Obsession with multiple rhyme syndrome (scheme)

[R-Tistic]

In 2004 for, I have noticed something, especially with people on rap boards. People are obsessed with multiple rhyme schemes, and most new rappers use it to death, which I call multiple rhyme syndrome. Most people nowadays seem to judge rappers on their multis alone, rather than their lyrical content, voice, delivery, flow, and personality. Now I don't see it a whoole lot on this board, because the west coast isn't as stuck on them as the east and midwest. But even at that, many people are always concerned with who has the best multis rather than anything else. I just wanted to ask...what started this "craze"? It seems like it's only been like this for a few years, and it seems like Eminem has probably been the person that made everybody want to use multis and focus on them. But the thing is, everybody who tries to sound like Eminem will focus on their multis but their sense of humor, lyrics, delivery, and all else are never up to par.

Now I don't really have a problem with it, but it gets real stupid when people start sayin things like "Pac was cool but he was far from the greatest because he wasn't a lyricist" - Since when do you have to use multis allll the time to be a good lyricist? Isn't a lyricist somebody who spits real lyrics and makes you think? Multis is just a style of deliverin the lyrics, but it has nothing to do with the lyrical content.

What do you think?

[Trauma-san]

It's the same in all of music.  People overanalyze, and make the simple, god given gift of music complicated.  I'll explainnnn.  


Sometimes it works.  For instance, Beethoven had to slave over his symphonies to make them so great.  He furiously erased and rewrote everything, whereas Mozart is considered his equal, but Mozart was a prodigy and just wrote the stuff down at an incredible pace, with hardly any corrections and things.

Move on.


ANY good musician in the 50's and 60's could record shit in amazingly small amounts of time.  Frank Sinatra recorded almost all his songs in 1 take.  Elvis would read lyrics, memorize them after seeing them once, and then just turn the mike on, do 2 or 3 takes, and be done with it, move on.  He recorded his BIGGEST hits this way.  No analyzing it, just fuckin' raw talent from God coming through.  

ANY decent songwriter will tell you they wrote their best songs in just moments of brilliance, it takes them maybe 5 minutes to write a song.  < - Brian Wilson, for instance, recorded Pet Sounds, the greatest album ever made, in 2 months, in just a handfull of sessions.  He'd record entire songs that are considered the greatest of all time, from conception, to completion, in a day.  Later, he spent 6 months on just 1 song, "Good Vibrations", and a full year on a an album, "SMiLE" that he never completed, and neither was as good as the songs on Pet Sounds that just came effortlessly.

The Beatles recorded their entire first album in 1 day.  1 fucking day!  

There was a band named "Bread" in the 70's, that had a few hits.  The lead singer of the group spent months analyzing musical structure, and would write and rewrite songs, and spend months recording 1 track.  As a result, the songs sound sterile and too perfect.

Tupac would sometimes record 3 songs a day.  Why? ... because like Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Brian Wilson, the Beatles, all the greats... he just had RAW fucking talent.  He didn't need to overanalyze his shit, it was natural.  


That's why Pac doesn't have a lot of multis and shit, because he didn't need to lean on that to make a song.  He was so talented in a number of different areas, that the whole was greater than the sum of the individual parts, just like the Beatles, Elvis, etc.  There were people that could sing better than Elvis, he didn't write any songs, there were people that danced better, there were people that looked better, etc... but there was nobody the caliber of Elvis.  Same thing with Tupac.  Somebody can write better multis than him, or maybe somebody had a faster flow, but nobody stood on the same level as Tupac.  He was greater than the sum of his flaws and his attributes.  


You like someone for their good qualities, you love them for their bad ones.  

[M-O-Z-04]

i feel a bit dumb askin this but can i hav a brief explanation of a punchline and a multi, plz thankyou

and about the topic , i dont know why everyone calls 2pac a bad lyricist, didnt ras kass name 2pac as his favourite lyricist , he obviously looks on factors such as lyrical content, voice, delivery, flow, and personality which makes up a good lyricist

[M Dogg™]

What we have is a Hip-Hop era where lyrical content is no longer even thought of. Listen to today's rap, it's empty in content, but has tons of multis. Rappers, (I don't even want to call them artist, the only artist out today are Nas and Talib Kweli) don't have a true message, they don't really have anything to rap about, so they focus on trying to be witty, and who can sound the coolest. Shit, Kayne West isn't even a true rapper, but honestly, I feel him more as a lyrist than many cats out there today. Before, artist were not so much into multis, but a message, like Chuck D, Ice Cube, 2Pac. Few artist could but a message and multi together, but that's what made them great, KRS One, Rakim. Multis are overrated, content is the key. But now, it's poppy beats, hot lyrics, and forget everything else on the way to platnum.

[Trauma-san]

^ What just popped into my head when you said that about how there's no content, is that I'd say BIZ MARKEE had more style and lyrical ability than most of the rappers out today, lol.  At least he was entertaining and original, you know?  


UUUUU U GOT WHAT I NEEEEED

[7even]

i feel a bit dumb askin this but can i hav a brief explanation of a punchline and a multi, plz thankyou

punchline: dope (methaphorical) line dissin the famous 3rd person for example So you're nothing like diversity without equality And your crew is full of more faggots than Greek mythology

multi: a ridicolous number of different rhymes in few bars..:

What is the maximum field rate application?
the run away glaciation surrounding the ocean basin
affects the population, fluctuation
on a continuous basis but thats just the basics

You didnt go to college obviously
I can tell by your ungodly unintelligible terminology
A remarkable odyssey, the rhymes of modern speeds
when the brain orders the body not to breathe
Incompetency is not up to speed, you not in my league
you couldnt possibly be hotter then me
Or oppositely your minus 25 degrees, you'd squeeze
but the condensation makes rifle barrels freeze
Allow me to speak figuratively, nigga please
my intellectual properties are about the size of Greece

My style is masterful, multi-lateral
I could battle a fool and be naturally cruel
Words of scourn are a disasterous tool
from an existentialist's view, I'm a better rapper then you
Grab the mic and rip your physical fabric in 2

[Juronimo]

I agree with what others said. I think multi's are overrated. Some rappers are really good with them and sound natural when they spit it, like Tray Deee, Twista, and Kam but many other cats sound forced and unnatural when they do it. When a rapper spits multi's and stays on target, it sounds great. A real good example of that would be Kam's verse on Bulworth.

What kind of party is this it's that political kind
Where America's best most hypocritical minds
Try they hands to keep you all deaf dumb and blind
And for the right dollar signs do white collar crimes...

That verse was brilliant.

The thing with rappers such as Chuck D, Ice Cube and 2pac, they're mic upresence was so powerful that they didn't have to rely on gimmicks such as those. Their message, natural ability and overwhelming presence more than made up for it. There haven't been that many rappers that have come out recently that have that natural presence so they rely heavily on technique, even if they're light on substance.

[R-Tistic]

i feel a bit dumb askin this but can i hav a brief explanation of a punchline and a multi, plz thankyou

It's what rappers like Fabolous, Lloyd Banks, and Eminem base their style on.

I think the real phrase is multiple syllable rhyme scheme. It is when rappers rhyme multiple syllables...

One syllable - "Boyz in the hood is always HARD/ You come talkin that trash, they'll pull ya CARD"
Multiple syllables - "The crooked letter l to THE Y THE B/ double o g to THE Y IT'S ME/ g'd up hoppin out THE RIDE WITH HEAT/ wit a dyme piece posted in THE DRIVERS SEAT"
"If I catch you AFTER ELEVEN, I'ma have to point an ACCURATE WEAPON at yo ACURA LEGEND and CLAP U WIT SEVEN/ I'm crazier than servin CRACK TO A REVEREND/ and i'll ruin yo career like if the news camera CATCH YOU WIT TEVIN"

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

A lot of rappers don't use multis, it's just the lyrical ones with more talent who do...Multis have always been used in Hip-Hop, it just started going mainstream when battle style rap became more popular with Eminem.

[R-Tistic]

A lot of rappers don't use multis, it's just the lyrical ones with more talent who do...Multis have always been used in Hip-Hop, it just started going mainstream when battle style rap became more popular with Eminem.

I realize that they hae been around since the 80s. But many people seem to be so fixated with them right now..and many people will say "damm he has good multis" and think somebody is dope, when that may be the only thing decent about them...and they judge rappers on multis instead of actual talent and all else. And just because somebody uses them doesn't mean they are lyrical with more talent than rappers who don't use them. I am not against them at all, they are dope as hell at times, but people are just obsessed with them from how I see it.

[M Dogg™]

A lot of rappers don't use multis, it's just the lyrical ones with more talent who do...Multis have always been used in Hip-Hop, it just started going mainstream when battle style rap became more popular with Eminem.

They all don't have more talent. Look at Fabolous. Who is more talented to you, Fab, or Chuck D.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

A lot of rappers don't use multis, it's just the lyrical ones with more talent who do...Multis have always been used in Hip-Hop, it just started going mainstream when battle style rap became more popular with Eminem.

They all don't have more talent. Look at Fabolous. Who is more talented to you, Fab, or Chuck D.

Fabolous has talent...Chuck D is a lot better, because of his lyrical content...PeACe

[.:DayGoStyLz:.]

yah it had become a big deal i guess. i notice a LOT when i listen to lyrics. One, because i used to keystyle with a TON of multies. And two, when i spit i rap usually the whole song in multies. Its jus my own style that i like, and to me...sounds better. I wouldnt say rhyming with multies, makes u lyrically better then the content of yur rap...but its just another element that does add to it. If youre lyrically on point, AND have good multies...then its hot. Anyone who writes, or spits...has to admit it takes a little bit more time to write shit when u have too rhyme 2, 3, or 4 words in a row...rather then just one. i could bang out a song like its nothing, if i write regular...but if i wanna lace my shit together better with multies, it would take a lil more thought.