- 1). Listen to the drum beat, and count out the beats in each bar. Hip-hop and rap music are almost always in 4/4 time, so you should be able to count out "One and two and three and four" in a repeating loop. Continue doing this until you're comfortable.
- 2). Substitute in some words in place of the count. Maintain the same rhythm, but add some different lyrics. They could be the words to a favorite song, or just some "Scat" sounds. Early disco MCs in the 1970s, would often use limericks or parodies of nursery rhymes, as they use the same 4/4 rhythm, known in poetry as a "Meter." A particularly popular "Nursery-rap" was "Mary Had a Little Lamb," as it's rhythm fits perfectly over the syncopated pace of Hip-hop.
- 3). Repeat the pattern until again, you feel comfortable saying it in a continuous loop. Start again on each "One" count. Try to add some modulation into the rhythm, slur the pacing and double up on some syllables to try and find spaces in the beat that you can exploit. For instance: "Mary had a little-little lamb-lamb." You'll find that you have to "little-little" much more quickly, but that you need to leave a fairly long pause between "lamb-lamb" to make it fit the beat. This natural swing and syncopation is what separates good rappers from all the rest. Practice this, finding the spaces and pauses that you can use to vary and twist your rhymes.
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