What are your thoughts when you hear rappers say, "CAUSE YOU KNOW I DONT WRITE DOWN MY RHYMES"?

[MARIO_DRO]

yo son, I think some of us were wrong saying that Biggie influenced Jay Z in not writing rhymes down.

It's the other way around. Jigga influenced the GOAT yo.

Peep what DJ Clark Kent said in an interview with XXL magazine.
http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2010/03/dj-clark-kent-remembers-biggie-as-brooklyns-finest/

XXLMag.com: How’d you convince Jay to put Big on the track?

DJ Clark Kent: Jay and Dame didn’t know that I brought Big to the studio and had him in the car waiting. So I got up like I’m going to the bathroom and bring [Big] back and they look at me like I’m a funny guy. They played the song and Jay said, “You want to get on it?” Big said, “I’ll get on it,” then Jay goes in the booth and spits a brand new song. Understand what I’m telling you, in like 15 minutes Jay wrote a new song… The song was there, it was perfect already, he meets Big, stands around for a while, let the beat play, goes in the booth, does something totally different, and left the open spaces for Big to fill in

XXLMag.com: Did Big finish his verses that same day?

DJ Clark Kent: I knew Big and he perfects his bars, so I knew it wasn’t going to happen like that and I knew he was going to bug out when he saw my man not using a pen. That was the day Big decided, “I’m not writing anything down. If he’s not writing anything, I’m not writing anything down.”

XXLMag.com: So before that session Big used to write his rhymes down?

DJ Clark Kent: Yes, sir, absolutely. That’s also the day Jay and Big became friends, so it’s like, right then and there they became friends. All of a sudden you see them together and interacting with each other. Big laying his verse [for “Brooklyn’s Finest”] didn’t happen until two months later. So that could have been two months that they were together formulating the verses but Jay’s verses were done.

BIGGIE STANS AINT GONE LIKE THIS SHYT!

 

[Paul Hate.]

Don't Beleive that Clark kent story ...

 

[The Nuisance]

Honestly u just have to be a nice emcee. Before anybody writes their first two bars they construct them in their head. So just imagine doin 8 bars in your head and them writing them from memory, it ain't rocket science ppl.

 

[Muhannad]

Like most have said some rappers can pull it off but most can't. I mean, no wonder all 2Chainz verses are interchangeble. No wonder Weezy rarely stays on topic lately. If you gonna give yourself titles like best rapper alive you have to kill everything you're on. Every verse has to memorable. Weezy's cool but he's dropped too many weak verses lately.

2Chainz not being able to count bars is pathetic. This is a part of your job. How seriously do you take your craft?

 

[A1000MILES]

^^^ All his verses aren't interchangeable....And all his verses aren't off topic...You still not gettin it...

 

[A1000MILES]

And it's not part of a rapper's job to know how to count bars...That's a skill acquired by someone who cares about the mathematics of music...That doesn't necessarily equal up to "a rapper"...What y'all talmbout, name...?

 

[Muhannad]

I'm talking about his verses after the namechange, when he was jumping on all those tracks. This n*gga's kinda generic. What's there to get? Let's agree to disagree on this one.

 

[Broddie]

I'm not even a rapper and as a youngin still managed to freestyle and battle my ass off to victory thanks to an extensive vocabulary on street blocks, at jobs and at schools. So these guys who do rap for a living have no fucking excuse IMO. Especially when they're not even going off the dome like I did and are actually putting a pen to a pad.

 

[A1000MILES]

I'm talking about his verses after the namechange, when he was jumping on all those tracks. This n*gga's kinda generic. What's there to get? Let's agree to disagree on this one.

As 2 Chainz...He's had plenty verses that were "deeper" than the verses you hear on commercial radio...Think about that...And then begin to understand why I say y'all not gettin it...

 

[Muhannad]

@A1000MILES The promotion of trickin', stripclubs, doing drugs, swag, Tru Religion outweigh his so called deeper raps. He's cool but he's kinda generic.

I'm not even a rapper and as a youngin still managed to freestyle and battle my ass off to victory thanks to an extensive vocabulary on street blocks, at jobs and at schools. So these guys who do rap for a living have no fucking excuse IMO. Especially when they're not even going off the dome like I did and are actually putting a pen to a pad.

That's why I get at Drake for not being able to cypher. He got caught out there twice and people still want to give him a pass.

 

[A1000MILES]

I'm not even a rapper and as a youngin still managed to freestyle and battle my ass off to victory thanks to an extensive vocabulary on street blocks, at jobs and at schools. So these guys who do rap for a living have no fucking excuse IMO. Especially when they're not even going off the dome like I did and are actually putting a pen to a pad.

Every good rapper isn't a good freestyler...

 

[Broddie]

I'm not even a rapper and as a youngin still managed to freestyle and battle my ass off to victory thanks to an extensive vocabulary on street blocks, at jobs and at schools. So these guys who do rap for a living have no fucking excuse IMO. Especially when they're not even going off the dome like I did and are actually putting a pen to a pad.

Every good rapper isn't a good freestyler...

You misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm saying that they have the luxury of NOT being freestylers. They could sit down listening to a track for days with a pen in their hand conceptualizing verses and thinking up rhyme structures and flow patterns.

They could spend hours listening to an instrumental track while browsing through a dictionary and a thesaurus hell they could even "cheat" and use a rhyming dictionary yet many of them can't even bring themselves to do that and still call themselves top notch rappers if they know they can't really come that nice off the dome or through memorization anyway.

As one of the GOATs once said RAP is Rhytim And Poetry. If you can't even take time out of your day to put some effort on the poetry part by getting creative and have to depend on others to do that for you or want to act like you're too good for the process when you don't have to skill to avoid a pad in the first place then I can't really fully respect you as a rapper. I mean you don't even have to be Canibus or Big Pun or Kool G Rap but you could at least be a Greg Nice.

Hell even Pete Rock a producer had enough respect for the craft to pen verses that he has spit because he's not arrogant enough to think everything he spits off the dome or without writing down would be hot shit. Why can't someone who is a full time rapper do the same? keep in mind that this is coming from someone who considers EAZY DUZ IT & The Chronic two of my favorite albums of all time and those are albums well known for putting a lot of food on ghostwriters' plates.

This is part of the reason lyricism on many albums is so poor now a days and why many lack replay value. Not everybody could be Jay or Big (most famous "I never write shit down" rappers of all time) and they need to stop deluding themselves thinking that they could.

 

[A1000MILES]

I'm not even a rapper and as a youngin still managed to freestyle and battle my ass off to victory thanks to an extensive vocabulary on street blocks, at jobs and at schools. So these guys who do rap for a living have no fucking excuse IMO. Especially when they're not even going off the dome like I did and are actually putting a pen to a pad.

Every good rapper isn't a good freestyler...

You misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm saying that they have the luxury of NOT being freestylers. They could sit down listening to a track for days with a pen in their hand conceptualizing verses and thinking up rhyme structures and flow patterns. They could spend hours listening to an instrumental track while browsing through a dictionary and a thesaurus hell they could even "cheat" and use a rhyming dictionary yet many of them can't even bring themselves to do that and still call themselves top notch rappers.

As one of the GOATs once said RAP is Rhytim And Poetry. If you can't even take time out of your day to put some effort on the poetry part by getting creative and have to depend on others to do that for you then I can't really fully respect you as a rapper. I mean you don't even have to be Canibus or Big Pun or Kool G Rap but you could at least be a Greg Nice. Hell even Pete Rock a producer had enough respect for the craft to pen verses that he has spit. Why can't someone who is a full time rapper do the same? keep in mind that this is coming from someone who considers EAZY DUZ IT & The Chronic two of my favorite albums of all time and those are albums well known for putting a lot of food on ghostwriters' plates.

Again....

If a rapper says they "don't write"...

That doesn't mean they're goin In the booth and freestyling everything you hear on the finished track without thinking about it...

A rapper might "not write"...But be sitting on a verse for 2 or 3 months...Regardless of how simple it is...If they feel a certain vibe, they lay a certain verse...Whether drugs or money or laziness come into play is a different discussion...Just cause you think a line is wack or lacks depth doesn't mean it wasn't calculated at all...That's why I keep sayin y'all missin it...

 

[qawshun]

I don't...I stopped when I was 15...Started cause I just wanted to see if I could do it...Then it just became second nature to keep my rhymes in my head....The thing is, it's not like someone who doesn't write is literally just free styling erthing...I go through the same creative process, just not on paper...

Co sign when ever I go back to writing it feels funny like I'm slowing the process down

 

[Disciplined InSight]

I know one thing...this exercise is not for those with short term memory.

 

[Paul Hate.]

Omg it doesn't matter if you can freestyle or battle..wtf..man.its 2013 people and that shit never really matter anyways.

 

[Breezy_Kilroy]

There's nothing wrong with writing. Jay was the one that made it into this supernatural/mysterious gift, but it was actually a brain exercise of memorization when he didn't have time to write when he was out hustling in the streets until it became a natural process for him. The same with Big.

Everyone else that's attempting to do this and thinking they're light years ahead spitting garbage of those that do write are fucking retards and NEED to write.

you made this nigga jay sound like a mutant

He is. Half man half mammal lol