lil puppet x3
Phoenix Fist
-flow
-metaphors
-clear punchlines
-lyrics
-clear subject matter
i listed them in the order of personal importance.
if you're a good lyricist, nobody will pay attention to you if your flow is garbage. but i've seen garbage lyricist keep people's attention with a sick a** flow.
people like metaphors and punchlines. these are the things that make people go, "OHH!!" they complement the flow nicely.
subject matter is the least important to most listeners... obviously. just look at what's popular these days. XD in most freestyles, there isn't even a subject. just a dude flowing and trying to throw in some punches and metaphors wherever he can. but if you can do the rest AND have a subject matter that you can actually stick to, more power to you.
(assuming that you're talking about audio, and not keystyling)
ok, then what about keystyling
for keystyling:
-clear punches
-flow
-lyrics
-subject matter
-visual effect
punches almost always take the entire battle on their own. you can ask Spades, ceaz, Terrence, and Silver that one.
flow compliments the punches, so make sure that when people read your rhymes, that they can keep the rhythm when they're mentally rapping it themselves. even though punches are usually the default winner, a wack flow can be the punchline's kryptonite.
lyricist don't usually win battles on lyrics alone, so this usually goes hand in hand with subject matter to compliment each other. Mak used to be pretty good about this, and won the majority of his battles with these. pick a subject to stick with, and be creative with your lyrics with it. Stryker later adopted this style as well before slowly combining the other elements to go with them as he got better.
i replaced metaphors with visual effect, because metaphors aren't that important in keystyle battles. they're mainly good to use by lyricist in freeflow. with the exception of punches, visual effects are a personal favorite of mine, although they're strictly optional. i like them because they make the readers picture whatever you want them to picture. could gross them out, could make them laugh, or whatever else.
humorous visual:
Quote:
why even accept this challenge? this kid must be
stoned like
Bedrock,
to think my
flaming punches wont make a perm from his dreadlocks.
gross out:
Quote:
i like to rub Oil of Olay all over my cojones(ca-hone-ays),
before i peirce ya with my wood like my name's Kagome.
both examples of visuals. one amusing to picture, and the other you wish you didn't picture.
rofl
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