Rhyme Scheme

WHAT IS A RHYME SCHEME?

Aight, before I address how to properly USE rhyme scheme, you first have to know what one is. Quite simply, rhyme scheme is the format of how you place rhymes within a verse. Generally speaking, most cats like to have a basic line flow, then a switch-up or two or three. The basic line flow gives you something to normally have and fall back on, while switch-ups make your rhymes not quite so monotonous, by adding diversity.

Example… MY basic rhyme scheme (not yours, MINE)
Attention-audit! Wiz’s back, detention’s-started…
Ya LP like cellulite, only bitches-got-it/

Regardless, broken down into what’s important for this tutorial it’d jus be this:
RHYME blah blah blah RHYME…
Blah blah blah blah RHYME/

Example… one of my switchups:
Slight-panic, seein chivalry in the middle-east…
Like Titanic, ya all hype, but no delivery/

But regardless, broken down into what’s important for this tutorial it’d jus be this:
RHYME1, blah RHYME2 blah RHYME2…
RHYME1, blah blah blah blah RHYME2/

Example… another of my switchups:
Shriveling like dicks-in-the-cold, fixin-the-pro’s…
Mixin-the-flow till it kicks in like the Nixon-approach/

What’s important for this tutorial it’d jus be this:
Blah blah RHYME, RHYME…
RHYME blah blah RHYME/



HOW DO I MAKE MY OWN RHYME SCHEME?

OK, now we know WHAT a rhyme scheme is and how to make it not so boring, now we move on to developing you own rhyme scheme…

Step 1: Look at your own spits and see where you naturally rhyme at… the more natural you make your rhyme scheme, the more natural you’ll be able to flow with it…
Step 2: Get your rhyme scheme in your head, or at least your basic one and use it wherever you can… this will develop into your own style and make your rhyme scheme more proficient…
Step 3: Think up some switch-ups… They don’t have to be THAT different, but they do have to have a different sound to them when you flow it or read it… otherwise what’s the point?
Step 4: Get a beat and make sure when you write you can flow all this shit to it… This will develop a good rhythm in your head and make it easier to elevate to audio later… Just in case cats didn’t know text ain’t really hip hop, it’s practice… if your text doesn’t flow neither will your audios… One thing you should avoid is writing text in a different style then you would audio… I know A LOT of cats do this, but what’s the point? Text should be elevating your writing skills for audio, not elevating your writing skills for text, because text is useless outside of online boards…



I’M HAVING TROUBLE THINKING OF MY OWN RHYME SCHEME, CAN I USE SOMEONE ELSE’S?

NO! If you’re using someone else’s rhyme scheme you are straight up biting their style… which in my opinion is WORSE than biting punches because it’s permanent… DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES STEAL SOMEONE’S STYLE… the ONLY exception would be in a battle if you were taking your opponent’s rhyme scheme and style and using it against them, that’s ok, anything else… BIG NONO!



WHY EXACTLY DO I HAVE TO HAVE SWITCHUPS?

OK, the PERFECT example of why switch-ups are important is old school T~R~E battles… He had the same end of the line multis in every single verse, made the shit so monotonous to read I quit peepin T~R~E for a LONG time… You want a similar story then don’t listen to me, otherwise bite the fuckin bullet and switch your rhymes up about every 3-4 bars…



WHY CAN’T I JUST RHYME SPARATICALLY?

Well, you can, but it makes for a shittily structured verse… If you want a good flow sparatic rhyming generally isn’t the way to go, just cause it’s random and gets offbeat a lot… I’m NOT saying it isn’t perfectly ok to do this IF you know what you’re doing, but your structure and rhyme scheme points WILL go down and your flow will probably suffer a lil…

Written by Wizerd