How To Rap Fast (12 Simple Tips)

Most aspiring rappers think it takes years of practice and expensive lessons before you can even begin to think about rapping fast. And even then, most people never reach a point where they feel like their skills are good enough for them to want to perform in front of an audience.

Of course, years of practice will help, but did you know that you can learn how to rap fast by following a few simple steps?

Carry on reading for our top tips for rapping fast!

Tip 1: Choose Your Style Of Music.

Before we jump into the practical tips, first, let’s get the groundwork in place.

Unless you plan on hitting the rap battle circuit or simply busting some acapella, you’re going to need some beats to rap over.

This will mainly depend on what type of music you like listening to the most and how you want your rap song to sound.

Hip Hop has been around for decades, so there are plenty of different styles that you can choose from.

Or maybe you’d prefer to spit bars over some Drum & Bass or creating some Emo Rap. If you don’t already know what type of music you should be rapping over, it’s worth checking out a few different genres to see which one appeals to you the most.

Ideally, you want to find instrumental music that lends itself to the type of flow you’re going for.

Tip 2: Listen To Other Rappers And Emulate Their Flow.

There is nothing wrong with using some of your favorite rappers as inspiration. In fact, they probably did the same thing when they first started.

This is a great way to find what flow best suits you, plus give you ideas about technique, wordplay, and delivery.

You can also search for different styles and hear how other rappers deliver their lyrics and tell their story.

Some rappers like to use complicated lyrics, while others prefer short phrases or repeat hooks throughout their verses.

The best way to figure out what style suits you is through trial and error. Once you’ve found a style that resonates with you, you can start to work on creating your own flow.

For some seriously fast rapping, check out Busta Rhymes.

Tip 3: Plan What To Say

Freestyle rapping is exciting, but planning ahead of time what you intend to rap about can really help you improve your flow and your overall rap skills. Yes, you may want to freestyle rap, but I’d recommend writing your bars down, especially when starting.

By writing down the words you find interesting, your mind will be trained to come up with rhymes on the fly more easily. Create combinations of words that rhyme well together so that when you start rapping, your mind will be on autopilot, and the flow is more natural.

What is your message you want to get across?

There’s no reason your rap lyrics should sound like a monotone drone. You can be passionate and creative in all aspects of life, including rapping!

If you’re passionate, and the words resonate with you, they will most likely also resonate with people who listen.

Experiment with different kinds of wordplay. Traditionally, mouth rhyming looks at the sounds shared between two words; however, you could also use near rhymes or even rhyme one word to a compound verb/noun.

Use a rhyming dictionary (such as RhymeZone) to find rhymes for words by entering the word in question. It’ll come up with other words that can also work well together.

Many rappers find success by using something called “assonance,” which means they use similar vowel sounds close together while rhyming syllables.

Tip 4: Warm Up Your Voice

You’ve probably been told to “warm-up that voice,” but what does that mean exactly? It means you’re about to get your vocal cords all warmed and flexible in preparation for talking, singing, or in your case, rapping.

There are a lot of ways you can do this. Some people like warming their voices with water by putting warm tap water into the palm of one hand (you don’t want it hot because it could burn your throat), then taking slow deep breaths from both nostrils while saying ‘ahhh.’

Others may prefer using a humming exercise, which is done similarly to breathing exercises such as yoga; Take long inhales through the nose followed by longer exhales out through pursed lips whilst humming.

Another technique to warm up is to massage your jaw. Tension in the chin area is often overlooked and has been known to wreak havoc on many people’s tone of voice. To release this unwanted tension, gently rub circles with moderate pressure using both thumbs below your cheekbone moving toward your chin.

Finally, you can buzz your lips together, and in a nice controlled way, work your vocal range up high, followed by back down low. Do this a few times, and you’re good to go!

Tip 5: Breathing Technique

This one’s a biggie! Like with any vocal performance, you need to learn how to breathe correctly. The most important thing is that your breathing and speaking go at the same pace so that every time a word pops out of your mouth, it coincides with inhaling or exhaling.

You can check out how you are breathing by standing in front of a mirror, putting your hand on the middle of your upper belly, around the last ribs from the bottom of your ribcage, and taking a deep breath. Your stomach should expand slightly. This is what is called diaphragmatic breathing.

Note on the diaphragm: The diaphragm is an involuntary muscle. We cannot directly control the diaphragm’s movements; we can only influence how it rises and falls with the correct posture and muscle engagement.

If you see your shoulders rising, you are breathing shallowly. To counter that, think about breathing into your feet and imagine they are expanding.

Tip 6: Practice Speaking Slowly And Clearly, Then Gradually Increase The Pace

This technique will allow you to get used to the cadence of words and phrases in your lyrics. It can be helpful to write down what order they’ll appear in before starting this practice session and pay close attention to any difficult words or tongue twisters. It may take some time for them to become more comfortable and make sure their pronunciation is correct.

Diction is important, as it determines how clear a lyric is and how well your words flow.

A few techniques you can use to improve your diction are :

• Speaking slowly and clearly, then gradually increase the pace as you feel more comfortable.
• Read out loud to yourself in a mirror or with your own voice recorder, then listen back.
• You can improve your diction by speaking whilst having an obstruction, such as a cork or an ice cube in your mouth. In this exercise, hold the object between your lips while speaking clearly around it so that your precision of speech improves with time and practice.

Tip 7: Take Your Time And Be Deliberate With Each Word You Say

Like the previous tip, this will help with the flow of your rapping and allow you to deliver each line in a clear, precise, and easy for listeners.

Consider what tone to deliver. Is it playful or serious? This will influence your delivery choices as well as word choice.

For instance, if you are trying to be funny, then using silly words would be a good fit; however, if you’re going for a more serious vibe, then avoiding those types of words would better option.

The same principle applies when determining how much emphasis should go on certain syllables- often differentiating between stressed and unstressed syllables can make all the difference in conveying meaning from one rap verse to another.

Tip 8: Use Pauses To Emphasize Important Words Or Phrases In The Lyrics

Sometimes less is definitely more, and that is especially the case when it comes to rapping.

Pauses are one way of making your words have more impact, and when you are rapping fast, this gives you a good opportunity to take a breath.

Try using them for emphasis in some lines without overdoing it.

Tip 9: Use The Words And Phrases You Know Well, And Gradually Add More Difficult Ones Into Your Lyrics As You Get Better

As your rapping improves and it starts to get faster, your confidence and skill level will improve. This is the time when you want to start adding in more words with difficult pronunciations.

This is especially the case when it comes to rhyming words with more than one syllable, as that becomes much easier when you are rapping fast.

It’s also a good idea to start experimenting outside of your comfort zone because this can help increase your skill level even further and really make you stand out from other rappers who aren’t willing to take those risks.

Add some pauses for emphasis on certain key phrases or lyrics – Use the easiest words first, and then add harder ones as your skills improve.

Be careful not to overdo it, though. Often people get carried away and try to run before they can walk. Remember the earlier tips, and concentrate on the clarity of your bars.

Tip 10: Don’t Forget About Punctuation! It Can Help With Your Flow

If you want to make your raps sound more natural, take advantage of punctuation.

Punctuation can help with the flow, and it will keep things from sounding monotonous because it breaks up sentences in a way that makes sense for rap music.

Tip 11: Practice Rapping With A Metronome To Help Keep Your Rhythm Steady

When rapping, timing is everything, especially as you become faster at it. A metronome is a convenient tool and will help you keep your rhythm steady as it ticks away the seconds.

This is great if you want to spit an acapella; if not, use the track’s beat to keep you on point.

Tip 12: Keep Your Tongue In The Same Place For Every Word

It’s not called a tongue twister for nothing, and it’s easy to get yourself tied up in knots quickly.

A great technique to prevent this is to keep your tongue in the same position for every word. By doing this, you will be able to wrap your tongue around the word in a natural way and won’t feel like you are choking on it.

Bonus Tip: Record Yourself And Listen Back

This bonus tip is a crucial one.

It’s easy to get caught up in the moment when you’re rapping and not realize that what’s coming out of your mouth sounds like a bunch of incoherent gibberish.

The best way to spot your mistakes and see where you can improve is to record yourself and listen back.

Record yourself over a beat so that you’ll spot exactly how fast is too fast for you and when to slow down.

You’ll also be able to see just where your weaknesses lie and find ways around them.

It can be a bit cringy to listen back to at first, but it really is the best way to improve.

And it doesn’t have to be done through loads of fancy recording equipment. Simply using the record function on your phone is enough to get you started.

How To Rap Fast – FAQ

Final Words

The truth is nobody knows exactly how fast they can go without breaking their words or getting tongue-tied because different people speak at different speeds. This means there are no absolute rules about how fast someone should go when rapping as long as they’re not slurring over their words or struggling significantly with pronunciation.

It may take a little time and some trial-and-error, but once you know what technique is best suited for your voice and flow, you’ll be able to rap faster than ever.

The only other thing I can say is this: have fun! Rap with pace, but don’t sacrifice your style or personality to do so. Be yourself at all costs because nobody else will be able to bring out those qualities as authentically as you can.

And with these tips we’ve gone through; hopefully, that process will get easier too.

Good luck on your journey of becoming a rap god!