ALSO BY FLOCABULARY

ALSO BY FLOCABULARY

Flocabulary: The Hip-Hop Approach to SAT-Level Vocabulary Building

Flocabulary: Hip-Hop U.S. History

ten beats

by Emcee Escher with Alex Rappaport

Flocabulary Press * New York



THE RAPPER'S HANDBOOK. Copyright 2006 by Flocabulary, LLC.

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and Internation Copyright Conventions.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Flocabulary Press, 315 West 39th Street, Studio 1610, New York, NY 10018.

ISBN: 0-9768292-1-5 ISBN (13 Digit): 978-0-9768292-1-8



FIRST EDITION

Written by Emcee Escher (Blake Harrison) with Alexander Rappaport Cover Artwork by Jen Swanson Design by B. Harrison Illustrations by Allison van H?e Printed in the United States

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

"Rap is rhythm and poetry." - Rakim

Contents

Preface

ix

Part One - Freestyling

Guide to Freestyling

3

Cipher Etiquette 101

13

Freestyle Rap Games

16

Part Two - Elevating Your Rhymes

Slant Rhymes

23

Rhyme Scheme

29

In-Rhymes

32

Multies

36

Wordplay

50

Metaphors

57

Vocabulary

68

References

76

Other Techniques

89

Part Three - Performing

Flow

98

The History of Flow

111

Hand Gestures

122

Move the Crowd

136

Part Four - Battling

Guide to Battling

142

Punchlines

160

Part Five - Recording

Setting Up a Project Studio

170

On the Mic

181

Part Six - The Motivation Behind Your Rhymes

Why Spit Rhymes

188

The Cure for Writer's Block

191

Discography and Sources

203

Appendix I - Idioms

209

Appendix II - Rhyming with Famous Names 213

Appendix III - Rhymes for Rhymeless Words 214

Preface

A rapper is a poet with a beat. To rap is to spit, and a rapper spits syncopated words that tell stories, show off, and teach. A rapper is also an emcee, and an emcee moves the crowd. Whether he's rocking a basement party in the Bronx or controlling the mic for thousands of screaming fans at the Superdome, he uses his infectious rhymes to connect with his audience. A rapper is also a lyricist, and a lyricist plays with words. A lyricist crafts complex rhymes full of metaphor, alliteration, in-rhyme, assonance and enough wordplay to make a crossword puzzle dizzy. He flows with stylish ease, dropping knowledge on the beat, behind the beat, or in the pocket, right where he wants to. A rapper is all of these things.

Hip-hop music has come a long way in the past 30 years. From back rooms and block parties in South Bronx in the late seventies to the Golden Age in the late eighties through gangsta rap in the nineties to today, where you can hear emcees rapping all over the world in dozens of languages. In Poland and Italy, in China and Korea, in India and Ghana, in Peru and Columbia, a whole generation has adopted hip-hop as their own. They're not just listening; they're writing rhymes too.

It makes sense. Rap music is the most democratic music in the world, open to anyone with vocal chords.

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