8 Text Battle Tips.

[Xplissit]

‎8 Text Battle Tips

... Some things I've learned about text battling you should consider after the regular tuts ...

1. Don't put too much in your expo's.

Expo's are fine ... Some people, like the idiots at netcees, frown upon expo's; they think that if a bar has to be explained, it's a miss. But that's bollocks, because a personal, by its very nature is contingent with knowledge of its background. Let's say I went to the dentist on Monday, and someone made a personal punchline about it on Wednesday ... How is the guy who hasn't been online for a week going to appreciate the relevance of that punchline? ... That's why expo's are completely valid ... but what you shouldn't do is bombard the foot of your verse with the entire story. Keept it simple, don't take the reader too far away from the rhyme-scheme you've just created in their head, nor their mind from your closing bar. Keep it so that they can quickly deduce the context and move on.

2. Preserve flow.

Don't put expo's after each bar. Don't put a bar count after each bar. This breaks the flow, and makes your verse look messy. Let your verse be a stand-alone syntax that starts with the first word and ends with the last, with no interruptions. Because that's how it'll be read.

3. Don't let anyone tell you to not cap multies.

There's a pompous attitude in the text comminity when it comes capping multies. The problem is, to an experienced battler, it seems sort of patronising to "assist" them by capping multies. But on the other hand, while this is certainly annoying for them, there are far more noobs out there than vets. If you want to cap your multies, go ahead. You can't be (at least fairly) penalized for it. But you could suffer a penalty if a noob voter doesn't catch your flow and multies. Also, this helps the noobs learn, and obviously that's a good thing.

4 - Don't sway.

It just looks desperate. If your opponent is already swaying, by all means, stand up for yourself. After all, you took the time to write the verse, why should you sit back while someone is trying to beat you unfairly? But the fairest battles are the ones with 2 verses, with concise expo's, and nothing else. It's tempting to say something after you've posted - especially if you read your verse back and you start thinking of ways it could be clearer, or better worded ... but honestly, most of the time you're better off staying silent. It just looks bad. We all look at verses after they're posted and kick ourselves for what we left out or misworded, but trying to justify it afterwards only highlights that frustration... and even though you probably do care about the W, it doesn't look cool if you go grasping after it.

5 - Symbols and fonts in moderation.

Like with number 3, some people get annoyed if your verse has anything but letters in it, but to be honest, it's their problem. If you feel more comfortable highlighting a wordplay with quotation marks, or a punchline in italics, do it. Like I said before, you can't be fairly penalized for it, but it may help a reader sync with your writing. Like capping multies, mostly it isn't necessary, but if you feel better doing it, do it. Having said that, if you overload your verse with formatting, it can have the counter effect, and be confusing or messy.

6 - Text flow is not the same as audio flow.

Let's suppose we all learned to flow in text from listening to Eminem. Realistically, it just wouldn't work. We'd have slant rhymes, uneven syllable counts and transitions that simply don't do a good job of translating visually. There are things you can make work with your voice that you can't necessarily make work with text. In text, 5 syllables means 5 syllables. If you want to inject your own style into your lyrics, either do it conceptually, or move to audio. A reader most likely won't have the patience to cater for your stylistic intentions, they will take your verse at face value.

7 - Exploit the format.

Despite what some people say, text is, in some ways, superior to, and more pliable than audio. The most obvious advantage is that text is not restricted to the present. In a live battle, the verses are heard once ... that's why delivery is so important. But a verse being read can be paused, perused, pondered, and re-started. For this reason, you can allow yourself a little more room between set-up and punch ... or you can play games with language, such as creating a word from the first letters of each line. Or referencing something really old - for instance, in a text battle you could simply post an old photo of someone and use that, which isn't something you could just conjure up for use in an audio battle. Think about the advantages of text and use them.

8 - Fuck audio heads who don't respect text.

Many people will look down on you for text battling, and not shifting to audio. I had a very talented audio head say to me recently, "text battling is like the lamest way to be involved in hip hop" ... Well, I say, fuck that guy. Because I'm a talented writer, and I'm not writing to be "involved in hip hop" - I'm writing because I like to write. I own a car, but when I'm cruisin' around, I don't feel lame because I'm not in Formula 1. If you want to write, just write. If you want more, go for it. But don't let some pompous asshole make you feel bad for enjoying what you enjoy. I mean really, how many of these so-called "serious" audio artists are actually ever gonna make a career out of it? In all probability, you and I have never met one.

[Xplissit]

‎8 Text Battle Tips

... Some things I've learned about text battling you should consider after the regular tuts ...

1. Don't put too much in your expo's.

Expo's are fine ... Some people, like the idiots at netcees, frown upon expo's; they think that if a bar has to be explained, it's a miss. But that's bollocks, because a personal, by its very nature is contingent with knowledge of its background. Let's say I went to the dentist on Monday, and someone made a personal punchline about it on Wednesday ... How is the guy who hasn't been online for a week going to appreciate the relevance of that punchline? ... That's why expo's are completely valid ... but what you shouldn't do is bombard the foot of your verse with the entire story. Keept it simple, don't take the reader too far away from the rhyme-scheme you've just created in their head, nor their mind from your closing bar. Keep it so that they can quickly deduce the context and move on.

2. Preserve flow.

Don't put expo's after each bar. Don't put a bar count after each bar. This breaks the flow, and makes your verse look messy. Let your verse be a stand-alone syntax that starts with the first word and ends with the last, with no interruptions. Because that's how it'll be read.

3. Don't let anyone tell you to not cap multies.

There's a pompous attitude in the text comminity when it comes capping multies. The problem is, to an experienced battler, it seems sort of patronising to "assist" them by capping multies. But on the other hand, while this is certainly annoying for them, there are far more noobs out there than vets. If you want to cap your multies, go ahead. You can't be (at least fairly) penalized for it. But you could suffer a penalty if a noob voter doesn't catch your flow and multies. Also, this helps the noobs learn, and obviously that's a good thing.

4 - Don't sway.

It just looks desperate. If your opponent is already swaying, by all means, stand up for yourself. After all, you took the time to write the verse, why should you sit back while someone is trying to beat you unfairly? But the fairest battles are the ones with 2 verses, with concise expo's, and nothing else. It's tempting to say something after you've posted - especially if you read your verse back and you start thinking of ways it could be clearer, or better worded ... but honestly, most of the time you're better off staying silent. It just looks bad. We all look at verses after they're posted and kick ourselves for what we left out or misworded, but trying to justify it afterwards only highlights that frustration... and even though you probably do care about the W, it doesn't look cool if you go grasping after it.

5 - Symbols and fonts in moderation.

Like with number 3, some people get annoyed if your verse has anything but letters in it, but to be honest, it's their problem. If you feel more comfortable highlighting a wordplay with quotation marks, or a punchline in italics, do it. Like I said before, you can't be fairly penalized for it, but it may help a reader sync with your writing. Like capping multies, mostly it isn't necessary, but if you feel better doing it, do it. Having said that, if you overload your verse with formatting, it can have the counter effect, and be confusing or messy.

6 - Text flow is not the same as audio flow.

Let's suppose we all learned to flow in text from listening to Eminem. Realistically, it just wouldn't work. We'd have slant rhymes, uneven syllable counts and transitions that simply don't do a good job of translating visually. There are things you can make work with your voice that you can't necessarily make work with text. In text, 5 syllables means 5 syllables. If you want to inject your own style into your lyrics, either do it conceptually, or move to audio. A reader most likely won't have the patience to cater for your stylistic intentions, they will take your verse at face value.

7 - Exploit the format.

Despite what some people say, text is, in some ways, superior to, and more pliable than audio. The most obvious advantage is that text is not restricted to the present. In a live battle, the verses are heard once ... that's why delivery is so important. But a verse being read can be paused, perused, pondered, and re-started. For this reason, you can allow yourself a little more room between set-up and punch ... or you can play games with language, such as creating a word from the first letters of each line. Or referencing something really old - for instance, in a text battle you could simply post an old photo of someone and use that, which isn't something you could just conjure up for use in an audio battle. Think about the advantages of text and use them.

8 - Fuck audio heads who don't respect text.

Many people will look down on you for text battling, and not shifting to audio. I had a very talented audio head say to me recently, "text battling is like the lamest way to be involved in hip hop" ... Well, I say, fuck that guy. Because I'm a talented writer, and I'm not writing to be "involved in hip hop" - I'm writing because I like to write. I own a car, but when I'm cruisin' around, I don't feel lame because I'm not in Formula 1. If you want to write, just write. If you want more, go for it. But don't let some pompous asshole make you feel bad for enjoying what you enjoy. I mean really, how many of these so-called "serious" audio artists are actually ever gonna make a career out of it? In all probability, you and I have never met one.