How to be a great battle rapper

Rap battling can be a very interesting, exciting, and challenging form of art. If you're a free-style rapper but never have been a battle rapper, it can be intimidating and humiliating if you don't know the first thing about battle rap. Winning a rap battle can be a great achievement and bring an outstanding sense of accomplishment within yourself, but it takes an enormous amount of effort and sets of skills to defeat your opponent. The purpose of battle rap isn't to insult your opponent. The purpose of battle rap is to come up with the most creative lines that will impress the audience. Insulting your opponent is a means of accomplishing this goal. I hope these tips will help you to become one of the best battle-rappers.

1) Rap battle against yourself - Being a battle rapper requires alot of self control and humility. Pride can make you lash out which will then get you a bad reputation among battle rappers in the community. To help you become more humble, look at yourself in the mirror and battle against yourself. Be humble and humiliate yourself. Rap about your fears, what makes you angry, annoyed, your weaknesses, etc. If you are easily offended by insults made by other rappers, it shows weakness and shows that you are easily manipulated. Accept yourself for who you are. This will put you to an emotional and psychological advantage.

2) Practice your free-style skills - The second part of being a battle rapper requires some freestyling skills in case you forget your lines during a battle. You will almost automatically get disqualified if you forget your bars so freestyle rapping comes in handy. Write a lot of rap lines and practice free-style rapping. This is important since you will be expected to free-style during your battles. Warm up and practice daily if possible, it will make you a better battle rapper when you rap-battle. Write down what you want to say and how you want to say.

3) Get a good audience - Make sure you have a audience which will fairly decide the winner of the battle. This will also let you know how many people like your rapping which can help you gain confidence. Once you build a loyal fanbase as a battle rapper, you have a strong chance of winning more battles.

4) Study your opponent thoroughly - Being a good battle rapper starts with studying your opponents. Look at their appearance, personality, beliefs, the way they talk, act, rap, etc. before you think of the most insulting lines you can to use against them. Master the art of observation and you will come up with the most dope lyrics as a battle rapper.

5) Have strong confidence - Whether your rapping or listening to your opponent rap, how you present yourself as a battle rapper is very important. Be sure to not look weak because then you will look like a loser. Don't be nervous, even if you don't know what to say next. Stay calm at all times. If you smile a lot and can't help being serious, smile at him as if you've already won the rap battle. If your careless, look so careless that it doesn't matter how good his rapping is, you can very easily defeat him without much effort. If your a serious person, look so serious as if your going to make a powerful comeback. Good posture and facial expressions are very important when rap-battling.

6) Show no mercy when you rap-battle - When it's your turn, don't worry about who is around you, just rap and immerse yourself in rapping. If you can't think of anything, try thinking of what you have and what he doesn't have then begin from there. Use everything when free-styling. Rap with a strong eagerness to defeat your opponent. Show as much confidence as possible in your voice. Talk about his family, background, race, skills, and other taboo subjects.

7) Make a strong comeback - When your opponent is done rapping, a good idea is to use his own rap against him. Take the things he described you with and insult him with it. These are called rebuttals or flips. Be very creative in your lines and stay relaxed.

A few final words:

If you lose, it's fine, accept it and be humble. If you win then congratulate yourself and your opponent for an outstanding battle. Whether you win or lose, always show respect for your opponents. Learn from your opponents lines, so you can become a better rap-battler and grow from your experiences in order to perfect your battle-rapping. Be sure to also learn from your successes as well. Being a battle rapper is a never ending quest for the expression of self.