written by PackFM on Feb 22, 2008



Tonedeff’s commentary on PackFM’s ability to freestyle and write songs without using pen and paper. Taken from the FMakalishus DVD (2006)

What’s good people. Today I want to cover a fun topic in hiphop – Freestyling. As an MC I think it’s important to be able to hold your own in a spontaneous impromptu situation as well as write a potent verse or song. However being a great freestyler does not make or break you as an artist. As I said in the documentary “Freestyle The Art of Rhyme”, either the rhyme was dope, or it was wack, it doesn’t matter if it came off the head or not.

Many rappers today claim to not “write” their rhymes, meaning they don’t use paper and pen when making them up, thus keeping everything in their head. Artists like Jay-Z, Biggie, RZA and even that Lil Wayne fella use this tactic. This is a method that I’ve been using since i first started rapping. I have never owned a “rhyme book”. But don’t get this confused with “freestyling” a song. Every word is carefully planned out, just stored in my head, rather than paper.

Even still I devote a lot of time perfecting both crafts, because my goal has always been to constantly evolve as an MC. Here’s a little clip on the subject with commentary from Tonedeff, Session and Poison Pen. I’d also like to take this time to shout out some of the best freestylers I’ve seen in my days; MC Juice, Supernatural, iCON the Mic King, C Rayz Walz and Wordsworth. So next time you list the top freestylers, I hope to see my name on that list, I mean technically I’ve never spit a “written” rhyme in my life! ;)

Feel free to leave your comments on the clip as well as on the art of freestyling, I’m sure we’ll get some interesting points of view.

Enjoy folks!