STEP YOUR GAME UP! Chapter 5: Advanced Rhyming
Rhyme schemes play an integral part in writing efficiently and sounding smooth. However, there are an endless amount of ways to rhyme and form your rhyme schemes. I will teach you the groundworks of how to look at rhyme schemes and how to juggle around different rhyme patterns to sound brilliant. In addition, this chapter will cover various rhyme schemes, styles and staying on beat with these schemes.
What Exactly Is A Rhyme Scheme?
A rhyme scheme is the way you place your rhymes in sequence. The scheme CAN or HELP dictate the way your verse rhymes. However, if the groundworks of your rhyme scheme is not formed correctly it can make the flow of your lyrics sound awkward.
Now before we start, I want to clear one thing up, JUST BECAUSE it’s a rhyme scheme does not mean it has to follow a CONSISTENT or SPECIFIC pattern. Rhyme schemes as a whole are based upon chemistry and being able to maintain momentum in your rhyming. The chemistry being how you’re able to mesh different rhyme patterns together and the momentum being that you’re able to make your rhyming sound fluent despite you using different rhyming patterns. In essence the groundworks of a rhyme scheme ARE a rhyming pattern, but whether or not your rhyming pattern follows the same syllables is up to you.
The Foundations of a Rhyme Scheme and Building Upon It
The A/A format of rhyming, or in poetry circles, couplet rhyming, is the usual format for rappers, and in turn the format I’ll focus on in general. However, later into this I’ll delve into what I call rhyme juggling, but for the time being, we’ll keep it simple.
NOW lets get started!
Here is a SIMPLE example of A/A rhyming… The “A’s” representing the words that rhyme.
“I went to the store, got a bottle of (pop (A),
But I drank too much, so I had to (stop (A)”
Pop and stop are the simple rhymes in this scheme. I understand in the initial rhyming chapter we covered this sort of basic rhyming format, but in order to explain further I have to make sure everyone understands the groundwork’s FOR certain before we become ADVANCED RHYME MASTERS.
Now, this is simple. You can CONTINUOUSLY do this throughout a verse to build momentum. You know this though, but what if we changed something up here?
Lets add another line to this verse.
“I went to the store, got a bottle of (pop (A),
But I drank too much, so I had to (stop (A),
Feeling sick, so I need a (pill (B),
so that way I can (chill (B)”
I want you to ignore the simplicity and absurdity of this verse and focus on the simple rhymes that are at play. The (A) rhymes represent words that rhyme with syllables ending in an OP/OPPED sound (take note that dropped sounds like it rhymes with stop when rapped). The (B) rhymes represent words that rhyme with the syllables ending in an ILL sound. However, take note that the rhymes don’t transition in any way. They just stop using OP syllables and throw in ILL syllables. What if… WHAT IF! we could transition this so that change up isn’t so abrupt? So it sounds more smooth?
Transitional Rhyming – The Beginners Way
We have our beautiful verse, as so:
“I went to the store, got a bottle of (pop (A),
But I drank too much, so I had to (stop (A),
Feeling sick, I need a (pill (B),
so that way I can (chill (B)”
I’m not happy with the way it just cuts into a new syllable. I as the learning student of lyricism wants to make this flow better… How would I do that? Lets scan this verse for what I like to call, an opening.
What is an opening you ask?
A place that helps signify when you can throw in a transitional rhyme to help work a new rhyme into the mix. In this short two-couplet verse our opening would be right before “I need a pill.”
So, from this verse lets remove “feeling sick”:
“I went to the store, got a bottle of (pop (A),
But I drank too much, so I had to (stop (A),
—-, I need a (pill (B),
so that way I can (chill (B)”
Now. This is important, and a basic fundamental of a simple transition. MAKE SURE your transitional rhyme RHYMES with the words before it. That’s simple isn’t it? Now lets find a way to make our verse transition effectively.
“I went to the store, got a bottle of (pop (A),
But I drank too much, so I had to (stop (A),
then I (dropped (A), I need a (pill (B),
so that way I can (chill (B)”
I removed “feeling sick,” something that had no thread rhyme wise to the previous words and replaced it with something that did, the word dropped. It rhymes with stop and pop. By doing this simple little trick the whole verse sounds more well rounded because it is much smoother. Realistically most lines are based on halves, each HALF line – I went to the store would be half one and got a bottle of pop would be half two of ONE line – and when it comes time that you change your rhyme up, think about your opening, which is essentially the first half of another new line, and think about how you can rhyme it with your prior words that you used to rhyme. Then you have a NICE transition. Simple? Yup.
Transitional Rhyming – Changing It Up
You’ve written a whole verse doing the method above and you’re starting to realize it’s sounding redundant. Your rhyme scheme is sounding smooth, but it’s also sounding repetitive. HOW can you fix this? Well, we change it up!
We change it up by introducing new rhyme threads within a verse. Let me demonstrate what I’m talking about.
“I went to the store, got a bottle of (pop (A),
But I drank too (much (A2), so I had to (stop (A),
Feeling (crushed (A2), I need a (pill (B),
so that way I can (chill (B)”
Note: I only labelled it (A2) to prevent confusion and simply state that the rhyme that comes in was originally from a line that had A rhymes in it, not because the syllables are the same or related in anyway.
I followed my original principle, make sure your opener (where the transition comes in) rhymed with something that came before it, but instead of using an ALREADY in-play rhyme scheme, I built one out of a line that was not even supposed to have rhymed. That line being “But I drank too much.” I built a NEW rhyme scheme out of something that was simply serving purpose as a filler, or build up to the main rhyme at hand. That main rhyme being “so I had to stop.”
I call this a building transition, because it builds a NEW rhyme scheme within a rhyme scheme and still sounds smooth. This is a little more advanced, but I’m CERTAIN you can get it.
Transitions ARE a Stylistic Choice
Understand that you can probably get away with rhyming without using proper transitions and still be ok. That is the preffered method for some, and I don’t have an issue with that. The ISSUE is when people use transitions EXCLUSIVELY and don’t switch them up enough. If you’re using BASIC transitions like I first taught for one WHOLE verse it will sound repetitive. IF you’re using a building transition OVER AND OVER for one whole verse, it will sound repetitive. BUT. If you build a verse that uses both, and then maybe doesn’t use any at all, it will definitely sound WAY more well rounded. If it sounds out of place using a transition, chances are it is, or you haven’t found the right way to transition it yet.
Transitions like anything else in writing are a stylistic choice. Too much style can make the substance seem flat. Try to always build your verse with transitions in mind, but not as a main component of your rhyme scheme.
Rhyming Beyond Single-Sylables
You’re rhyming, it’s going alright, but you want to sound EVEN smoother. EVEN NICER. You want the rhymes you’ve written to sound fresh as ever, to sound more compounded, to sound ON POINT when you’re rapping. Well. Let’s bring in the age-old technique of multi’ing. You see, rap veterans such as Kool G Rap and Big Daddy Kane learned this in the eighties and dropped multi’s in their rhymes. What did this do for them? It made them sound on point when it came to the flow of their lyrics.
So what are these “multis” I speak of?
Look. When you’re rhyming basic words, you’re only incorporating ONE syllable that matches with ONE other syllable. When you’re MULTI’ING however, you’re incorporating more than ONE matching syllable with another matching syllable. Sure COMPOUND and SOUND rhyme even though there are MORE than one syllables in compound. BUT. In multi’ing, we make compound perfectly match another rhyme by using a multi. Instead of connecting it with ONE syllable we give it two or more to make it sound smoother. An excellent example is from Masta Ace’s Brooklyn Battles:
“The (click of a tool,(A)
with no bullets in the clip,
it’ s the (trick of a fool(A)”
Did you catch that? If you did not, the GENIUS here is the matching of ALL syllables. Yes. I know. CRAZY right? ALL syllables. Click rhymes with trick, and tool rhymes with fool. Ignore ‘of a,’ because that is irrelevant in multis only because they’re more or less fillers, not make or breaks of a rhyme.
A side note: Of a, in Masta Aces verse works because it is the same in both lines. The first word and last word mask the fact these are the same words. I am writing this simply to prevent confusion.
So lets break this down so you can understand on a deeper level! The examples Im giving are lyrics I have written:
“Im hungry so i’m eating a (steak meat (A),
But it’s making me sluggish, kind of slow to a (break beat (A)”
At the simplest level, steak and break rhyme and meat and beat rhyme. Pure multis. Get it? In order to master multi syllable rhymes you have to take into account how they flow and obviously making sure both words being used rhyme.
Slant Rhymes and Multi’s: The Beautiful Affair
What you saw above are what I call pure multis. They’re pure because they perfectly rhyme. Both words PERFECTLY hit that check box that would say: “these words rhyme!” Slant rhymes however… they are a different breed.
Think about wanting to say a statement, and then making it rhyme. Truly their is no hidden linguistical feat that exists in the english language that would allow someone to simply make ANYTHING rhyme and sound coherent, but there are slant rhymes.
Slant rhymes are simply a mask. You’re masking the fact that the syllables at the core of each word being multi DON’T rhyme, but by being smooth about it, they do. For example:
drink fire water in a heated debate,
and double fist when I beat in your face,
Matching the ending of these lines may seem simple, “heated” rhymes with “beat in,” but oh wait. It doesn’t truly. HEAT-ED and BEAT-IN DON’T rhyme. HEAT and BEAT rhyme, but ED and IN definitely don’t. When reading this out loud though, they do. This happens because in your allow for a slant. You’re slanting the syllables to match up. What I mean is, at it’s core, because the syllables match in their timing, and BOTH the first word (heat/beat) rhyme and the last word (bate/face) rhyme, the middle syllables are timed enough and matched up enough that it works.
So. Clapping your hands like you’re twelve, you’ll count FOUR syllables here. HEAT-ED-DUH-BATE. One two three four; BEAT-IN-YOUR-FACE, and same count. What does this mean? The middle syllables don’t matter in rhyming as much as long as the shell of it (heat/beat) and (bate/face) rhyme perfectly.
Lets try something else!
CINEMA FILM
CRIPPLED AND KILLED
No line example. We’re past that. Let’s just focus on how this rhymes.
Cinema and crippled do NOT rhyme. However, the similar syllable structure here makes it sound as if it rhymes. I believe that what happens here is that your brain processes the biggest syllables and ignores the rest. In many ways this is a mind fuck, what I’m getting at is, the SIH sound from CINEMA matches the CRIH sound from CRIPPLED. Still following? Great. Anyways, so FILL from FILM and KILL from KILLED match, what happens here is because there is an additional word, the M at the end of FILM and the ED at the end of KILLED, happens to make it flow even though they do NOT match perfectly. The only thing that matters in this case are the MAIN syllables and like I said, the middle becomes more of an afterthought to the person listening to this rhyme. To be fair, if read analytically this may not even rhyme to some, but if said out loud in a manner where you’re emphasizing the syllables, it WILL rhyme.
Can I Match My Newfound Multi’ing Ability With Transistions?
Come on students, haven’t you realized that ANYTHING’S possible with Dr. Moniker. Certainly you can!
I’m going to use our old example but beef it up with multis just to demonstrate!
“I went to the store, got a (can of pop (A),
But I drank too much, so I (planned to stop (A),
Bloated… and (man I dropped (A), I (need a pill (B),
so that way I can (speak and chill (B)”
A poor switch up in context of content (the sense it makes is mediocre at best), BUT I’m using what you know just to highlight an example. All you do is replace the single syllable transition with a multi’ed one. Personally I suggest you NEVER write single syllable first then try to make it multi later for the fuck of it. That just ruins the integrity of what you’re trying to say. Your best bet is to ALWAYS write multis first and transition multis first.
The Drawing Board:
You’ve read my lengthly guide and now you’re thinking: “I’m the man, I’m wanna try this to! But I need some practice lessons…” Well commander coolio, I’m here to deliver. Here are two practice excercises!
Exercise 1:
Write a four couplet verse – four pairs (two lines each) of lines that rhyme with eachother – that deal with movies, BUT PURELY WITH MULTIS. You can make punchlines out of these, doesn’t matter, as long as they multi. HOWEVER, your main challenge here is to try to make this verse sound coherent, what I mean is, don’t MULTI for the sake of multi’ing. I suggest your first time around don’t focus on anything too incredible or crazy, just focus on four lines that rhyme well together. Example:
1. I fucking hate you, you’re the SLOPPIEST-CLOWN,
Cause these rhymes obliterate you like APOCALYPES-NOW,
2. I’m STOMPING THE GROUND, fuck this GUYS-BARS,
Cause I’m Bruce Willis and right now you’re gonna DIE-HARD
If you’re feeling bold try a transition, but if not don’t worry about it. I suggest doing a couple of these just for fun to see how you feel. A basic principle to follow as well is if the rhyme sounds awkward in ANY way, chances are you’re doing it wrong. I suggest fooling around UNTIL it feels right.
Excercise 2:
This excercise is pulled straight from my other tutorial on free-styling, but instead of focusing on rhyming single syllables, you’re focusing on more than one syllable.
So, I’m in a coffee shop as I write this, the place is titled coffee culture. I think to myself, what rhymes with coffee culture and list them off in my head until I feel confident that I can rhyme that word numerous times. Example:
Coffee Culture, Sloppy Vulture, Dropping Markers, Talking Smarter, Monster Farter, Awkward Archer
Simply, look at signs, look at cups, look at posters, look at ANYTHING that has enough words for you to multi off of. Try your HARDEST to make it all rhyme, doesn’t matter in this case if the multi even sounds like you’re just rhyming for the sake of rhyming because trust me, once you do this enough you’ll start building the connections in your brain to analytically and instantly pull words from your mental rhyme bank on the fly.
I consider this exercise an ongoing one that you should actively pursue at any given moment you’re even thinking about it.
Posted by LostMoniker on January 5th, 2012 :: Filed under STEP YOUR GAME UP! Tutorials For Aspiring Rappers
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