What is a Freestyle?

What is a Freestyle?

In terms of hip hop culture, what does the term “freestyle” mean to you?

Long ago, in an interview for the book How To Rap, Big Daddy Kane described a freestyle as a verse that was “free of style”. He was implying that it was meant to be a silly verse for fun with no direction. In all my rap listening and research, I never heard anybody else refer to the verses that way, yet, we have hit a point in hip-hop over the last 20 years where the general definition of the term “freestyle” has changed.

The first hyped “freestyle” I can really remember was Jay-Z’s around 2003 over the “Pump It Up” beat. It was the verse where he threw out the memorable Tracy McGrady line and took a few shots at Joe Budden. I’m still unclear on whether that was “off the dome” or pre-written, but coming from the guy that composes in his head, we’ll never really know.

I grew up believing the term freestyle meant an unrehearsed verse. I’d listen to my brother or kids at school rhyme over a beat and you could see them composing the verse and thinking through their next line on the spot. It was most impressive when you could keep it going for a long time. Could you rhyme, stay on beat, and slip in some clever lines simultaneously? Nobody would know until the words flew out of your mouth. Plus, it was easy to tell when somebody brought something they had memorized, written, or stolen. It’s the sign of a skilled person because you can’t execute the feat without decent vocabulary, recall, and rhythm. I’ve grown pretty good at it in recent years and tried to keep it in the tradition of the greats that I came up listening to.

I’ve been lucky to catch Common live in concert a few times and as the rap pioneer that he is, he includes a traditional freestyle in his shows. In one show, he called a girl on stage, and asked her some general information. He wanted to know her name, where she was from, etc. They played a beat, and he proceeded to deliver a completely unrehearsed verse about her and his weekend at this particular music festival. The crowd was in awe as he kept the rhymes going for more than 3 minutes without missing a beat! It’s always been a signifier to me of a true MC, or somebody that has put in a ridiculous amount of time into the craft of rapping.

These days, rappers of all ages release tracks or videos labeled freestyle that are different from what many of us are used to. Nearly 2 years ago, Nas put out a track titled “Lost Freestyle” on his Lost Tapes 2 album. Now, it typically means that a rapper is going to rap beyond the typical sixteen-bar verse structure of classic rap songs without a hook and with many more punchlines. Many of these attempts fall flat, but it’s very clear as to what the performer is attempting. The difference that many new listeners can’t identify is that this most recent generation of freestyles aren’t spontaneous at all, they are clearly written with the intention to show listeners they are capable of clever lines.

It is not uncommon to hear a less lyrical rapper get on a classic boom bap beat and suddenly alter his flow under the title of freestyle. I guess it is a form of homage that these aren’t really done over fast-paced beats or with autotune. It feels like an admission that previous eras of rap were more focused on a different type of artistry and this is an acceptable way to give credit to that part of the culture. Freeestyles look like this now:

They occur during visits to major hip-hop radio shows. They garner less attention than big singles or tik tok songs, but we ooh and ahh for a few days at the barrage of bars.

It’s small things like these that have continued to create a divide between hip-hop’s OG’s and the newest wave of contributors. Now, when I think about what a freestyle is, my final answer is: there is no official definition of the term. It currently has about three different meanings, and they’re more directly tied to the generation of rap you associate with most. Even the word “freestyle” has become a freestyle depending on your context.

Episode 9: noonesoriginal

Episode 9: noonesoriginal

Way Back: Casino (1995)

Way Back: Casino (1995)