Rahman Jamaal teaches freestyle rap through rhythmic vocal exercises, breaking down triplets, 16th-notes, tetrapletes, and 32nd-note chopping patterns. He argues rhythm is the foundation, not rhyme, and shows how Kendrick Lamar, Tech N9ne, and Twista use these subdivisions at speed.
Chapters
Repeat after me. Say, one e and a, one e and a, one e and a, two e and a, two e and a, three e and a, three e and a, four e and a, four e and a. It's not gonna be that slow though. It's gonna sound like this. One e and a, two e and a, three e and a, four e and a. One e and a, two e and a, three e and a. Try it now. One e and a, two e and a, three e and a, four e and a. Good. All right, good, good, good. Okay, now that's just to kind of get it in your head. Now let's go back to our sentence. I'm gonna start with the triplet. Say it once in a triplet form. Listen, repeat after me. It goes like this. Triplet, triplet, 1 is a 2 is a 3 is a 4. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening. Follow the syllables. Rhythm is another level for For anyone listening, follow the syllables. 2 more times. Rhythm is another level. For anyone listening, follow the syllables. Last time. Rhythm is another level. For anyone listening, follow the syllables. Ooh, nice. You guys got it quick. Good. All right, the next one, the 16th note. 1 e and a, 2 e and a, pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa. It's gonna sound a little something like this. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening, follow the syllables. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening, follow the syllables. Let's hit it 2 more times. And rhythm is another level for anyone listening, follow the syllables. Very nice. Last time. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening, follow the syllables. All right, now here's the cool thing. If you can learn to talk at this pace off the top of your mind and just keep the flow going when you ain't really got a rhyme, You just got to talk and have things to say and have a conversation. It sounds like I'm rapping, but I'm really just talking in 16th notes. All right? So this is kind of how this stuff works, okay? You guys are already— your brains are already at that level. We're just going to do a few more little things. Now, but before we do, you guys want to hear the advanced ones, the advanced versions, the last 2? Yeah. I know, I know. All right. So— and everyone likes this one because it's the sexiest. Tetraplet. Tetraplet. This one is the double of the triplet. This is what you would hear rappers like Kendrick use a lot, Tech N9ne, a lot of these kind of advanced rappers that have, you know, really cool styles. But this one is, 1 is a 1 is a 2 is a 2 is a 3 is a 3 is a 4 is a 4 is a 1 is a 1 is a 2 is a 2 is a 3 is a 3 is a 4 is a 4 is a 1 is a 1 is a 2 is a 2 is a 3 is a 3. Anybody want to try it? 1 is a 1 is a 2 is a 2 is a 3 is a 3 is a 4 is a 4. One is a one, is a two, is a two, is a three, is a three, is a four, is a four, is a one, is a one, is a two, is a two. Now listen to this. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening. Follow the syllables. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening. Follow the syllables. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening. Follow the syllables. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening. Follow the syllables. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening. Follow the syllables. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening. Follow the syllables. Good. Now if you can do that, pat yourself on the back. If you can't, that's why it's advanced. That's why these are the top rappers. These are what they use, okay? The final speed— you guys are sounding good though. The final speed is the 32nd note. And this is what's otherwise known as chopping, right? In rap, you have people, they call themselves choppers. It's because they rap really fast. And like, these are artists like Twista or Busta Rhymes, definitely Tech N9ne, Eminem. It's ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da-ba-da, about that speed. The way that you count it is 1-E and a 1-E and a 2-E and a 2-E and a 3-E and a 3-E and a 4-E and a 4-E and a 1-E and a 1-E and a 2-E and a 2-E and a 3-E and a 3-E and a 4-E and a 4-E. It's a tongue twister. Take some time. Don't worry about how getting that down yet. Just demonstrating what the advanced ones are. But if you want to try it, we can. Ready? I'll say it once. You repeat. One E and a one E and a two E and a two E and a three E and a three E and a four E and a four E and a. One E and a one E and a two E and a two E and a three E and a three E and a four E and a four E and a. La la la la la la la la la la la. All right. All right, the last one. So I'll just demonstrate what it sounds like, and then you guys can try it a couple times. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening follow the syllables. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening follow the syllables. Woo! Rhythm is another level for anyone listening follow the syllables. Rhythm is another level for anyone listening follow the syllables. Anyone get that? Hey, over the back! But he's done 2 of these before, so he knows what's coming. You've been practicing, haven't you? All right. Okay, nice. So, oops, oops, oops, oops, oops. So these are basically— that's it. That's the warm-up. That's all you really need to know to be able to freestyle. Like I said, the biggest thing that caught me up And that I learned was keeping me from being able to freestyle was me thinking that I had to rhyme in order for it to sound good. And until I realized that the rhyming is really just— that's like the icing on the cake. That's like, you know, just the seasoning. That's how you give it the flavor. But the actual meat, the actual sound as it's hitting our ears and making us be like, uh, and follow along, is the rhythmic flow.
