RobTidwell said  
 so I'm probably doing something wrong in the way I'm counting.    

more this than anything, but at least youre tryin.  most ninjas dont care, and frankly, have bad ears.   

scruffy said
house of wonders is 4/4.  98% of hiphop is 4/4.  

I had to go back and play it because the way I was reading the lyrics wasn't and it was how I remembered it sounding.

The 90210 bitch with the funny hair (12)
So I'm a change a few things around here and there (12)
Start with your eyes, I pluck 'em both out your head (12)
'n pull your balls out your sack and stick 'em there instead (12)

I'm far from any kind of expert and only know what i've picked up here and there, but it seems like it's written to a 3/4 for the lyrics and the beat is 4/4. I don't think it's common to have the lyrics and beat in different time signatures so I'm probably doing something wrong in the way I'm counting.

i said i got more bars than a bar guy
you say you got more thats a far cry
and i aint talkin bout the game
cuz ya boy dont play games
except when i play games
than its goin down mane
down real low like even lower than hell
more venom than snakes and my blood colder as well
but ya boy aint a snake got more beef than a stake
mock a deagle nation rep bruh thatd be a misteak

-put like some gun sounds here like brrrrrreee breeee-

thats just a sample lol i told yall i aint playin with the raps

GET AT ME

The Warlock said

GanjaGoblin said
A bar is a verse pretty much, I think. And no I won't be trying this out. 

lol, so they gonna make people roll up & spit 16 verses holy shit haha

Psyral Infection said
What does "rap for 16-20 bars" means. What is a "bar"?

a bar is a measurement in music..

"so there you are youre sittin there just kinda chillin,   1

a richie boy you look a lil bit like dylan."   2 

thats the 1st 2 lines/bars of the verse.. not to be confused with rhymes, rappers like myself will squeeze 4 multisyllabic rhymes in 2 bars

"my pen game was phenomenal now its astronomical,   1

its comical how you think that im not on a role."   2

(although i suck apparently...) the average verse has 16 bars.. theyll prob give people a minute each instead of count em as they rap.. 

also ftr "bars!" is a recently popular slang term for really good punchlines..

You're mostly right but it's really difficult to count a measure with just words without breaking it down into the beats. The easiest way to count them is with the rhythm of a beat. 

If you have a 3/4 time sig, that means that you're using (mostly) quarter notes and you'll have three quarter notes to make up a measure.

One two three, one two three, one two three, one two three

That's four bars in a three four time measure.

They'll probably give you a beat with a simple 4/4 signature which means that you're beat is going to rely on four beats of quarter notes, but can also include other length notes.

so there you are (one)

youre sittin there (two)

just kinda chillin (three)

a richie boy (one)

you look a lil (two)

bit like dylan (three)

This beat is in 3/4 times (most rock and rap is either 3/4 or 4/4) and each syllable lands is basically "played" at 1/16th of a note. To see it in sheet music would be:

On the left side, you have 3 quarter notes, and above them you have 6 eighth notes. That would be one bar, based on this time signature. In the one on the right, the note lengths are cut in half. You have 3 eighth notes and 6 sixteenth notes.

With the two measures you wrote above:

my pen game was (four sixteenths)

phenomenal (four sixteenths)

now its astro (four sixteenths)

nomical (three sixteenths)

(one slightly irregular measure)

its comical (four sixteenths)

how you think that (four sixteenths)

im not on a (four sixteenths)

role (1 quarter)

(second irregular measure unless you stretch role out to be longer than your other syllables)

its easier than it looks, to write up a simple verse.  whether or not its a good verse...  that depends on the judges.  no tellin how thatll play out; the 'best' rappers may or may not have an advantage, its mostly circumstance.  

ima probably do this, mostly just to have the ol 'team flh' reppin at another event.  

Psyral Infection said

wonka69 said

My thoughts exactly.

I'm starting to want to do this. Problem is I have never rapped. I have never wrote lyrics. Maybe I can come up with something and you guys can give me some pointers. I have never had an issue with being in front of a crowd. I don't ever get nervous. But... the times I have done that, it has always been things I knew I was good at.

If I don't do this, I would still love to have one of our FLH people on the psypher so maybe one of ya'll can enter the audition at the Gathering and spit some fire that will put your name up there with the others... be part of Juggalo history!

If I were going, I would have certainly done this. Now that I am not, I am happy to help in any way I can.

Psyral Infection said

wonka69 said

My thoughts exactly.

I'm starting to want to do this. Problem is I have never rapped. I have never wrote lyrics. Maybe I can come up with something and you guys can give me some pointers. I have never had an issue with being in front of a crowd. I don't ever get nervous. But... the times I have done that, it has always been things I knew I was good at.

If I don't do this, I would still love to have one of our FLH people on the psypher so maybe one of ya'll can enter the audition at the Gathering and spit some fire that will put your name up there with the others... be part of Juggalo history!

do it man.

im sure everyone will pitch in to give you a hand.

im here to help if you need it.

wonka69 said

My thoughts exactly.

I'm starting to want to do this. Problem is I have never rapped. I have never wrote lyrics. Maybe I can come up with something and you guys can give me some pointers. I have never had an issue with being in front of a crowd. I don't ever get nervous. But... the times I have done that, it has always been things I knew I was good at.

If I don't do this, I would still love to have one of our FLH people on the psypher so maybe one of ya'll can enter the audition at the Gathering and spit some fire that will put your name up there with the others... be part of Juggalo history!

scruffy said
not to get anyones hopes up...  but i may, possibly, maybe, have a sliver of hope of makin it home this year, after all.  

its a longshot, to be sure.  but some chance is better than no chance, and no chance is what i had two days ago.  

if i catch about a half a dozen lucky breaks, its conceivable that i could be able to do this thing.  even then, though, there are caveats that would get in the way.  

for one, i cant fuckin stand pandering, and the kids that are gonna do well in this contest will, with virtual certainty, be the ones who pander to the juggalos.  my opinions of the juggalo in general are not the most accessible and touchy-feely, to say the least.  

so, it would take some skillfull writing, indeed, for me to come up with a verse that actually matches my honest feelings, and doesnt piss off the majority of the crowd/judges.  

@piggofdoom -  stage presence is surprisingly easy to adopt.  so easy, i have to wonder why nobody does it.  theres a zillion tricks that anyone can learn to use.  mostly, the same principles that apply to acting, apply to stage performance.  in the end, its just like pretending, like play-acting when you were a kid.  not much different, except that you arent really pretending.  

personally, i prefer to use anger and hatred.  workin myself up into a state not dissimilar to when im about to start a fight.  i find that words and energy flow out of me very naturally, without conscious effort, when im keyed up like that.  

you should absolutely consider doin this.  

I've never worked myself into a state that I'm about to start a fight. Every fight I've been in (back in middle school) that state has been caused by other people constantly fucking with me for a long period of time.