For those of you who ARE past the basic level, Welcome. I’m going to give you hints and help you reach the full potential of what an expert level concept looks like. Even some of the most seasoned vets can and have learned from this tutorial. So pay attention, and you might just learn something new. In rap you already know there are categories, Punchlines, Personals, Wordplay, Complexity, Flow, Multis. But how do you take each of them and use them to their full potential? Well first let’s break it down by category and the definitions of each. Let’s start with punchlines.
Punchlines;
A punch line (or punchline) is the final part of a joke, comedy sketch, or profound statement, usually the word, sentence or exchange of sentences which is intended to be funny or to provoke laughter or thought from listeners. Few punchlines are inherently funny out of context, but when a comedian (or rapper) sets up the premise and builds up the audience's expectations, the punch line can function as the climactic part of the act or statement.
In theory, usually a punchline is “setup” by using “like”, “as” or “more than” to emphasize a comparison to another subject matter in relevance to the wordplay used beforehand. So how do I set those up? Let me give you an example.
I’ll spray at ya ride “like” a carwash.
cuz i’ve ruined more dreams than alarm clocks./
Notice the “carwash” and “Alarm Clocks” are the unexpected pun to the concept (the punch), and it has a direct relevance to the “spray at ya ride” & the “Ruined more dreams” wordplay concepts.
Q;
“But how Do I come up with those awesome punchlines like everybody else does? Where do they get their ideas from and How can I form them?”
A;
Punchlines can be found in any number of “references” to create them. What’s going on in the world? Someone famous died? What games came out lately? History? Tv? Any number of references can be used to create a punchline concept in which to use. I’ll show you a concept which I used when the reactors were blowing up in Japan and it was all over the news.
First; I took the event…. The reactors In Japan were blowing up / about to explode. Then I chose a wordplay that would fit what I was trying to say… “About To Blow”. Next I thought, Well, Who’s about to blow what? This is where the setup is crucial, I took my personal about his sister and connected the two, and added a multi to set the punchline and wordplay concepts together.
“Ya lil sister named Brianna, a Master Wit The Hands
Plus she stay “about to blow” like Reactors In Japan./”
Notice how I took the reference about the situations with the reactors in japan, and used them to find a wordplay and create the punch and setup. It works the same with any noun or event, past or present that you want to use. Usually the more recent, the fresher concept so you want to try and hop on it before anybody else does. It’s mainly just about keeping updated with ongoing events and practicing.
Another example of creating a punch. Firstly you have to choose the noun or event or topic, item etc. So for this one I chose “The Gerber Life Plan.” Ok, what do we know about the Gerber Life Plan? It’s a medical / growth / insurance plan for children. Now that we have research on the topic… What is a good wordplay that we can use to setup the punch concept?..
“Had a plan for my kids..” LIKE… Gerber Life. ← Now WHO has a plan for my kids? This is where the personal / presetup to the line before comes in handy.
“So while you thought that she was Worth A Wife?
She had a “plan for my kids”, Like Gerber Life./”
And it’s really that simple. Now I also want to stress that you do NOT have to use just a single punch in every bar. You can use multiple punches in the same bar, or even in the same line if you want. Here’s an example of this.
You look like... eddy murphy wit a hairnet, & the FACE OF A CATFISH.. So playin dinosour movies the only WAY THAT "JUR-ASS-SICK". But this aint spoken word, so when I SAY THAT IM SNAPPIN? You'll hear So much "clickin and poppin", africans'll try to CLAIM IT'S A LANGUAGE!./
Notice again how many references were used to achieve those punches back to back like that. Eddie Murphy, Jurassic Park, Spoken Word, and the African language. All of these references were used back to back and executed with a straight to the point “Wordplay then Punch” styled scheme. There are many different styles you can use.
And this is how all those hard hitting punchlines you see are setup. it’s really just a matter of taking a concept and formulating the wordplay around that concept to setup and execute it. The more complex the wordplay, the harder the entire overall punchline concept. You can’t look at it like “im just going to use punchlines all day!” To be an overall battle or musician in general, You have to be able to use the wordplays for the punchlines and the multis to flow them all together while the complexity creates the deeper meaning / harder hitting concepts. If you have any questions / concerns , feel free to inbox me here or at
www.facebook.com/skizzo101 and I will be glad to go over it with you. Hope You Enjoyed. Tune in to the other Expert Level tutorials I'll be posting soon on all the other categories.
#BeLikeSkizzo