Skizzo’s Rap Bible (Advanced / Expert Tutorial)
For those of you who ARE past the basic level, Welcome. I’m going to give you hints and help you reach the full potential of what an expert level concept looks like. Even some of the most seasoned vets can and have learned from this tutorial. So pay attention, and you might just learn something new. In rap you already know there are categories, Punchlines, Personals, Wordplay, Complexity, Flow, Multis. But how do you take each of them and use them to their full potential? In this next installment, I will be going over Wordplay and how to achieve an expert level in using them.
The thing most people DON’T know, is that there are many different types of wordplays. That’s right, It’s not just ONE magic way to form a wordplay and execute them. Let’s start with the more traditional wordplays and then we’ll go from there. Understand that the wordplay is mainly used to setup the punchlines, BUT, you can also use the wordplay AS the punchline as well.
Homonyms;
In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that share the same spelling and pronunciation but may have different meanings. Examples of homonyms are the pair stalk (part of a plant) and stalk (follow/harass a person) and the pair left(past tense of leave) and left (opposite of right), also such as mouth (of a river) and mouth (of an animal).
This is the first of the simple wordplays to use.
......cuz you “Open Your
Mouth”, but still have a hard time trynna “Stay
Current”, Like a River-with-a-Dam-In-It./”
One of the parts of a river is called a “Mouth”, and obviously the “current” homonym is “current” as in up to date, and current as in water flowing. Notice the punch after the homonym wordplay, “Like” a river with a dam in it. The mouth and Current wordplay are a perfect example of homonyms in action. They basically are the same word, in spelling and pronunciation but have different meanings. other homonym examples are “Rose” as in flower, and “Rose” and in past tense to rise. These can all be crafted into wordplays to use as setups to your punch. Now these are NOT to be confused with “homophones”, which I will explain next.
Homophones;
A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning, and may differ in spelling. The words may be spelled differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too. Now Homophones TECHNICALLY, can also be spelled the same and also be called homonyms, but let’s stick with this definition for easier classification. These type of wordplays are also pretty basic. It’s basically using a word that is pronounced the same as another word, but differs in spelling and / or meaning. A few examples are; Blue / Blew, Rose / Rows, Hide / Hyde (As In Jackyll & Hyde).
“... But You Just “
Blue/Blew Ya Shot”, Like A Smurf In A Shootin Range./”
Pretty Simple right? Pretty much, Homonyms allows you to execute the punchline in a more direct approach, and homophones allow more of a bend with your concept in connecting two or more completely different concepts. Both are wordplay, but as you see now… these are two very different ways to use and create them. Now let’s step into a more complex way to form wordplays. This is where it gets fun.
Oronym;
An oronym is A pair of phrases (or sentences) that are pronounced similarly due to phonological juncture. Essentially, It’s A sequence of words (for example, "ice cream") that sounds the same as a different sequence of words ("I scream").
Now unlike homophones and homonyms, these types of wordplays are connected with phonological junctures, which put simply, just means the annunciation of the words match each other to form a completely different sentence / phrase.
Simpler oronyms can be made like;
She took “A Nice Cold Shower.” (An Ice Cold Shower)
The “Stuffy Nose” can be destructive. (Stuff He Knows)
On a more complex oronym style, You can also use the words to phonetically combine the words to mesh into the words after them to create an entirely whole new sentence. Here’s a few examples to what I mean. A concept the user “Manhattan” posted in his last battle:
“We All Know Ya Tribe Utter Failures.”
“We All know ya Try But Are Failures.”
Notice how phonetically, you can pronounce those sentences the same way and have the desired effect to become an entirely new sentence. This is how oronyms work. It’s basically just using the phonetics of the words and meshing / combining them into new words to make the wordplay work.
Next; There is also something called a “Wordplay Phrase” or more commonly known as an "Idiom".
Wordplay Phrases are entirely different from Homonyms, Homophones & oronyms in the way that.. they don’t use a homonym, or any other technical wordplay to work. It uses a phrase to add emphasis to the punch WITHOUT the use of the other wordplays. Most commonly, Idioms play a MAJOR role in these as they have a lot of them you can look up online or even come up with yourself. I’ll post a few examples for you.
“... & you’ll get
“Blown out the water”... Like Michael Phelps wit the bong incident./”
“..but You a little
“Light In The Chest”... Like the Battery For Ironman./”
Notice here, there is no real homonym, homophone, or phonetically enhancing oronyms to support the punch. The wordplay phrase itself means exactly what it says, and it’s the punch that twists the phrase itself to mean two different concepts. It’s pretty basic, but these are what wordplay phrases / Idioms look like. For more examples, just look up Idiom examples online. An idiom is basically those little sayings that people use all the time. Like "Eye of the tiger"... or "Hot As Hell"... Stuff like that.
Now, I also want to note that there are also wordplays like Hypocatastasis; which is a figure of speech that declares or implies a resemblance, representation or comparison. It differs from a metaphor, because in a metaphor the two nouns are both named and given; while, in hypocatastasis, only one is named and the other is implied, or as it were, is put down underneath out of sight. Hence hypocatastasis is an implied resemblance or representation: that is an implied simile or metaphor. A hypocatastasis has more force than a metaphor or simile, and expresses as it were a superlative degree of resemblance. If I said “You are like a beast!” That would be a similie and therefore infer a punch. If i said “You’re A Beast!” That would be a metaphor, and if I said “Beast!” That would be a Hypo (For Short), because it IMPLIES that im calling YOU a beast, without saying that you are directly.
But most of those kind of wordplays are either used for topicals or they require bending pronunciation of words and I don’t personally feel that to be an extremely necessary tool. Once you master these basic wordplays, then you can go on and look for others you like / feel comfortable with using.
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading. This is Skizzo, and If you have any questions or concerns, then hitup my inbox on here or at
www.facebook.com/skizzo101
Thanks.
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Skizzo's Rap Bible (Expert; Wordplay)
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