What do rappers mean by “freestyle”? What is a freestyle? What does it mean to freestyle?
The slang terms “Freestyle” and “Freestyling” are nouns and verbs, which is used in the music industry and by rappers to reference rap or rapping made off the top of the dome.
Freestyle means to rap off the top of your head and “free of style”
Freestyling means to be rapping off the top of your head and “free of style”.
“In the 80’s when we said we wrote a freestyle rap, that meant it was a rhyme that you wrote that was free of style. Meaning it’s not a subject matter, it’s not a story about a women, it’s not a story about poverty, it’s basically a rhyme just bragging about yourself. So it’s basically free of style, that’s really what a freestyle is.” – Big Daddy Kane, in an interview with Paul Edwards, in Edward’s book How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC.
The term “Freestyle” and/or “Freestyling” has been used by 2Pac, Future, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Gucci Mane, and many more rappers.
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