Rap 101: Flows
One of the coolest parts about rap is the rhythm associated with how the rap is done. This is also known as flow. They can be slow, or double time and still be inventive. Some flows are just because the person raps in a peculiar way, most of the sickest flows are written into the rap however. What do I mean by written into it? The rhyme scheme of course!
Take for example the song I uploaded, a mixtape track by Lupe Fiasco. Lyrically he really isn’t saying much, he is just paying homage to Chicago rappers he grew up on. The flow, however, is stupiddddd (in a good way). Upon first listen you might just think it’s because he raps fast. If so, how come all raps don’t sound smooth when rapped faster? This flow focuses on assonant rhymes with an end couplet that also contains the assonant rhyme. I will bold all the assonant rhymes (the sound of “O”) and italicize the end couplets (sound of “N”). Here:
From the M-A…D-I to the S to the O-N
Po’in, to getcha open
Move like a nigga’s supposed to get the dough
It’ll go with the flow that I’m holdin’
Joe’n’em, they ownin’ up - up on enough
Stay in the zone, that I go in
That I go in, when I go in and go in
Of the po’ins, and the rope man
Crucial conflict was smokin’
But a nigga like me, I don’t be chokin’
So I proceed at low speed, low key
Like a OG in a ‘03 Loc-in’
Rollin’, like a OZ in a B-league
Both pins, like a bowlin’ ball when I ball
But I never fall for the oki-dokin’
White walls, with the slow-speed motion
Stash-box for the police pokin’
Rolie showin, shorty showin, Hokey Pokin’
Turnin it around with me to bust em down cuz they know he golden
(Then he goes into a different flow for the rest of the song)
There are also internal rhymes that don’t fall into the rhyme scheme I was highlighting, but these also add to the rapidity at which the flow operates.
