Blueface, Polo G, Rico Nasty and More Choose Writing Rhymes or Freestyling: Watch
There is power in a well-written verse and potential in a skillfully crafted freestyle, yet some rappers don't do both. They know where their specialty lies. Some of hip-hop's favorite rappers speak with XXL about whether or not they prefer to freestyle or write their verses.
2019 XXL Freshman Blueface confirms he writes all his bars in advance. "I don't do no freestyling," he admits. "Zero. Everything is written, preparated. It could be one word or I could take your bar form an iconic bar to a regular bar. Yeah, I gotta put full train of thought into that bar, so that's why my bars are iconic."
Adversely, Rico Nasty another XXL Freshman classmate, expressed her appreciation for both art forms, clarifying that freestyling has been used as a jumping point for a song's concept. "I feel like freestyling can get you some freaky shit, like if I freestyle the first four lines, I can get a concept out of that," Rico says. She goes on to say that she does normally write her rhymes, but she can and will freestyle while she's high.
Chi-Town's Polo G makes his stance on writing vs. freestyling clear by sharing that he's more of a writer than a free-flowing lyricist. "Every time I get in the studio I got to write my lyrics all the way out and just read it off my phone," he reveals.
Lil Keed, JayDaYoungan, YBN Almighty Jay, Flipp Dinero and more also weigh in on their creative process, picking between writing or freestyling their verses.
Check out your favorite rappers and their opinions on freestyling and writing bars below.
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