Rap Tutorials: Tha Dynasty's Tutorial

This 'tutorial' is designed to encourage growth within the community and will include tips on battling techniques and voting...

Battling

There isn't an iron-clad way of doing things, a common mis-conception is that you NEED punchlines to win a battle...this is not true at all - well written, snappy punchlines are the most commonly used and the easiest way to learn how to win battles and are most important in short battles where you need every line to count...there are many ways to punch but what you need to remember to do is DISS your opponent...you dont have to use wordplay, similes, metaphors or any other written device "you are a fucking loser" is a diss, the same diss can be made more interesting/effective by adding a simile "you are a fucking loser like saddam in the war" (the like part makes it a simile) you can also make the diss into a metaphor by changing the wording...a metaphor is EXACTLY the same as a simile APART from you dont include the word "like" and instead same something "is" something else...in this example: "you are a bigger loser than Saddam in the war"...its important that you remember you need to include something to compare Saddam to...obviously when you take out the word "like" I have replaced it with "bigger" to form a different comparison...both are just as effective...Another common misconception is that multis are REQUIRED in a battle verse, like...if someone has better multis or more multis than someone else then their verse is somehow better (this is sometimes true but not always)...the key idea here is that multis are used to ASSIST your flow, exactly the same with a rhyme scheme, if you can flow well enuf WITHOUT multis and WITH a basic rhyme scheme then there is really no need at all to include multis in your verses, and its better to flow with a simple scheme and have hard hitting battle verses than to have forced multis that do not rhyme fully or effectively (I wont lie, its much easier to flow by using multis but if you are sacrificing content for your multis you will rarely win a battle against someone that can use effective punches - obviously if your opponent cant flow that well and cant throw nice punches then its a system worth considerin for some battles)...There are also other ways to make your verse more interesting...Personification is when you give a non-human object human qualities, for instance: "I'll leave your punchlines bleeding in the street" punchlines cant bleed but by using personification you give the impression that your gona beat your opponents punchlines they would be bleeding in the street...which introduces another important concept...YOU DONT HAVE TO STATE EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO, its better to leave your lines open to interpretation to the voters by not being over-specific, BUT on the flip side...you need to be specific enough for the voters to catch onto what you are talkin about - a punchline that requires reams of explanation is not effective (a little explanation is ok but if you find yourself having to explain a lot then you should question how hard the punch really is - obviously there are exceptions to every rule, but in general this is a good guide)

The MOST IMPORTANT thing in a battle is to DISS ORIGINALLY...dont use played wordplay, dont use played disses, dont use simple concepts for punches (whether its the diss, the simile, the metaphor) but DONT BE OVERLY COMPLEX...you need to be witty, and the wittiest lines and concepts are fluid moving from the diss to the "execution" of the diss in a witty/funny way...whether this is a simile or waheva...people sometimes think that the longer their lines and the longer there multis and the more complex there ideas the better their whole verses are...THIS IS NOT TRUE, the best ideas are complex but dont appear so...Yes, using elements is an important aspect of any verse but dont force your elements, its better not to bother...feel free to experiment, but listen to criticisms from the more experienced heads

Also, there are MANY styles you can adopt...an important thing to remember is QUALITY not QUANTITY...too much of a good thing in a verse lessens the effectiveness of the element you used...for example, if you check my battle with Perfecto in Lyrical Warfare you will see 14bars of good wordplay but the problem with that verse was that there was too much wordplay, meaning the effectiveness of the verse and the punches was weakened...try to use a little bit of all the elements in an original way...and remember, some filler is a good thing...the longer the battle is, the more filler you want to see because when you have a punchline then its effect is increased...the key is that you need to make your filler interesting and occasionally dissing so that there is an actual point of it being there...which brings me onto:

Voting

When voting battles you need to realise every battle is different...both first and second spitters have advantages and disadvantages and you need to take into consideration how well each battler took advantage of those and how they limited the weakness of the disadvantages (assumin there are flips...which you should usually allow as a first spitter because you have certain advantages from droppin first)...You as a voter are BOUND to have different opinions from other voters, so you really shudnt bother reading other voters comments before you vote - they have already voted, if you take on board what they say then the voter you decided you agreed with may have well have had his vote counted twice - if you give an honest opinion on each battle and how you saw it there really aren't many people that will be annoyed with you, the majority of bitching that goes on are when people dont justify certain opinions and comment on things they really aren't certain about - you dont have to vote on every 'element' in your vote BUT if you arent certain about what certain elements are or how they are effective thats ok, but you shouldnt use the category voting system....There are different methods of voting - each has advantages and disadvantages, but I'd like to bring to your attention as a voter the FLAWS of a certain system and what you can do to counteract the problems...this voting system is the Category system...

Voting in Categories

The primary problem with this system is its very nature...which categories do you include and can certain elements really be separated? Also, are all the categories of equal importance? Also, do elements tell the true story of the battle?

For example, if you think that Punches and Flow are the two most important factors then why bother analysing everything else? You may as well just scrap your system and say "Even though Person X used nice multis I felt his punches werent as nice as Person Y's and thats why I voted against him"...Equally, if you have punches as a category you need to think why you gave this person the punches...for example, you may have thought his punches were good because of his similes...but then how can you give a person the punches category and the simile category because thats unfair because your gettin 2categories for the price of one...also, people tend to exclude a couple of categories, for instance:

Multis = X     Punches = Y     Sims/Metas = X

^^ The problem here is WHY you gave person X the multis...was it because this person had more multis? If so, then you need to make a new category, remember QUALITY NOT QUANTITY...the AMOUNT of multis IS NOT a deciding factor for the multis category...you need to introduce a "Rhyme Scheme" category...Your opinion on the multis could be for any reason...in short, TO AVOID A LOT OF TROUBLE you should really do your votes with categories like this:

Multis = X BECAUSE I thought they made his flow better, even though they were shorter they were smoother than Y's multis (You reason can be anything you like...BUT IT CANT BE "because I prefered them" as this implies that you eitha didnt understand the multis or didnt catch them)

^^ And this is the very essence of how you can solve the problem with the category voting system...you simply need to put a simple reason why you thought the person took each category and add up the categories....The only problem is if you think different categories are less important, then you need to consider scrapping your category system and simply putting a short explanation of why you thought the person won the battle won the battle...I really wouldnt advocate any sort of category system without explanation because in truth, categories are not an explained vote and neither is "X won because he had more categories" (unless the categories are explained)

Really there are too many problems with this system, and it would be much easier to vote on how you thought the battle went rather than breaking down multis because categories take out the aspect of battle VERSE...like I sed above about my battle with perfecto...there may have been an occasion where elementally a person was good but ACROSS A VERSE the effect of the punches was weakoned...you should really try and take a battle verse as a battle verse...vote on what you know - if your not sure, dont vote on it and ask in rap tutorials later...

PEace