THE USELESSNESS OF LONG LINES

Line compression seems to be a big problem with a lot of cats. Long lines deteriorate flow, bore the reader, and while some may give you props for complexity, that’s complete and total bullshit. Long lines are not and should not be mistaken for complexity. Complexity comes from a combination of advanced rhyme schemes, vocabulary, and lines that are put together in an elaborate form.


METHODS OF LINE COMPRESSION

So now that we know long lines are good for absolutely nothing, let’s move on to how to get rid of them. I’ll list this is steps for anyone to follow when trying to trim a bar…

1. First get rid of all the excess wording, anything that isn’t absolutely necessary for the line knock it, just leave the core of the punch …
2. Now you’ll have the core of the line in bad wording, so mess with the wording… if you must then change rhymes or flip the line if it hits harder that way, you may need new multi’s but get over it lol…
3. To make it hit harder you’ll want a decent rhyme scheme, make sure the line flows well and goes well with the next line to complete the bar…
4. Fine-tune the little glitches, add in any italics you want to emphasize with… (try to stay away from colors, bold, capitalization, etc… underlining works, but I prefer italics, makes it look cleaner in the end…

There’s two things people generally need to shorten after keying….


1. PUNCH REWORDING

BEFORE:
check the intel on this nigga like a dog pregnant with females you’ll see he has bitch inside/
AFTER:
check the intel with kitchen knives/ like pregnant dogs, he’s half bitch inside/

Strip the line and word it as best you can…. Generally if the line just can’t be reworded right then you need to scrap the bar. Don’t naturally assume anything can’t be worded correctly, but some things just can’t… When stripping all you need to leave are the phrases that are necessary for the punch… This will allow you to reword easier…


2. BAR REWORDING

BEFORE:
attackin on all fronts I’m leaving ‘no stone unturned’ like Mick Jagger doing three-sixties/ like children constantly sleeping in class we learned you would fail ve-ry quickly/
AFTER:
sleepin in class, fail-your scene quickly/ (failure seen)
leavin ‘no stone unturned’ like Jagger three-sixties/

You can sometimes shorten bars just by adding wordplay, which worked here. When shortening bars pay attention to how the lines come together, if done right a good flow can be achieved and still have the same meaning as the original raw punch… Once again follow the formula and word as best you can, you may have good results you may not… if not scrap the bar…

SUMMARY

Long lines bring down verses…. If they can’t be helped they should be shot before they invade the punch gene pool….

Pzes hope it helped…

written by Wizerd