So we can end all the Biggie and Jay never used pen and paper talk :

[Braman]

This is such a sign of the times. We are so used to people winning without talent, that when we see people with an actual talent we’d rather call ‘cap’ than believe someone can do something they can’t

 

[FunkDoc1112]

Do you understand how intricate a song like 22 two's is to have been written in someone's head and completed in 1 take? Jay Z is not a good off the top of the head freestyler. We know this due to his radio session with Big L(who wasn't freestyling either) in which he ran out of rhymes and tried to go off of the head. For someone who have claimed to write his entire career in his head on the spot and can't freestyle makes no sense. Think about this, Jay Z dropped out of high school and so did biggie. They couldn't do the basic curriculum at a public high school, but are memorizing 48 lines in their head over the course of an hour or 2. Did it ever occur to you that someone with that kind of ability would be a goddamn genius and test out of high school with their diploma by the age of 14 or 15?

It is nowhere near as difficult as youre making it sound

As already said, hes not freestyling on the spot but simply writing it in his head without a pen and a paper. I've written entire story chapters in my head and typed them out almost verbatim what I imagined, it's simply memory. The high school dropout thing is irrelevant, especially since Jay and Biggie were both said to have been good students until they stopped giving a fukk. Its a lot of folks out there who have remarkable skills and apply them towards bullshyt instead.

I mean shyt, how do you think a nikka like Stevie Wonder who can't see writes his music lol. Or an illiterate nikka like R Kelly.

 

[BlackDiBiase]

This just sounds like someone who can’t rap. And that’s not a diss just being real

It’d be like someone who doesn’t hoop, looking at kyrie and can’t fathom how it’s possible. Whereas if you hoop, yea he’s great but it’s not fuking black magic.

Also even if you do rap, there’s levels there too. Some nggs gotta LEARN the shyt and put their blood sweat and tears into something another dude can do naturally. Again hooping comes to mind; kids nowadays gotta get a trainer and be taught the moves that we just thought up out of thin air

I always roll my eyes at how other people react to jay z not writing. Outside of songs like 22 2’s, it’s not that hard to comprehend.

Lastly keep in mind that rapping isn’t the pinnacle of spoken word/vocabulary. For someone who does poetry, or read a lot growing up, or read the bible or dictionary, rapping is a cake walk. Words naturally come to you quicker.

Nice analogies, I see your point.

 

[Soymuscle Mike]

Yeah Meth also said that Biggie wrote the lyrics for The What, and he was around for Biggie writing other verses.

 

[BlackDiBiase]

Yeah Meth also said that Biggie wrote the lyrics for The What, and he was around for Biggie writing other verses.

RA the Rugged Man also said Big wrote when they did a collabo. One of the only men Big ever recorded his collabo with said he used a pen and pad the rest of the times Big did collabos he always went home and recorded his verse the next session. Big one of the true goats but he fabricated that sh1t and so does Jay to me.

EDIT :

Remember the story behind Brooklyn's Finest when they both looked at the pen and pad and pushed it to each other like not for me bro yeah right

Let me see if the producers clip is on youtube.

 

[Awesome Wells]

I mean even if you don't write it down on paper they could've spent an hour or all day coming up with the rhymes in their head, they weren't just walking in the booth freestyling a verse in one take for 5 minutes that's where people get it confused, most rappers just punch in these days and don't write anything down but they be in the booth forever.

This right here.

Neither Jay or B.I.G. said they "never" wrote on paper. But they would go in the booth and comp verses. Which is basically just doing the parts you have one by one. B.I.G. spoke on his process with Ego Trip. He said he has "sections" memorized and if he needs to change something, he'll just change it live in the booth. He said writing lyrics sometimes makes him lose the feeling, so he likes to come up with it when he's smoking and high in the studio.

Jay's sh*t is the same. He goes in mumbles drafts and knocks those out first. Then comes back and refines everything. But it's not hard to memorize something you never wrote down. It just takes practice. Once you do it enough, it becomes a lot easier for you.

 

[SunZoo]

This just sounds like someone who can’t rap. And that’s not a diss just being real

It’d be like someone who doesn’t hoop, looking at kyrie and can’t fathom how it’s possible. Whereas if you hoop, yea he’s great but it’s not fuking black magic.

Also even if you do rap, there’s levels there too. Some nggs gotta LEARN the shyt and put their blood sweat and tears into something another dude can do naturally. Again hooping comes to mind; kids nowadays gotta get a trainer and be taught the moves that we just thought up out of thin air

I always roll my eyes at how other people react to jay z not writing. Outside of songs like 22 2’s, it’s not that hard to comprehend.

Lastly keep in mind that rapping isn’t the pinnacle of spoken word/vocabulary. For someone who does poetry, or read a lot growing up, or read the bible or dictionary, rapping is a cake walk. Words naturally come to you quicker. I wrote poetry and as a byproduct could spit effortlessly

Also keep in mind that there are versions of Jay that are decidedly less wordy, some of his verses look a hell of a lot different written down than said aloud, a lot of space, a lot of abstraction compared to a more technical approach.

Obviously, Em isn't the most popular figure on this board but he's somebody that actually does write everything. Even if it's in crazy alignment/spirals he put's it all on paper and could probably benefit from a less rigid approach.

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

I know a few people that dropped out of highschool and ended up going to college and getting a degree so that part doesn't make sense.

are those same people memorizing entire songs in their head over the course of 2 hours? And then spitting them in one take?

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

It is nowhere near as difficult as youre making it sound

As already said, hes not freestyling on the spot but simply writing it in his head without a pen and a paper. I've written entire story chapters in my head and typed them out almost verbatim what I imagined, it's simply memory. The high school dropout thing is irrelevant, especially since Jay and Biggie were both said to have been good students until they stopped giving a fukk. Its a lot of folks out there who have remarkable skills and apply them towards bullshyt instead.

I mean shyt, how do you think a nikka like Stevie Wonder who can't see writes his music lol. Or an illiterate nikka like R Kelly.

Jay Z said himself in an interview, that he asked a rapper(we now know it to be Nas) to appear on "Can I live" and when the rapper refused he had to quickly write another verse(on paper) to the rest of the song. Now, ask yourself, why didn't he just write those 16 lines in his head like the rest of the album?

It is very much possible to memorize 4 bars here, 4 bars here, over and over. That's possible. I can do that. There is absolutely nobody writing full songs as ill as Jay Z and Biggie over the course of an hour or 2 and spitting full songs in 1 take. There is no way any of you believe this nonsense. I refuse to believe you are this gullible. Stevie Wonder also writes and reads in braille.

 

[Soymuscle Mike]

Also keep in mind that there are versions of Jay that are decidedly less wordy, some of his verses look a hell of a lot different written down than said aloud, a lot of space, a lot of abstraction compared to a more technical approach.

Obviously, Em isn't the most popular figure on this board but he's somebody that actually does write everything. Even if it's in crazy alignment/spirals he put's it all on paper and could probably benefit from a less rigid approach.

So did Pac, and certain rhymes he would underline or italize the words that he would enunciate in his GOATish ways.

 

[Tommy Gibbs]

This right here.

Neither Jay or B.I.G. said they "never" wrote on paper. But they would go in the booth and comp verses. Which is basically just doing the parts you have one by one. B.I.G. spoke on his process with Ego Trip. He said he has "sections" memorized and if he needs to change something, he'll just change it live in the booth. He said writing lyrics sometimes makes him lose the feeling, so he likes to come up with it when he's smoking and high in the studio.

Jay's sh*t is the same. He goes in mumbles drafts and knocks those out first. Then comes back and refines everything. But it's not hard to memorize something you never wrote down. It just takes practice. Once you do it enough, it becomes a lot easier for you.

that's believable. memorize 4 bars here, put it down, and repeat. Someone sitting for an hour and writing an entire 48 bar, 3 verse song in their head and spitting it one take is certified bullshyt that only a goddamn fool would believe.

 

[Awesome Wells]

RA the Rugged Man also said Big wrote when they did a collabo. One of the only men Big ever recorded his collabo with said he used a pen and pad the rest of the times Big did collabos he always went home and recorded his verse the next session. Big one of the true goats but he fabricated that sh1t and so does Jay to me.

Minnesota said B.I.G. didn't write his verse on paper for this too. He just came up with it over time, on the spot. Mumbling to himself. They played the beat, and he put it together right there. Minnesota said he told Pudgee that he had to put Tariq on the record, if he wanted the beat dirt cheap. He said that's how the record came about.

And Nashiem, Easy Mo Bee and mad other dudes said B.I.G. wasn't writing on Life After Death either. Dude would sit and just come up with sh*t as the beats played.

Guru always speaks about how he would be in the studio with Jay and watch him come up with verses without paper, and would go back and forth between different rooms recording multiple songs at the same time with sh*t he came up with on the spot. If you do that sh*t enough, you'll get dope at it.

 

[Awesome Wells]

that's believable. memorize 4 bars here, put it down, and repeat. Someone sitting for an hour and writing an entire 48 bar, 3 verse song in their head and spitting it one take is certified bullshyt that only a goddamn fool would believe.

That's what Wayne was doing '03-'07, all day.

On joints like "So Many Places", he was just coming up with sh*t as he went. Knock out 4-6 bars, chill and sit for a minute, then get back in the booth and do another 4. Back and forth. Then get back in to fix the parts that didn't work.

Jay mastered that by Dynasty and The Blueprint. He was able to hold 16 bars for multiple songs and record more than one song at the same time, as he came up with the verses. Going room to room and not putting anything on paper. It's wild.

 

[FunkDoc1112]

Minnesota said B.I.G. didn't write his verse on paper for this too. He just came up with it over time, on the spot. Mumbling to himself. They played the beat, and he put it together right there. Minnesota said he told Pudgee that he had to put Tariq on the record, if he wanted the beat dirt cheap. He said that's how the record came about.

And Nashiem, Easy Mo Bee and mad other dudes said B.I.G. wasn't writing on Life After Death either. Dude would sit and just come up with sh*t as the beats played.

Guru always speaks about how he would be in the studio with Jay and watch him come up with verses without paper, and would go back and forth between different rooms recording multiple songs at the same time with sh*t he came up with on the spot. If you do that sh*t enough, you'll get dope at it.

And DJ Premier said when they did Unbelievable Biggie basically sat there in silence while he was making the beat and then boom, hopped in the booth.

 

[Street Knowledge]

Jay hasn’t written down a verse since the second verse in can I live