(Editor’s Note: Some of the songs referenced and linked to in this article may contain profane lyrics.)

By Nicholas Chambers

Hip hop DJ legend Grandmaster Flash. Photo credit: Ryan Woolies via flickr.

Hip hop, or rap music, has been around since the 1970s and has spread from its birthplace in New York City to the rest of the world over the last 50 years. Unlike other genres of music, hip hop contains a rhythmic style where artists will lyrically chant, or “rap,” to a set beat, either sampled from other music or created electronically. This signature sound that we all know and love is considered a combination of the disco, funk, rhythm and blues, electronic, and jazz genres of American music. From East Coast to West Coast, and everywhere in between, hip hop as a whole has found its most success as a leading influence in pop culture, originally branching from the MCs, DJs, break-dancers, and graffiti artists of the 80s and 90s and further to major sports athletes, celebrities, and movie stars today. But through all of the fame, stardom, and money, there is a true art behind the hit songs you blast in your AirPods every day. 

From top to bottom, the overall journey of an artist can span multiple decades, take an infinite amount of turns, and as society has evolved, include numerous renditions of the same ideology and goal: to make it. It is truly an unpredictable enterprise. On paper, making music seems easy. You melodically chant about your life experiences to crowds of ravenous teens and middle-aged men and women in the hope that they can relate, so they will buy your records and run up your streams. Yet through all of this, the listener has to like you, and you have to keep your fans engaged and bring an unmatched originality to a music industry pioneered by the copycat figure. You have to stand out from millions of artists, and once you make it, there is pressure to continue that success for years to even be slightly remembered by a generation with an attention span at an all-time low in the year 2023.

The ability to capture an audience is the most essential component to any success in the music world, but in rap music especially. A style that is so rhythmic and dependent on the beat can be an even bigger challenge to write for, as opposed to other genres of music. Finding the right words to say, in the right tone to convey the right message, becomes even harder. There is a certain skill to delivering quality lyrics in the smoothest, most clever way possible for the listener. So how do they do it? In order explain this, we have to go back to the drawing board. An analytical, in-depth analysis of what an artist goes through to create their lyrics for popular rap songs. It all starts with the creative writing process. 

The creative writing process in rap music can be broken down into many different sections and subgenres, but there are five major categories that are deemed most important; rhyming, repetition, pronunciation, creativity, and wordplay. An artist’s ability to successfully demonstrate these five can determine the cultural impact and lasting legacy that a hip hop artist can have on their audience.

Before any major artist is able to begin writing lyrics, they must understand the basic principles of rhyme scheme and how to illustrate lyrics in a way so the rhyme is easiest for the artist to vocalize. The lack of a proper rhyme scheme will make the song choppy, and that the artist lacks a flow in their music. Using some of these techniques may help artists when going through the songwriting process.

A diphthong is a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves toward another. This is an important technique that rappers use on fast songs, as the mouth moves less when pronouncing a diphthong. 

Image by Nicholas Chambers.

A synecdoche is a figure of speech in which part is made to represent the whole, or vice versa. This technique is mainly used to replace words from certain lyrics so that they still make sense and fit the rhyme scheme. 

Image by Nicholas Chambers.

Assonance is the repetition of the sound of a vowel or diphthong in non-rhyming stressed syllables. One might call this the alliteration of vowels. One example includes 50 Cent’s “Man Men (Wish Death).” 

Image by Nicholas Chambers.

Near rhymes are the best way to imperfectly place words in a stanza while still keeping the rhyme scheme of the original verse. Near rhymes open up the possibility for an increased variety of rhyming options compared to regular rhymes. Take the word jokers, for example. In terms of regular rhymes, jokers rhymes with brokers, smokers, and chokers. If we look at the near rhymes, where the pronunciation of the word can create a repetition similar to jokers, jokers could rhyme with ogres, motors, voters, clovers, told us, focus, notice, bogus, and more. Eminem is one of the best artists in history at perfecting the near rhymes. 

Lil Wayne. Photo credit: Wikimedia user Ryan Dombal.

The ability to show creativity lyrically is one of the most important elements in the hip hop songwriting process. Average artists might use their ability to capture audiences with crazy beats and production, but exceptional artists find ways to get head bobs while using lyrics that cut deep with listeners. Wordplay is one of the most common examples of lyric creativity that is present in all forms of music. A play on words, in an attempt to exploit the meanings of certain words. Here are some of my favorite examples.

 “Real G’s move in silence like lasagna” – Lil Wayne, “6 Foot 7 Foot“

In the song “6 Foot 7 Foot,” Lil Wayne drops one of the most iconic wordplays in all of rap history. “G’s,” aka gangstas and hustlas like Wayne, are known to handle business quietly and in silence. The letter G is silent in the word lasagna. By simply comparing a letter and a food, Lil Wayne is able to captivate his audience with this extraordinary bar. 

“I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man” – Jay-Z, “Diamonds From Sierra Leone (Remix)“

It is safe to say that hip hop’s billionaire knows how to run a business successfully. Jay-Z’s clever wordplay using the homophone business/man suggests that he is not just a rapper, but a brand name. A business, if you will. You can’t argue with the greatest of all time.

Jay-Z in 2010. Photo credit: Wikimedia user chickswithguns.

“I father, I Brooklyn Dodger them / I jack, I rob, I sin / Aww man, I’m Jackie Robinson / ‘Cept when I run base, I dodge the pen” – Jay-Z, “Brooklyn (Go Hard)“

There’s no secret as to why Jay-Z appears twice on this list. Jay-Z connects three phrases—“I jack,” “I rob,” “I sin”—to spell out the name Jackie Robinson, complimenting his earlier line, “I Brooklyn Dodger them.” The ending lines about running the bases and dodging the pen further emphasize the baseball theme around Robinson, who was known speed as a Brooklyn Dodger, as well as his historic status as the first Black Major League Baseball player. Upon further examination, Jay-Z gives way for a second meaning to his wordplay. The three phrases—“I jack,” “I rob,” “I sin”—actually can translate to Jay-Z’s criminal past, where he would commonly “run (base)” in the streets while “dodging the pen” (jail time).

I have had my own experiences writing hip hop lyrics. After being amazed by all these clever plays on words and intrigued bars, I decided to try out a few wordplays myself. 

“Swap the O for the E and I tell em’ Just Do It”  & “Search up N-I-K-O in the dictionary, it means victory, I’m a walking dub” – Nicholas Chambers, aka Lil Niko.

In this first line, I try using wordplay to connect my nickname to my favorite fashion brand, Nike. “Swap the O for the E” is a play on words suggesting to take out the “O” in the name Niko and replace it with an “E,” spelling out the word Nike. Henceforth, the line “Just Do It” (Nike’s famous slogan) follows, tying the wordplay all together. Lil Niko’s connection with the word Nike also runs deeper, as the name “Niko” means “victory” in Greek, and in Greek mythology, “Nike” is the name of the Winged Goddess of Victory. Hence the line: “Search up N-I-K-O in the dictionary, it means victory, I’m a walking dub.”

While the hip hop world is a collaborative space for artists to tell their stories, an unavoidable part of rap music is the negative connotation that is associated with it. Sex, money, violence, and drugs are common misconceptions about the genre of hip hop, and common profanities deter many fans from listening to rap entirely. However, rap music has the ability to change lives and good for the world.

Logic’s amazing song “1-800-273-8255” is an example of an artist using their platform for good. Rapping about such an important subject in our world today, suicide, this hit song has saved hundreds of people’s lives and is looked at as a phenomenon by fans and listeners around the world. Some other groundbreaking songs of this genre include “Lose Yourself” by Eminem, the iconic song from his semi-autobiographical motion picture 8 Mile, about opportunity and having one shot in life to seize everything you ever wanted. “Dreams and Nightmares” by Meek Mill is a song that passionately outlines the dreams and nightmares that we all have as people, and the constant drive to achieve them. Finally, “The Bigger Picture” by Lil Baby, an important song about social injustice in the wake of the George Floyd murder and a time of unrest in America.

With social media and the internet becoming the prevalent way to advertise music today, the trajectory of hip hop is truly unknown. Nonetheless, it continues to be a venue for some of the most creative minds in the world. There are many artists that successfully conquer the creative writing process, effectively delivering poetic music to their fans. As an artist grows, they touch into important aspects of the music making enterprise, legacy, and cultural impact. Leaving a lasting legacy on their community for timeless music and deep cutting performances is a goal for every rapper and performer.

Feature image courtesy of John Richard, via FilmMagic.