Not Everyone Can Rap

I was talking to someone about writing a rap, and their response was, "oh, sure, why not, everyone can rap."  It kills me to hear comments like that.  It's the equivalent of saying, "oh, everyone can play the piano, you just hit the keys."  It's not as simple as that.  There's so much to rap both rhythmically and lyrically that people don't pay attention to.  Let's just deal with rhyming.  Take the chorus to Eminem's Without Me, for example.

Now this looks like a job for me
So everybody, just follow me
Cause we need a little, controversy
Cause it feels so empty, without me

There was a comment on a reddit thread deriding this chorus for being incredibly rudimentary, rhyming "me" with itself twice.  Now, that's true, but it completely misses the big picture.  The three "me"'s also rhyme with "everybody," "controversy," and "empty."  On top of that, he throws in a nice two-syllable internal rhyme with "job for" and "follow."  Clearly, this chorus is much more complicated than that commenter realized.

Now, you might say, sure, that's Eminem, possibly the greatest rapper of all time, but what about other rappers?  Truth is, plenty of rappers derided for being stupid and shallow are terrific rhymers.  For example, take this bit of Cam'ron's Hey Ma:

But not her, boobies' real, high heel dooby feel
Plus got them Gucci nails
You a cutie still
And this my down girl too - ain't no groupie deal
We left the movies with Uzis, Suzuki wheels
To the jacuzzi, I tell you, my booby's real
I mean she do be winnin', Louis spinnin'
Go to the crib, she got the Gucci linen
I see boo be grinnin'
She looked and said: "Cam, I know that you be sinnin'

All words/phrases that are highlighted in the same color rhyme, which is damn impressive.  Just look at the ones in red.  Sure, most aren't that complicated, and some are repeats, but it's still a two-syllable rhyme and there's 15 of them.  Not only that, he keeps that rhyme going while rhyming all the words in blue and green at the same time.  If you just look at subject matter, as most people tend to, you would write this off as a barely coherent take on a standard rap topic.  However, a closer look at the rhyming shows a master at work.

Turns out, Cam is actually renowned as a great rhymer, but even the average rapper nowadays will rhyme the last two syllables of each line with about three other lines.  Just as an example of this, let's just take the first bit of a generic rap song that's doing well on radio right now: Flo Rida's Wild Ones.

I like crazy, foolish, stupid
Party going wild, fist pumping music
I might lose it glass to the roof
That's how we do'z it

He evidently couldn't find a word with a short "i" vowel sound to follow "roof," and he uses "do'z," a word that doesn't actually exist.  However, he does rhyme the last two syllables of the first four lines, and even throws in a two internal rhymes in the form of "lose it" and "foolish."
 
Basically, there's much more to rap that most people think.  Heck, I haven't even gotten into flow, which is arguably even more complicated.  Hopefully this gave you a bit more of an appreciation for the complexities of rap.