OH shyt. now I remember, he WAS the headline, the other 2 might have been in his crew or his homies. but they all did it.
Either that or it's a blatantly pre-written memorized verse.
In college, Cam had a song (I think it was on a clue tape) where he went "Back in the days, we was slaves, whips and chains, so u see its in my blood, whips and chains". Being in the south, I knew my circle of friends wasn't listening to the b side of clue tapes (not like that), so every know and then I used like a Mysone rhyme or something lol as a rhyme starter "Its Mysone, lefty gun in my right palm." Then go from there flowing with what hit me ("Live nikkas better relax or they gone die calm").
I'm not around young dudes like that, but this (bolded) is sad as a "hiphop baby". It's probably how people who loved break dancing felt when younger generations (like mine) didn't care about it.
Like you said we used to rap and battle all the time! on some " you straight, but you don't want it with my homie" type stuff. You wanted to be the best on your block, your neighborhood, then your school and you'd battle other dudes in the city. People would rap everywhere (lunch rooms, smoke sessions, in bleachers at games, etc.) its just what we did. It was dope to learn that something that came naturally to you was impressive to others as a kid.
I remember in elementary I used to love Keith Murray. So my go to "freestyle starter" was "My rhymes are the most beautifulist thing in the world" then go from there with whatever came up "Smooth with it, keep up or lose ya girl" or whatever lol. Fast rapping (even if you weren't saying shyt) was an automatic easy win at Jr High school dances. B side instrumentals taught me how to count bars...till this day I cant explain how to count bars, but put on a beat and I'll rap exactly 16 leading to the hook easily because I rapped over things like the Hypnotize Biggie single my mom bought me (which had various versions of the song including the beat only").
I used to cheat at times and use obscure rhymes that I new my circle weren't listening to.
Kinda off topic...but this is why I love the new Nas/Premier album. If you hiphop baby some part of you gotta love it.
If you're in NY, there's Legendary Cyphers
Tbf there's footage of Ghostface Killah on Stretch and Bobbito in 93 reading a "freestyle" off paper lolWhen that bozo Drake pulled out his phone when Flex asked him to freestyle
And nobody said shyt. Knew he was an industry plant not from the culture then
After I heard Jay's Grammy Family Freestyle.......that shyt was so elite, from that point on it irked me when I saw "freestyle" attached to "freestyles"
I know I'm breaking kayfabe but we're all adults here, lol
An off the dome freestyle is literally impossible for the majority of people. And when rappers actually go off the dome, it's gonna sound like some dr. Seuss, mother Goose shyt
You either rap an old written verse to a new beat, recite lyrics you already came up with in your head, or just ad lib simple shyt that works for the beat
Ain't nobody coming up with their best double entendres and flips spur of the moment. It's some level of premeditation going on, but yall be buying into the myth these rappers invented. Problem only is that most rappers can't pre-write something on the level of past greats. But even the usuall suspects of best rappers like nas, kendrick, pac, and big aren't as known for their freestyles like a Jadakiss, fabolous, or lupe
So it's not like it even stops you from being in the goat conversation. Yet if a rapper can't "freestyle" it's seen as a sign of the genre's decline as a whole
