Author Topic: Punch-lines 101 (Read 957 times)

|JEM|ILL| · « **on:** June 28, 2003, 01:54:35 PM »

Punch n.: A line in poetry showing contempt for an opposing party.

That is the definition of a punchline, or punch; for all whom didnt know. Punches come in MANY forms, all of which, if perfected, can hit with extreme viciousness. This tutorial is to explain a few ways of coming up with, setting up, and making punches knock like Jehova's witnesses. Pay attention...

Section I: FORMING PUNCHLINES:

First off, you need ORIGINAL ideas! Original being stressed like God before Noah built his arc. Get original ideas through whatever medium you need, make a list on paper, and keep them in a notebook or something of that nature. Whenever you think of an original idea you could later turn into a punch, just scratch it down. By idea I DONT mean the whole punchline

Example:
dollar bid-Price is Right

Thats sufficient to get your mind going on topic. These little ideas keep your verses from straying into the Im gonna rape your mother while I drink a 40oz pasture. You can do this in class while youre bored, right before you start writing a verse, whenever, doesnt matter. The thing it does do, is help, A LOT. Once you use an idea, erase it or scratch it off so you dont accidentally flip or recycle.

All the above is one method to not become punch-drained and diminish writers block, but it isnt really necessary. Make sure youre being direct to your opponent on any punch you use. For example, you shouldnt say Youre so wack your mom had a hysterectomy after you came out of the womb to someone you arent absolutely positive youre going to KO. Why? You inadvertently just dissed yourself if he gets a vote. Not to mention itd take one hell of a flip on youre so wack to connect solidly. Disrespect and be personal, but dont make yourself look uneducated with played/wack/stupid concepts.

For imagery, you want a twisted picture in your head to be splashed on the screen with words. Make sure its something completely demented, or very descriptive, to get a good reaction from your reader. Be as descriptive and grotesque as possible.

Example of Bad Imagery:
Make u hit the ground so hard that it hurts your back
Dull, and doesnt inspire any pictures in the mind of the reader.

Example of Good Imagery:
Make ya hit the ground so hard the Earths polarity shifts
This is like damn, kid made Santa live at the South Pole.

For punchplay, make sure the wordplay isnt forced or played, and be sure to relate both sides of the wordplay in the punch

Example of Bad Punchplay:
Im taking some of ya money, leaving ya sense-less
Both sides werent related and the wordplay is played.

Example of Good Punchplay:
I&m cotton(Caught-in) ya mind, no wonder cats are picking ya brain
Both sides are properly related and its an original wordplay.

Section II: STRUCTURING YOUR PUNCHLINE TO HIT HARDER:

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The way you structure a punch can make it drop cats to the canvas or seem jab-like. There are two ways for similes to be put.

Example:
Im shootin caps off like graduation
Like graduation, Im shootin caps off
Notice how it can go either way and say the exact same thing, but they hit differently?

TRY to go with the flip that hits hardest, but note that on occasion multis may be hard to come by. If so, and you cant rhyme it the way you wish, you probably need to go with the weaker version. This will be for rhyming purposes, but note that a good rhyme scheme can make a decent to average punch elevate to ill. Try to condense your punches to as few words as possible if they mess up your flow, because that can make or break a good punch. Flow helps shit hit by continuing a good rhythm throughout a verse. If you fuck up that rhythm with a kill punch, its going to be downgraded a bit.

Wording is something that takes time to master, but once mastered, makes everything that much more hard-hitting. Try to get your concepts to sound right. If they don't sound right, then it's probably something as simple as bad wording. If you have to fuck with a concept for too long, it;s probably best you jus scrap the line and move on. Give a line about 2 minutes to fix the wording, and if it cant be fixed, then toss it. Again, try to simplify concepts for the ignorant voters that WILL vote on your battles.

Section III: SETTING UP PUNCHLINES:

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Setups need to flow, be relevant, and be consistent with the punchs multi. You write your punchline first, then multi off of it in the setup. Dont make the setup a pointless line only there to hold the flow, and with a complex punch, the setup can be very useful in getting your point across. Make sure you dont force any rhymes or split up syllables oddly to where the setup flows different from the punch. Once again, relevancy is key here, unless the setup is a punchline in and of itself.

I hope this helps with any cats that be needin help with punchlines, please no beefing in this thread, thank you...

vitodeluca · « **Reply #1 on:** June 28, 2003, 07:27:07 PM »

Good shit man, I'm sure everyone appreciates it.

Kill · « **Reply #2 on:** July 01, 2003, 07:10:21 AM »

Nice lil guide, don't replace skills though

abstruse · « **Reply #3 on:** July 01, 2003, 01:35:04 PM »

Yeah, it's a good tutorial for the newbies though.

|JEM|ILL| · « **Reply #4 on:** July 01, 2003, 05:53:44 PM »

Your righ Kill...

But abstruse...Some of the vets here need it too...they are gettin played..You needed it...I need it...Everyone would do them self a Favor by chekin this...I took me a while to rigt it...

abstruse · « **Reply #5 on:** July 01, 2003, 06:40:16 PM »

When I read it through the first time, I didn't learn anything new, the way you write your punchlines is almost exactly like I do. Got my list, do the jought down in class. It all goes back to what Kill said, by "it" I dont think I need the tutorial, but that I can be more creative. Hence "it" being creativity, not this tutorial. I can't speak behalf of anyone else though.

|JEM|ILL| · « **Reply #6 on:** July 01, 2003, 06:58:47 PM »

It is to help primarily on execution and how to get ideas...

Reef · « **Reply #7 on:** July 02, 2003, 06:05:28 AM »

Tight tutorial man.. Did u write this yourself?

|JEM|ILL| · « **Reply #8 on:** July 02, 2003, 02:36:58 PM »

da_notorious_mack · « **Reply #9 on:** July 03, 2003, 12:09:38 PM »

one that would be appreciated would be multis 101 cus alotta people jus put the hyphens in an assume it suddenly a multi....but this was pretty tight....