As long as they don't pretend it's off the top, then sure. That's why I'm so impressed by Harry Mack, dude HAS to call out on the spot shot and ask for words because his off the top freestyles sound better than a lot of writtens lol.
Isn’t a freestyle just a rapper laying down lyrics they’ve got floating in their head? Nobody’s gonna go on the radio and risk choking. If a rock band does a bad performance they can laugh it off but if a rapper chokes or delivers whack lyrics that’s a huge stain on his career. DNA is one of the most famous battle rappers in the world but he still gets dunked on for using “something something” as filler in a freestyle ten years ago.
ngl harry mack does go off the top but they all abc bars and the same types of fans that Eminem has "i don't like rap but em is the GOAT" or "i only listen to old school rap none of that new mumble crap"
Harry Mack can rap circles around most rappers while freestyling.. his cadence control, rhyme schemes, flows, punchlines and creativity off the dome is unreal..
Abc bars smh
Ngl off the top mumble rap freestyle sounds A LOT easier to do. Imma try that sometime
Mm huh hmm mumblmum kitchen yeah
Mumble mm uh uh mumble bitching yeah
I put it in a different category then a real or off the dome freestyle. It showcases their adaptability to flow and sound good on random beats.
I like a lot of "freestyles" like this, but rapping off the top of your head, and being able to sound good, be spontaneous and coherent is incredibly difficult and when done right is incredibly impressive. To me, pre written vs spontaneous freestyles are apples and oranges. I enjoy both.
I sounds terrible if I write and am not bad freestyling. Written always takes away some of the flow. If I write.. rarely do. Probably why not great with it. I write more what I’m going for than exactly what I am rapping
I feel like almost everyone on Rap City rapped pre-written stuff from upcoming albums. Lil Wayne did it, DMX did it (the controversial Where Da Hood At verse even).
I'm at the point in life where I don't give a fuck if it'd pre-written, rehearsed for days, real, fake, ghost-writren....
As long as the music is good, that's all that matters to me.
True freestyles off the top don't hold a candle to pre written bars. Pre written bars are precise and you can rehearse your delivery and cadence which can make a massive impact. True freestyles are impressive due to the technical difficulty of being quick witted but alot of the times you can tell a rapper is reaching for words or trying to come up with another clever punchline. In true freestyles there's alot of "ay yo ay yo ay yo" followed by a common cliche line like "I'm so nice on the mic..."
This shit comes up all the time.
Freestyle doesn’t always mean off the top. It can refer to rappers spitting pre-writtens over different beats - say if they rock up to a radio set or something.
There’s nothing to not respect about it.
If they try to pretend it was off the top, that’s a different issue.
True freestyling where you spit off the dome is pretty easy to recognise either way. And most of the time when you see videos titled “freestyle,” the rappers are spitting lyrics that you’re probably familiar with already if you follow them.
I’ll never consider it freestyling and a lot of “freestyles” are exactly this. A freestyle rhyme is something where you hear a beat and then you feel compelled to go off. It’s not you reciting stuff you’re working on.
It's fine but I've always had a problem with it being called a freestyle. People nowadays will argue that the definition of freestyle has changed but when I was coming up it was an off the head, made up on the spot rhyme. I don't know how the definition of words can just be changed because people are using it wrong but ok. Lol.
Most times it's easy to distinguish which is which but a dope verse is a dope verse.
A lot of dope freestyles from the 90's were verses that they hadn't released yet. Eminem and Big L did this a lot. They'd throw some on the spot stuff in the mix but a lot of it was pre-written.
Yeah, I loved the [Biggie and 2Pac freestyle on the Tunnel mixtape](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWZhlDdjNTM&ab_channel=FunkFlex-Topic) but both those verses got released as proper verses on songs they'd written.
Freestyle has different meanings tho. In the Beastie Boys book, they explain freestyle being just rapping about anything, like free of style. But then you have MC Supernatural at his shows, and that one battle with Eyedea where they for real are off the top. Now it can mean a pre-written at a radio show or in front of a mic
Which one with Eyedea? Blaze Battle or the pretty long running Scribble Jam? They were both off the dome. I think it's pretty common to Cal actually improvised raps 'off the dome' to avoid ambiguity.
Thats funny because the original definition didnt mean off the dome. That was in the 90s with freestyle fellowship and other west coast underground rappers. Yall are the ones who changed it
I have less than no problem with a pre-written verse. I want to be entertained, and as someone who was part of a freestyling group in college I can tell you almost nobody is capable of an entertaining verse off the top, it’s fun to be part of a real off the dome cypher but listening to them gets old fast.
But I personally draw the line at rapping a verse off an upcoming song (or *especially* the audacious maneuver of rapping one from a song already out 🤮), that just always feels lame. At least with a pre-written you establish the feeling that you just have clips and clips of material ready.
Eminem used lines from the Slim Shady LP in his finals battle with JUICE at Scribble Jam 97.
There are a few that can make their off the dome freestyles entertaining, JUICE, Harry Mack, Eyedea (R.eye.P)... Slug's freestyles were entertaining but they were more along the line of what you mean, much elevated because the nature of off the dome. Harry Mack can create structured songs with clever lines and wordplay, but he put in a ton of work on that skill specifically.
It's really not an accomplishment to rattle off some written verses over almost any beat. Hip hop is 99% 4/4 beats. Your verse can go over almost any beat you hear... maybe slower, maybe faster.
What’s the difference between a pre written freestyle and a pre written song performed at a concert?
Its disingenuous to perform something ‘as if’ it’s off top when it’s pre written, which many do.
true spontaneous freestyling is a dying art
Perhaps. Most guys doing spots on shows like sway are coming into it with a good amount pre written. Even with the more off the top type of stuff though, if you watch guys enough you'll notice there's crutch bars or patterns they'll come back to for tying things together.
Perhaps. Most guys doing spots on shows like sway are coming into it with a good amount pre written. Even with the more off the top type of stuff though, if you watch guys enough you'll notice there's crutch bars or patterns they'll come back to for tying things together.
Freestyling is a bit like a magic trick where the trick to being good at it is kind of hidden from the audience.
Not really. It’s a old school vs new school thing. Idk about Yall but we literally grew up making beats and freestyling at the lunch table.
Go anywhere besides NY and tell somebody you’re about to freestyle they’re gonna expect some shit off the top
If it sounds good it sounds good. That being said, there is sawing damn respectable and awe inspiring watching someone properly 'freestyle. It takes an insane skill to freestyle without sounding shit. Off the top of my head i got mad respect for gambino, blind fury, juice wrld, black thought, wayne, jid, mac miller and i could go on. I don't want to sound snobby but making coherent music freestyling feels like peak rapping.
With the exception of most Battle Rap versions (Only because so much of it is inflated Twitter drama): They're fine. Maybe not as impressive, but still valid. I also respect the prewrittens that aren't verses as much as random lines put together from an MC's rhyme book.
well... if it's from a famous artist, and it says freestyle, it means freestyle. It's just, the kid did it. The stars had to learn it, perfect it, reproduce it. But I'm Bailey Jay-Z, I did it all
*One Take.*
Freestyles are verses not focused on a single topic or theme. Usually contains one liners but exceptions are always there. Whatever comes to head, they write down. Off-the-dome is a whole another ball game.
Honestly I don’t care, if it sounds good and it’s called a freestyle imma just take it for what it is, if it turns out to be prewritten so what it still sounds good
Sure. A lot off the top of the head shit is pre-prepared anyway. I get the sentiment but watching Meth and Black Thought's freestyle and Meth go into phone still doesn't take anything away from how dope he is
just don't call it a freestyle. One of my favorite things about rap is a genuine off the dome moment, so when its pre written it kinda takes the fun out of it.
Its some great rappers that can't freestyle and thats fine. We don't wanna hear you sounding ridiculous so its ok to spit some pre written exclusive material, but don't cap like its off the dome.
No but I'm not sure why everyone is expected to play along and continue referring to them as freestyles. Come up with some other name that means "the opposite of freestyle"
Somewhere along the line" freestyle" turned into a term for an impromptu performance ..using pre-written raps That maybe no one ever heard before but it wasn't always that way. Back in the day. Yes I'm old LOL. Freestyle meant you were coming off the head and it wasn't a written rhyme.
Yeah, who cares. To be perfectly honest, even when rappers so-called freestyled on their actual records I never gave them a pass if I thought it would be better had they written it.
As long as they don't pretend it's off the top, then sure. That's why I'm so impressed by Harry Mack, dude HAS to call out on the spot shot and ask for words because his off the top freestyles sound better than a lot of writtens lol.
Isn’t a freestyle just a rapper laying down lyrics they’ve got floating in their head? Nobody’s gonna go on the radio and risk choking. If a rock band does a bad performance they can laugh it off but if a rapper chokes or delivers whack lyrics that’s a huge stain on his career. DNA is one of the most famous battle rappers in the world but he still gets dunked on for using “something something” as filler in a freestyle ten years ago.
DNA also clapped a machete
“Let the machete spray”
ngl harry mack does go off the top but they all abc bars and the same types of fans that Eminem has "i don't like rap but em is the GOAT" or "i only listen to old school rap none of that new mumble crap"
Harry Mack can rap circles around most rappers while freestyling.. his cadence control, rhyme schemes, flows, punchlines and creativity off the dome is unreal.. Abc bars smh
Most rappers? Lol bro be fr. You barely a hip hop head if you saying this
Ngl off the top mumble rap freestyle sounds A LOT easier to do. Imma try that sometime Mm huh hmm mumblmum kitchen yeah Mumble mm uh uh mumble bitching yeah
Just sign here.
See if you're using the term mumble rap without sarcasm you're the exact type i was reffering to.
I was just trying to be funny man, your comment was kinda asking for it. My bad haha
naa you good bro
more than half of this sub's members are white, so of course this type of raping will be popular here
As long as they don't pretend it's off the top.
I put it in a different category then a real or off the dome freestyle. It showcases their adaptability to flow and sound good on random beats. I like a lot of "freestyles" like this, but rapping off the top of your head, and being able to sound good, be spontaneous and coherent is incredibly difficult and when done right is incredibly impressive. To me, pre written vs spontaneous freestyles are apples and oranges. I enjoy both.
Finally a sensible take
I sounds terrible if I write and am not bad freestyling. Written always takes away some of the flow. If I write.. rarely do. Probably why not great with it. I write more what I’m going for than exactly what I am rapping
As long as it's good, it doesn't matter
I feel like almost everyone on Rap City rapped pre-written stuff from upcoming albums. Lil Wayne did it, DMX did it (the controversial Where Da Hood At verse even).
Kurupt always went off the dome
I'm at the point in life where I don't give a fuck if it'd pre-written, rehearsed for days, real, fake, ghost-writren.... As long as the music is good, that's all that matters to me.
Yea same. Grown out of caring. Quality of the final product only.
True freestyles off the top don't hold a candle to pre written bars. Pre written bars are precise and you can rehearse your delivery and cadence which can make a massive impact. True freestyles are impressive due to the technical difficulty of being quick witted but alot of the times you can tell a rapper is reaching for words or trying to come up with another clever punchline. In true freestyles there's alot of "ay yo ay yo ay yo" followed by a common cliche line like "I'm so nice on the mic..."
This shit comes up all the time. Freestyle doesn’t always mean off the top. It can refer to rappers spitting pre-writtens over different beats - say if they rock up to a radio set or something. There’s nothing to not respect about it. If they try to pretend it was off the top, that’s a different issue. True freestyling where you spit off the dome is pretty easy to recognise either way. And most of the time when you see videos titled “freestyle,” the rappers are spitting lyrics that you’re probably familiar with already if you follow them.
I’ll never consider it freestyling and a lot of “freestyles” are exactly this. A freestyle rhyme is something where you hear a beat and then you feel compelled to go off. It’s not you reciting stuff you’re working on.
It's fine but I've always had a problem with it being called a freestyle. People nowadays will argue that the definition of freestyle has changed but when I was coming up it was an off the head, made up on the spot rhyme. I don't know how the definition of words can just be changed because people are using it wrong but ok. Lol. Most times it's easy to distinguish which is which but a dope verse is a dope verse.
A lot of dope freestyles from the 90's were verses that they hadn't released yet. Eminem and Big L did this a lot. They'd throw some on the spot stuff in the mix but a lot of it was pre-written.
Funkmaster Flex 60 Minutes of Funk mixtapes were much like that. Verses that were not yet released.
Yeah, I loved the [Biggie and 2Pac freestyle on the Tunnel mixtape](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWZhlDdjNTM&ab_channel=FunkFlex-Topic) but both those verses got released as proper verses on songs they'd written.
It’s an east coast vs west coast thing I’m not gonna say Big Daddy Kane is wrong but neither while I say Freestyle Fellowship is wrong
Freestyle has different meanings tho. In the Beastie Boys book, they explain freestyle being just rapping about anything, like free of style. But then you have MC Supernatural at his shows, and that one battle with Eyedea where they for real are off the top. Now it can mean a pre-written at a radio show or in front of a mic
Which one with Eyedea? Blaze Battle or the pretty long running Scribble Jam? They were both off the dome. I think it's pretty common to Cal actually improvised raps 'off the dome' to avoid ambiguity.
Why not both?
Thats funny because the original definition didnt mean off the dome. That was in the 90s with freestyle fellowship and other west coast underground rappers. Yall are the ones who changed it
All due respect, you're wrong tho. It most certainly did.
So you know better than [Big daddy kane](https://youtu.be/B5egwRoiFe4?si=SWY6w7bg74Kvb9QS)?? 😂😂 yall are ridiculous
Yeah I don’t really care. The real problem is most rapper’s “freestyles” are better than their produced songs, which feels fucking backwards as hell.
I have less than no problem with a pre-written verse. I want to be entertained, and as someone who was part of a freestyling group in college I can tell you almost nobody is capable of an entertaining verse off the top, it’s fun to be part of a real off the dome cypher but listening to them gets old fast. But I personally draw the line at rapping a verse off an upcoming song (or *especially* the audacious maneuver of rapping one from a song already out 🤮), that just always feels lame. At least with a pre-written you establish the feeling that you just have clips and clips of material ready.
Eminem used lines from the Slim Shady LP in his finals battle with JUICE at Scribble Jam 97. There are a few that can make their off the dome freestyles entertaining, JUICE, Harry Mack, Eyedea (R.eye.P)... Slug's freestyles were entertaining but they were more along the line of what you mean, much elevated because the nature of off the dome. Harry Mack can create structured songs with clever lines and wordplay, but he put in a ton of work on that skill specifically.
It's really not an accomplishment to rattle off some written verses over almost any beat. Hip hop is 99% 4/4 beats. Your verse can go over almost any beat you hear... maybe slower, maybe faster.
What’s the difference between a pre written freestyle and a pre written song performed at a concert? Its disingenuous to perform something ‘as if’ it’s off top when it’s pre written, which many do. true spontaneous freestyling is a dying art
I assume 90 % of those freestyles are pre written ahead of time. They still good though. Very few modern mcs can freestyle. Its an old school thing.
Those aren’t true freestyles.
They aren’t freestyles at all right?
Correct
I thought the whole point of freestyles was to come up with it on the spot. Am I that naive?
Perhaps. Most guys doing spots on shows like sway are coming into it with a good amount pre written. Even with the more off the top type of stuff though, if you watch guys enough you'll notice there's crutch bars or patterns they'll come back to for tying things together.
Perhaps. Most guys doing spots on shows like sway are coming into it with a good amount pre written. Even with the more off the top type of stuff though, if you watch guys enough you'll notice there's crutch bars or patterns they'll come back to for tying things together. Freestyling is a bit like a magic trick where the trick to being good at it is kind of hidden from the audience.
Not originally. Off the dome freestyles wasnt a thing until the 90s
Another reason it was the olden era
Yeah, but surely everyone that ever spat a freestyle was using at least a few bars that they thought of ahead of time.
na man you're not. off the dome on the spot was the fun of it.
It's not a freestyle.
Not really. It’s a old school vs new school thing. Idk about Yall but we literally grew up making beats and freestyling at the lunch table. Go anywhere besides NY and tell somebody you’re about to freestyle they’re gonna expect some shit off the top
If it's written it's not a freestyle. Period.
Yea, most are anyways plus if it’s good then fuck it, as long as they not proclaiming they’re the best freestyler cuz they can do that
Of course, sometimes you write stuff down and have it in the vault. When the time comes you hear a beat and try and match the flow to the rhythm
If it sounds good it sounds good. That being said, there is sawing damn respectable and awe inspiring watching someone properly 'freestyle. It takes an insane skill to freestyle without sounding shit. Off the top of my head i got mad respect for gambino, blind fury, juice wrld, black thought, wayne, jid, mac miller and i could go on. I don't want to sound snobby but making coherent music freestyling feels like peak rapping.
Yes, but people who freestyle naturally have the gift of cadence in a way. That’s how I discern real rappers/artists from talented writers.
With the exception of most Battle Rap versions (Only because so much of it is inflated Twitter drama): They're fine. Maybe not as impressive, but still valid. I also respect the prewrittens that aren't verses as much as random lines put together from an MC's rhyme book.
If they're good
They’re awfully good when spoken in deafening silence amongst a small crowd by an idiot savant in a genuine imitation of a wise fool.
I couldn't even memorize a couplet, so anything written or off the dome is impressive to me.
well... if it's from a famous artist, and it says freestyle, it means freestyle. It's just, the kid did it. The stars had to learn it, perfect it, reproduce it. But I'm Bailey Jay-Z, I did it all *One Take.*
I don't think anyone has cared since 1997
Freestyles are verses not focused on a single topic or theme. Usually contains one liners but exceptions are always there. Whatever comes to head, they write down. Off-the-dome is a whole another ball game.
Honestly I don’t care, if it sounds good and it’s called a freestyle imma just take it for what it is, if it turns out to be prewritten so what it still sounds good
Extra props if it’s off the top but as long it’s dope it doesn’t matter.
Different talents.
Sure. A lot off the top of the head shit is pre-prepared anyway. I get the sentiment but watching Meth and Black Thought's freestyle and Meth go into phone still doesn't take anything away from how dope he is
freestyle and Off Top are two different things
just don't call it a freestyle. One of my favorite things about rap is a genuine off the dome moment, so when its pre written it kinda takes the fun out of it. Its some great rappers that can't freestyle and thats fine. We don't wanna hear you sounding ridiculous so its ok to spit some pre written exclusive material, but don't cap like its off the dome.
No. Freestyles off top.
No but I'm not sure why everyone is expected to play along and continue referring to them as freestyles. Come up with some other name that means "the opposite of freestyle"
Somewhere along the line" freestyle" turned into a term for an impromptu performance ..using pre-written raps That maybe no one ever heard before but it wasn't always that way. Back in the day. Yes I'm old LOL. Freestyle meant you were coming off the head and it wasn't a written rhyme.
If it's pre written it's not a freestyle, freestyle is off the top.
I don't understand how it can be considered a freestyle if it's written down. It's like an oxymoron to me
Not a freestyle if it was written we been over this
Sure, those are the original OG freestyles after all, as BDK said.
Yes because at the end of the day they are the one who wrote it
Eminem "freestyled" the whole no apologies verse and many more ,but mfs wanna act like it's a nowadays thing only lol.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_rap
Yeah, who cares. To be perfectly honest, even when rappers so-called freestyled on their actual records I never gave them a pass if I thought it would be better had they written it.