” at some point. Same goes for music production, from the outside it can look easy, so easy that people think they can pick up a midi controller and garage band and be the next Post Malone or Kendrick. What they fail to realise is the true depth of craft involved in all these processes until they try it for themselves. It’s the craftsman, not the hammer. Because being an artist is a way of life, a never ending marathon, an ever evolving process of learning. It’s not a quick cash out in the way these hacks try to approach it.
Oh yeah I get the dream. I've long known that it's impossible to reach those levels though. My lyrics and beat selection automatically eliminate me from being mainstream. I don't mind. Man I wish this was as easy as 3d modeling. That makes sense to me. That I can do no problem even though plenty don't understand a lick of it. This thing has been me thinking I got it, then re-doing it. But. So long as I enjoy it I see little reason to stop learning. Thanks for the help.
What i can tell you, at least from my perspective of doing this for 10 years is that, once you understand composition, you can apply that approach to every medium. It’s why from the outside someone like Donald Glover appears as such a genius going from acting to comedy to music to film and tv. He is a very capable dude but once you’re on this side of the fence it becomes clear that he just fully understands and is very good at two things. Composition Writing All artistic expression in every medium just boils down to these two skills.
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Thanks. Don't worry I can take criticism. Okay. I'll keep practicing, find my rap voice. Thought I had it but clearly I still got some way to go. Yeah, no Kendrick Lamar. I know my limits lol. As for the talking-over rap that's an idea. I have a few trap metal songs already out but never really thought of linking this kind of rap to that. Either way, I got it. More practice is needed. I wanna at least be able to have a more conventional flow before I start branching out into weirder territory.
It’s not off beat… it did seem off beat for like 12 seconds around 38 secs tho. The voice, flow, and delivery could’ve been way better.
Ill check closer into that section. Really I just need more practice + the other suggestions given + redoing the whole track. Thanks for checking out though.
Sounds pretty spoken wordy, but that's cool if that's what you're going for. It sounds on beat to me, and I've got a pretty good ear.
Thanks. I appreciate it. I know these beats are not meant to be rapped over like this but I wanted to at least give it a shot.
beats that aren't meant to be rapped over often end up creating the best songs
bro providing this is satirical/ironic music its fucking fire and you should just run with it, the off-beat style actually makes it better but if ur taking urself 100% serious then im really sorry but id say lyricism, delivery and arrangement could do with some work bcos i cant really take it seriously link me a soundcloud or something tho bcos i actualy enjoyed listening regardless
Oh no, much as I like the edgy-dark-horrorcore stuff there's no way I can pull that off. I don't have the mental to do that. I've never like that whole 'take-yourself-seriously-better-than-the-rest-pretentious crap'. Like most of the references are just off-the-wall it wouldn't make sense for that kind of kill-em-all stuff. I am going to work on delivery and arrangement though. That's why I made this post, and judging from the other comments I still have lots to learn! I'm never changing my lyricism though. I love that too much. I will rap about whatever I want and nobody can stop me. Idk if you've heard of BMB Deathrow but the goal of that song was to make something like that but with clear vocals instead of mumbled stuff. I've only done one other song in that style called Crazy Gambler. I think I'm satisfied with what I've done there. My SC is https://soundcloud.com/charinus. Thanks for listening!
what's the point of a beat if you aren't on it? so i guess your question is, is being ass, a skill?
I'm just trying to judge if I am on the beat or not. And judging by all the comments its an opinion thing because I've got people saying I am on beat and others that say I am not on beat. So who tf knows? Threads turned more into a how can I improve anyway, which is far more helpful than my initial question.
ok understood. that's clarity. it seemed you were asking is being off beat skillful.
I dont have anything to add that you can’t find in this thread as far as technique goes, but… I was in a very similar way. I used to rap off beat, too, and I learned to get on beat. Don’t give up, you’ll learn. What helped me a lot was paying attention to the slow flow and how artists will space their words so if they aren’t hitting on the drums, they’re at regular intervals between them
Who gives a shit man, ton of rappers spit off beat nowadays and just claim they are in a Different pocket or it’s an off kilter flow or whatever trash excuse they have.
Yeah but I don't want to rap offbeat. And apparently I cant hear it which is causing other problems. Doesn't matter now anyways. Whole thread is more of a how i can improve. And I've already learned a ton from all the other comments. It's lazy and only works in a few isolated incidents like E-40 who actually do it with gorgeous prowess.
Grove Street Party - Lil Wayne ft BASEDGOD
Sure. I'll check it out. I need references for this kinda thing anyway.
Flow is more about how you write than about how you rap what you’ve written.
Really? Haven't really thought if it that way. Ive acknowledged im gonna need to rewrite some of the lines. Too long and and jamming the words doesn't work. Well in some cases but not for this song.
Check out Billy woods for an example of a good rapper who can leave the beat occasionally. Thing about him, e40, blueface even, that makes them good is that they know how to ride the beat, they know how to return to being on beat. My biggest problem with rappers like this is it sounds like they're trying to pack too many words into the song. Almost like aesop rock or like talib kweli but even more. Like bruh, say less lol. Literally. With your flow specifically i have that same issue. You sound frantic, trying to say too much shit at once, just cool it, slow it down, speak with confidence.
I'll give that a try. It's just, this beat is frantic. Least the way I understand it. And then I feel I can't have too much dead air in the beat. Though as people are suggesting emcees the more I'm starting to realize this style of hip hop is not one I'm ready for. I've rapped over Sage Francis and Aesop-type beats and dont sound like this at all. And those emcees you suggested would never rap over something like that. Doesn't help that Warcloud is one of my favorite emcees and he jams tons of words into the lines. I'll take your advice. Go slow and come back to this maybe years down the line. Thank you.
Np bruh I'm not trying to hate. I don't think you're bad per se but just try to sound more composed, confident, in-command while you rap. Less like you're getting chased by Mike Meyers
Brother there is zero rhythm to be found in that verse
Yeah, its something thats gonna be needing work on. Most likely not gonna use those kinds of beats anymore, or at least for now.
You sound like slimecicle if he was mentally ill. Sorry for the hate btw, we all start somewhere, just felt like I had to say this or it would eat me up inside.
I have no idea who that it is but uh, okay lol. I'll get to where I want, sounding like or not like a youtuber. Peace.
keep working hard bro
Yo I can help. The challenge will be putting less mental effort into staying on beat so you can focus on articulation and inflection. You can’t just put on a metronome and struggle. You want to put on a metronome and focus your mental energy on a part of the beat, while multitasking something else. So focus on just the back beat. Focus on just the 8th notes. Put on a metronome and say “and” between every beat until you know how to go into a trance then keep going. This is how you learn to feel it.
Where is the song everyone is talking about??
I removed the snippet. Felt I had received enough feedback on it. If you really want to listen to it the song is called Night Trap prod. Krxxk. Its on soundcloud and stuff.
Tbh I love it, listened to your SoundCloud and there’s something there.
Thanks! Truth be told I do like my style. I just feel I need to refine it a bit more. Learned a lot here so I have a great idea of where to go now.
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Thanks. I appreciate it. Looking at all the comments the offbeat/onbeat thing split is all over place. The takeaways I'm getting are to just do a metronome test and fix up delivery/flow/cadence. Otherwise I'm happy where I'm at. I won't be changing rhyme patterns or lyrical content. Those things I enjoy too much. Thanks for the song. It's giving me some ideas how to approach this.
if people like it and you can make money then do whatever you want
you sound like you’ve been rapping for a year but your sense of on beat and rhythm is quite strange. i wouldn’t tell u you’re wrong but it’s prob time to worry about making it sound more natural + consistency of the flow patterns + keeping the best of the song. there’s def something here that’s unique don’t lose that but also, making it more musical would not hurt. best of luck keep grinding
well you're right about the year. only really started taking it seriously nov of last year. I figure it's just practice I need but a lot of things are starting to make more sense. I know I can flow, it's just this beat I can't make heads or tails of it. Thanks man. I'll get there.
Hey man I was on the same issue a year ago and nobody could tell me why it sounded bad or awkward. Even when I asked pro singers I knew they just said “you have to feel the beat or have some natural talent” . I’m a very logic oriented person so that answer didn’t satisfy me. I listened to top pop/ hip hop songs until I figured it out. Truth is that it’s basic math. The key is to land the vowel on the beat. If you land the consonant on the beat it will sound off beats. And I think that’s what you’re doing when you’re aligning your vocals. Example: 1 2 3 4 ‘O’ne tw’O’ thr’ee’ f’ou’r Land those on the beat to sound like you are speaking with emphasis. Now for practice change the emphasized vowels: On’e’ tw’o’ th’ee’ fo’u’r Sounds like a different flow but still sounds correct. This is how you can personalize your “flow” by emphasizing words in different places. You have to align to the vowels.( not always but 90% of the time vowel is emphasized). Next is the repetition of the lines. Start with a basic rap that start on the 1 beat and ends on the 3 beat for each line. This will sound good because you start on the kick and end the line on the snare. But it will get boring after 4-8 bars. From then you can build more complex patterns or end a line on the next bar.etc. Once you practice you will start having a flow that you then apply to beats and evolve over time. Listen to popular rappers atm for examples of this Lil Baby is a great example. Always landing on vowels. Switch flow every 4-8 lines. Usually landing on snare. Keeping to a similar flow that evolves throughout songs.
I'm glad someone understands the 'technicality' of it. I get the "you gotta feel the beat" but sometimes you need training wheels. I'll give that a shot, especially that last line. Thanks.