How to Rap

Over 100 Hip-Hop legends teach the art form of MCing in a new book recently released by Chicago Review Press, including Def Jux artists Aesop Rock, Cage, Cannibal Ox, Del, MURS, and Mr. Lif. “How to Rap: The Art & Science of the Hip-Hop MC” guides the reader through the science of rap in the words of the artists, giving an inside look behind their creative processes and techniques. Other acts interviewed exclusively for the book include classic MCs and groups such as Public Enemy, Big Daddy Kane, Mobb Deep, AZ, Cypress Hill, Pharoahe Monch, Boot Camp Clik, Masta Ace, and A Tribe Called Quest, as well as recent acts such as Clipse, Styles P, The Black Eyed Peas, Crooked I, Immortal Technique, Royce Da 5’9”, Papoose, Nelly, and Jurassic 5. The foreword to the book was written by Kool G Rap, an MC named as a major influence by most of the current generation of Hip-Hop artists, including Eminem and Jay-Z. `How to Rap’ breaks rapping down into content, flow, writing, and delivery—with topics such as writing in your head, punching-in vocals, and interacting with the crowd all tackled from different angles by numerous MCs. The book also features the first complete breakdown of rap’s “flow”, allowing readers to create tongue-twisting compound rhyme styles like Kool G Rap and Eminem, complex conversational flows like Nas, Jay-Z, and OC, the classic old school patterns of Melle Mel, and everything in between.