Stray Shots: The Lost Art Of Freestyling

Once upon a time in a universe far, far away, HipHopDX used to host blogs. Through Meka, Brillyance, Aliya Ewing and others, readers got unfiltered opinions on the most current topics in and beyond Hip Hop. After a few years, a couple redesigns and the collective vision of three different Editors-In-Chief, blogs are back. Well, sort of. Since our blog section went the way of two-way pagers and physical mixtapes, Twitter, Instagram and Ustream have further accelerated the pace of current events in Hip Hop. Rappers beef with each other 140 characters at a time, entire mixtapes (and their associated artwork) can be released via Instagram, and sometimes these events require a rapid reaction.

As such, we’re reserving this space for a weekly reaction to Hip Hop’s current events. Or whatever else we deem worthy. And the “we” in question is me, Andre Grant and Ural Garrett. Collectively we serve as HipHopDX’s Features Staff. Aside from tackling stray topics, we may invite artists and other personalities in Hip Hop to join the conversation. Without further delay, here’s this week’s “Stray Shots.”

Is Freestyling Just Ceremony, Now?

Andre: Freestyling is a cultural phenomenon. It’s a language exhibition, like gladiators at the ready they, maybe, think up the cleverest statements in the cleverest ways they can muster in that moment. String syllables to stretch over counts, drums beating the death back to create so much or so little of their choosing. It can be an exciting cascade of flows like torrents of water gushing out of fire hydrants on a balmy day in the Bronx or Oakland or Sierra Leone.

We have imagery that backs up the cleanly lit mythology of our forefathers street lamp flows, heads bobbing on concrete corners with bodega awnings towering, dirty, one mini bulb flickering aggressively overhead. Biggie, Mos Def (now Yasiin), Nas, Freestyle Fellowship, Saafir, ‘Pac, Snoop, Kendrick, Drake, J. Cole, Big Sean, whole dreams – lives – being scrawled into a ledger. But was it ever even real? Jigga’s “lost” freestyle, “unearthed” from the grave of Tim Westwood’s library of secrets proved to be not much of any of those words. 1999 it says it was spit, and yet we’d all heard that verse before, and earlier still. Word. We had. The original sounds like it comes from Pete Rock and Marley Marl’s Future Flavaz show on Hot 97 where verses, freestyle or written, became the litmus test for a culture hungry for real. Back then, in the dayz of “yo!” and on Future Flavaz especially, these dark sketches would become full-fledged songs later on. Who can forget Sauce Money’s Future Flavaz joint, a scraggly voice eeking out “cough up a lung…” and you can finish that verse easily. “Where I’m From?/ Marcy, son!/ Ain’t nothin’ nice.”

It’s still apart of the whole thing, you know? Every year BET trots out their freestyles for the awards and everyone waits and waits for someone to blow their minds on some lyrical shit. It rarely happens. Sway’s five fingers of death freestyle can make a worthy buzz worthier if you can muster it (here’s looking at you King Los), and it can provide damning evidence of your non-Hip-Hop-ness (word to Iggy Azalea). But how do we really know if anyone out here is really rapping off the dome, or if these have been writtens? We don’t, honestly. I’m not sure the last time we even really did. Freestyling, for all intents and purposes, has moved into Catholic ceremony territory. A purely symbolic thing representing almost nothing to a new generation who has no time to hear even one wack bar. We can reel off the names of all those cats who’ve been caught out there. Sway slyly moving the object blocking Troy Ave’s cell phone. Or Drake rapping off his iPhone or whomever. I can’t help but think of K. Dot’s grizzly pop’s voice saying on his answering machine, “Get your freestyle’s written.” So all this is just a part of the Hip Hop ceremony, now. It’s communion and we all know that Christ’s body is not that tiny piece of paper bread you’re eating anyway. So it goes on, and just every once in a while we get someone who actually blows us away and it’s worth it, but not necessary. Not any more.

Ural: First, anyone interested in following the history of freestyling should really consider checking out Kevin Fitzgerald’s phenomenal 2000 documentary Freestyle: The Art Of Rhyme. The film really does a great job at getting into the nuances of the artform. What Freestyle really does well is explain the evolution of freestyling in regards to displaying one’s skill as an emcee. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite Hip Hop centered documentaries between Scratch and Time is Illmatic. Most importantly, it made me a true believer in the undisputed greatness of Supernatural.

For some, freestyling is certification of one’s off the dome wordplay and delivery abilities. And others, it’s an utter waste of time for appealing to unspoken Hip Hop rules. Then there’s battle rap culture which is totally dependent on one’s freestyle abilities. With everything said, it’s very difficult to tell when something is pre-written beforehand. This is what makes everything from the annual BET Cyphers and XXL Freshman freestyles so damn questionable. Hell, even rap battles can be questionable. No matter how much I love Sway’s “Five Fingers Of Death,” knowing exactly the truth is harder than realizing the existence of aliens. Doesn’t hurt when artists like Kanye and Hov have been known to use material from albums as freestyles before or after dropping a release. Ceremonies are normally based on beliefs or ritual observances. Where one falls in terms of Hip Hop really determines their views on freestyling. For the consuming mainstream public, they could care less.

There’s the age old notion of those who freestyle can’t necessarily make good songs and those who have hits can’t go “off the dome” to save their life. Obviously, there are some exceptions to the rules with emcees like Eminem who’s become the master at both. Maybe this is where authenticity comes into play? I doubt anyone is expecting (or even interested) in hearing Future or the likes freestyle. That’s unless we end up with something embarrassing like Drake and Troy Ave’s iPhone readings. For them, those same pre-written rhymes are better suited for a potential hit or album cut. Makes sense in regards to the business aspect of things. Those who are entirely serious about the craft of emceeing and Hip Hop totally understand the importance.

Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few  different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.

Ural Garrett is a Los Angeles-based journalist and HipHopDX’s Senior Features Writer. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.