10 Tips For Battle Rap Wins.
I make a big song and dance about not writing to battles to win, but obviously, it’s f*cking nice to win, isn’t it? Just in general. So how do you ensure that? Well, I can’t be bothered to do big paragraphs about this, so keep scrolling down for my 10 top tips to winning a rap battle from your writing.
1. Be clear and concise.
2. DO NOT OVER-COMPLICATE.
3. Use as few words as possible to get to the punchline, without jeopardising clarity.
4. Subtly and pre-emptively defend yourself against or predict points that you think are going to be brought up.
5. Aim as much of your material as you can AT your opponent. Do not be too general. Remember who you’re against.
6. Write for the audience in the room, not the ones online. It’s a simple formula, but generally,the better the crowd reaction for you, the more likely you are to win.
7. Don’t over-explain.
8. Don’t NOT explain.
9. BE FUNNY.
10. Make sure your wordplay (at least to you) feels original. You can’t always tell if you’re saying something that’s been said before, but make sure, if you’re going to use it and hope for a reaction from it, that it, at least, feels new.
That’s the long and short of it. If you follow these steps, there’s no reason you won’t literally be the best battle rapper in the whole world within 2 calendar months.
Battle rap writing is arduous if you want to do it right. It’s so much fine tuning and improving by decimal points, but those points do add up. Every syllable counts, so make them! Take your time, go on long walks if you can and re-read everything you write 1,000,000 times until you hate it and yourself.
ENJOY!