Easy This and Easy That Ill Send You Were Easy at Battle Rap
The Easiest Rap Punchline Formula Ever
USE THIS RAP PUNCHLINE TEMPLATE
- Setup Bar —————————
- (Metaphor/simile) then (punchline/subject) /
Example From Shad K:
- I got some BIG SWAG
- You couldn't (RAP THIS DOPE/WRAP THIS DOPE) with a (ZIG ZAG)
I'm kickin rhymes that barely sound possible
I got (SICKER LINES) than (DOWNTOWN HOSPITALS)
Setup bar ——————————————————
Get (PROPS ON THE STAGE) like (IMPROV NIGHT)
This is the age-old hip hop wisdom for punchline rapping. This IS the formula so many rappers have used. There are a ton of different ways to change it up and make it more fresh and new and exciting for rap punchlines.
There are a couple things going on here.
The double meaning words are more than ONE WORD. You can usually add a little bit more of a double meaning with a couple extra words.
Like if I said I'm DOPE like WEED.
That's boring af. People have heard it before. It's going to get skipped over.
Combine double meaning words and phrases to make more magic happen.
Like don't say "got me plugged in like a socket / I'm off like a rocket" Please don't.
Start with one double meaning word. Where both meanings have potential for a punchline.
Like Ail/ale has a double meaning, but it's no good. Why? No-one uses the word ail anymore.
Slang is great for this. Like DOPE/dope – two meanings right?
Bars/Bars – two meanings maybe three or four depending on how you use it.
Now you can ADD to bars or anything you pick.
Like:
I got DOPE BARS. Like I live in Colorado.
Double double. Dope for weed and dope for skills. Bars for rap bars and bars for smoking pot in colorado.
That's the punchline formula.
How To Write Good Rap Punchlines?
Crafting the perfect rap punchlines is harder than it seems. It takes times and patience to find the perfect bars. In this tutorial, you will learn some cool tips and tricks to speed up the process.
Again, we come back to smashing two things together to advance our wordplay, and get better rapper punchlines.
Normally, punchlines can be made with homophones quite easily.
What Is A Homophone?
A homophone is when two words sound the same, but have different meanings.
For example:
- Beats/Beets
- Sick/Sick
- Band/Banned
- Fore/Four
- Cast/Cast
- Organ/Organ
These all have double meanings. Homophones are a staple in rap music to create killer lines.
Lists Of Homophones
Just look at, "I got beats/beets like a farmer"
Boooorinngggggggggg.
But if you combine another double meaning word like Drop/drop – you could have "I drop beats like a clumsy farmer"
That's way doper.
How To Make Rap Punchlines
Try taking two double meaning words and put them together in a way that makes sense.
Gap close
Gap clothes
These both have two double entendres.
Gap – For retail store The Gap, and gap like 'the space between'.
Close – For closing the gap, and clothes for fabric wearable.
I'll make sure the gap close like (insert opposite meaning of line meaning).
Advancing Your Rap Wordplay
My material too tight now I'm closin/clothes in the gap
My material too tight – Fabric or clothes that are too tight to wear, OR my writing material/content in rap is tight like quality.
Oh crazy. Four double meanings in one line.
BUT..
Don't make it so freaking full of wordplay that it's confusing to understand. Many times simple is better. So I would recommend not going overboard with the double entendres in your rap punchlines.
Hopefully that gives you a little bit of extra creative juice on how to make punchlines in rap.
Wordplay, Metaphors And Similes In Rap
Wordplay is playing with words. Using similar sounds of vowels and consonants, double meanings, similes, metaphors, alliteration, puns, homophones and everything in between to give your raps some spark.
I'm going to give rap examples, so you can get a solid understanding of how to use the wordplay in your own raps. Then, you can go through some exercises at the end in order to get it down even better.
Simile In Rap
A simile is a statement where you say one object is similar to another object. Similes use the words "like" or "as."
"I drop beats like a clumsy farmer"
"Real g's move in silence, like lasagna"
"As Green as grass"
Hip Hop Metaphor
A metaphor is a statement that pretends one thing is really something else.
"My car is a running back" "The world is your oyster"
It can be a powerful way to get your point across using tangible things to express an emotion or an idea.
Oronyms Are The Dopest For Battle Or Diss Lyrics
Not too well known by its actual name. Rappers use these all the time and don't realize. Real lies. Real eyes. Ahhh you get it.
But they're great for forming wordplay in rap and having better bars in your diss tracks.
That's an oronym. When a larger word breaks down into multiple smaller words that make up a different meaning. It is my favorite type of wordplay to use. There are infinite possibilities, and you don't run into the same played out cliches, or obvious wordplay other rappers are using.
Here are some examples of dope oronyms:
Gladiator / Glad he ate her
Electron / A lecture on
Two Portapotty / too poor to party
Floor to walk on / Florida walk on
Palamino / pal of me? No
Pikachu / Peak at you
As you can see, there is trash wordplay to sift through.
Exaggeration For Hip hop Punchlines
Exaggeration is also used a lot in hip hop to convey a point. You see it a lot with battle rap. Kind of like your mamma jokes. Your mamma's so fat she blah blah make crazy outlandish statement.
But this is the essence to other, deeper more emotional comparisons as well. For example, life's more of a grind than a Starbucks machine.
The idea is to think of what you want to say. Life's a grind. Than think of other things that grind. Bigger things, little things, real things, fake things. Girls grind on you, skaters grind rails, general laborers grind metal, Starbucks grinds coffee beans.
And then try to take it to another level. Start trying to think of phrases that include grind or grinding and then look for words that can also be double meaning as well.
I'm On the grind. Nah.
Hustle and grind. Nah.
I've been grinding. Oh wait. I've BEAN grinding like baristas.
That's kind of dope right?
Best Rap Punchlines Of All Time
Some Of My Favorite Examples:
Ask Beavis I get nothin butt-head – Big L
So ahead of my time my parents haven't met yet – Big L
Too many urkels on your team, that's why your wins low –
You couldn't make fans throw up their hands if they swallowed their fingers
Like an orthopedic shoe, I got mad soul – Lil Fame
Put you on an IV, not the roman numeral four
The IV that leads to the funeral floor – Apathy
She's an overachiever so all she do is suck seed – Childish Gambino
"And I'm brainless which means I'm headless, like Ichabod Crane is, or foreplay less sex is" -Lupe Fiasco
Real G's move in silence like lasagna – Lil Wayne
I got 24 bars that say you not Great
but only dropped half a 16 You still got ate -Los
"Still get it poppin' without artist & repertoire, Cause Monch is a monarch only minus the A&R" – Pharoahe Monch
You're down, right, square like Lui Kangs fireballs – Hollohan
"I jack, I rob, I sin, I'm Jackie Robinson, except when I run base I dodge the pen"
Forget batman and robin, I'm robbin with a bat man – Rock Heltah Skeltah
I make headlines like corduroy pillows – Celph titled
I the ABC's, skip over the D's and rock the microphone with ease – Eminem
I'll eat you twice, invite you back for thirds to lose Try again and get ate 4 times like 32 – Copywrite
Source: https://rhymemakers.com/write-rap-punchlines/