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The Philosophical Improvisations of Hip-Hop
“Freestyle”
“Acts that were primitively spontaneous are converted into means that
make human intercourse more rich and gracious, just as a painter
converts pigment into means of expressing an imaginative experience.
Dance and sports are activities in which acts once performed
spontaneously in separation are expressive art” -John Dewey
Off the top of the dome without premeditated ideas, let
your gift go . . .
“Freestyle” is an intimate exotic experience within the
musical art form called Hip-Hop. Its only weapon is the crude
black spark and the individual’s experience. The expression
“freestyle” has its roots in African-American slang. It is a
coined phrase that every generation X black person should
understand as leaving all your written and planned
compositions at home and only bringing out your microphone
and soul.
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A fundamental difference that separates the art form of a
so-called “rapper” from a “freestyler” is that a rapper is a
counterfeit artist. An authentic artist has an intimate
relationship with Hip-Hop. During the artist’s incubation
period is when his or her freestyle should begin to develop.
Webster’s Dictionary defines “freestyle” as using a
certain style in a contest. However, I would like to submit to
you that freestyle is a primitive way of relating to music and
art—that innately Hip-Hop music is embedded into our soul
through experience, and we access this realm of our spirit
through our music. Therefore, freestyle does not depend on
mental and logical sequence of thought. In contrast, we should
avoid thinking when freestyling because raw emotions are the
most valued virtue in this domain.
Moreover, we as humans are taught to never let feelings
or emotions control our actions—that emotion should not
dominate over the human faculty to reason. This is not
acceptable when we begin improvising or freestyling because
feelings become the catalyst for spontaneous expression.
To a rapper, improvisation is a struggle because the art
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form, which is Hip-Hop, repels the rapper with its pretense of
virtue. His extreme insincerity is similar to a man who says he
loves a woman but spends no time developing and cultivating a
relationship with her. Instead he would rather purchase
material items to appease her needs, thus exposing himself as a
cheap pimp. Similarly, freestyle is the barometer that
determines if an artist has established a relationship and a high
level of comfort with Hip-Hop. It becomes a consecrated ritual
rather than an opportunity to devalue what is sacred.
When freestyling, a person’s experiences become the
pigment they use to paint their picture. The African-American
experiences become the means and often the raw material used
during spontaneous acts of expression. Once the beat drops,
this expression becomes a basic instinct of arousal.
Just as freestyle is the spontaneous form of the
expressive art form of Hip-Hop, improvisation is the art of
unplanned creation. For a rapper to be able to improvise, he
needs to have a foundation of skills. Within the art form of
rap, the MC who improvises or freestyles is usually using a
drum track or band.
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What mostly separates a rapper from a Hip-Hop artist is
his or her ability to improvise or freestyle on the spot. In fact,
freestyle has been a common practice for artists throughout the
legacy of Hip-Hop. While freestyling is the ability to find
structure and make sense out of a random thought pattern,
finding some type of flow out of nothing, meaning no pre-
written or recycled raps, is the main goal of improvisation. As
a rapper develops as an artist over time, his seemingly random
lyrics become increasingly controlled, and as the MC matures
in his skills, his freestyle and delivery should improve.
_____________________________________________________________
“The Art of Not Knowing”
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Albert Einstein
For quite sometime in the world of education,
knowledge or rational is seen as the most important trait of
human development. For we valued the ability to not be lead
by emotions but to make rational decisions. From generation
to generation, we have viewed knowledge as a better way to
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function in life. For they have tried to measure our
knowledge and cognitive abilities through IQ test, etc. Albert
Einstein suggests in the above quote that imagination is better
than knowledge because knowledge is limited. It is limited in
what one can grasp or conceive in one moment. Now, for him
to say imagination is better than knowledge that is to suggest
that something we can not measure, such as Imagination, is
better than that which is all ready concrete, our knowledge.
We can measure knowledge by a variety of different test
therefore gauging knowledge. Knowledge has always been
exalted by men, but when have we ever heard someone say,
“forget about knowledge and just get some imagination.” This
would mean ignore the physical and embrace the spiritual.
Imagination must not be limited if knowledge is limited. For
imagination is a bottomless cup. The word imagination comes
from the root word “imagine” and the root word to “imagine”
is “image”. So, “imagine” is a verb. The act of visualizing
something in your minds eye. So, here we have the act of
doing something before one is able to create a image. We must
imagine the image of the thing that we want to create and the
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image prompts the mind to act in the visualizing mode of
imagining to bring forth the creation. Therefore, the image is
the idea in seed form. The image gets planted in the soil of
imagination for it to grow. So, imagination is the faculty of
the human mind that makes sure that the image gets
accomplished. It is the housing center of the person who
conceives the image. Furthermore, knowledge without
imagination is void of potential (if you can receive it
imagination is man’s omnipotence). So you see knowledge is
limited without imagination, but, imagination can not get the
job done without the seeds of knowledge for these seeds
impregnate the idea. Knowledge is essential to the miracle
birth of creation. Likewise, imagination expands and increases
the possibilities. For example, one may know that they need to
cross the river and even have the knowledge to know that the
river’s current is too fast and the river is too deep to swim
across. Although, crossing and how to cross without killing
one’s self is imaginations job. Imagination draws from
knowledge and makes it all possible.
Now that I have shown you how knowledge is limited. I
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would like to submit to you that knowledge is a hindrance and
a blessing to an artist when engaged in the act of spontaneous
creation i.e., freestyle. For the art of freestyle is the “act of
not knowing”. The artist must trust that the seeds of his skills
will blossom and be accessible to fill in the gaps of the process
of freestyle. Which can be fearful to him if he is a novice.
For the fear is in not knowing and this is frightening to a
person that wants to succeed without failing. But, in contrast,
the very thought of no failure is insane because no one could
succeed without failing. In all honesty, for one to freestyle
they must have a portion of blind faith. If I may, the Bible
states;
“Prophesy according to the proportion of
your faith.” Romans 12:6
This is a spiritual truth that one can only do a thing to a
degree that they believe they can do it. Your omnipotence or
potential will not awaken to bring forth your creation. In a
television documentary on Stevie Wonder, he stated in an
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interview that when he goes into the studio to record:
“I always leave room for God to show up.”
This is a deeply profound statement for it suggests that
he has faith in himself and he honors the divine presence
within. For improvisation, the spontaneous act of rhyming
offthe top of your head, is the way that a Hip-Hop artist
communes with his god-self. The ability to not think or lean
upon mental faculties but just rest in the state of just “BEING”
and removing one’s self from under the curse of thinking.
Also, if I may again quote from the Bible and reveal a spiritual
truth of freestyle. It states in Matthew 10:19:
“But when they deliver you up take no thought of
how or what you shall speak: for it shall
be given you in that same hour what you shall
speak.” KJV
Many may think that there is no spiritual origin to the things
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they do but that is not true because everything has an origin.
For the act of improvising is the act of channeling. As one
grows and becomes more intimate with the art form of Hip-
Hop their faith should increase. They should have the heart to
jump out there and try to swim no matter how deep the water
is. For if you jump out in six feet or twenty feet the act of
treading water is the same no matter how deep the water.
Improvisation is the act of releasing the imagination and
embracing the feeling of not knowing. Freestyling is not an
intellectual process, rather a deeply felt “something” that can
only be expressed musically through the body i.e. dance or
lyrically rhymed out.
This process in which we are speaking of falls in the
affective domain where rational thought and thinking are not
employed but only the ability to react to the music. In realm
of education there is a word to prove that art is a worthy
discipline just like Math and History etc. They use it as a
means of definition.
“FeelingFul knowledge and KnowledgeFul Feeling.”
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Broudy.H.S. 1972 Enlightening Cherishing: An
Essay on Aesthetic Education. Urbana: University. Press.
Moreover, freestyle is the activity of a spontaneous flow
of not knowing where you will end up, walking by faith, blind
in the area of your destination but yet the pleasure is in the
process rather than in the final product. The art being the
experience; filling in the spaces while trying to compose and
maintain structure.
“The Art of Inquiry”
As an artist deepens their relationship with Hip-Hop
their freestyle should become more purposeful and rhythmic.
A sign of a mature artist is the way he makes sense out of his
randomness. Here is a fabricated freestyle that will serve as an
example for the inquiry process within Hip-Hop criticism. So,
one will be able to discern if an artist is actually freestyling.
Mc’s are so elementary
like A,B C I will C
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(see) them ease on down
the road, or I’ll flush them
down the camode.
Now an aesthetic inquiry would ask the question, is this
MC really improvising or was this a premeditated written rap?
Hip-Hop criticism may pose the question, what is an actual
Freestyle? Is it simply a way to rap randomly regardless of
whether it’s pre-written or comes off the top of the head at
that moment in time and space? There has been much debate
in various circles on what freestyle actually is. Lets say, for the
sake of aesthetic inquiry, that it is the latter. If it is, how can
we tell if the artist is coming off the top of his head with the
rhyme? The only way to detect this is to notice his flaws,
relying on the fact that their is no such thing as perfection.
The trick of freestyling is to harness random thought patterns
and make sense or structure out of it in your delivery. For
example, in the above fabricated rap it states, “MC’s are so
elementary like A, B, C,” which sounds controlled, however, it
is in the next thought pattern that he is going to have to know
what to say even before he says it in order for it to make sense.
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He says, “ I will see them ease on down the road, or I’ll flush
them down the commode.” During the time when he is saying
the last word in the second to last line, “ down the road”, this is
where the mind releases the next phrase to connect with the last
word. No matter how outlandish the word is, the developing
artist needs to say it. The artist does not have total control
over how the structure of his rap will come together. He
demonstrates this when he says, “or I’ll flush them down the
commode”. Now we can get a glimpse at where the artist is
going by what the first two lines were suggesting. This
particular song is building itself on battle rhymes. However,
the MC can easily change the direction of the rap like a tamed
horse. His imagination controls the whole improvisation.
When an artist is freestyling, it is the releasing of the
imagination in action. The imagination is controlling where
the flow of the rap will go depending on the nature of the
situation. There is usually no particular theme, but the artist is
trying to find ways to connect what he said previously building
line upon line and theme upon theme into a whole
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compositional piece. As John Dewey said “ In an experience,
flow is from something to something.” In the experience of
improvisation the flow is built upon the past lyric of the
composition. Additionally, the artist uses a random thought
pattern while trying to maintain structure and simultaneously
compose the rap. This all leads to an inevitable potential for
flaws. The art of it all is when flaws make sense. So, the
flaws are not flaws at all, but this ability comes only with
experience. An artist does not have such control but will
develop control over time, through incubation process to
improve and perfect his artistic craft.
“Improvisation: The Birthing of New Ideas”
The emergence of an idea is determined by the
relationship that an artist has with the art form. In Hip-Hop,
there must be a sacredness and a mutual respect for this act of
spontaneous expression. The Hip-Hop artist is almost like a
Native-American beating on his drums and chanting to evoke a
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spiritual presence. Whether they realize it or not, the instinct is
natural. To the casual observer, the chanting appears to be
nothing more than the drummer beating himself into a frenzy,
when really he is trying to tune into a channel and find a
frequency to obtain a new revelation. This spontaneous act of
expression calls for the artist to find a groove or a resting
place, in the music or on a drum beat, whatever they are using
for a canvas. Before one can ever freestyle or create their
composition, it is essential that they find the level of comfort
and relaxation with the music. At this point, the artist can
begin to muse or meditate about which direction they want to
go. It does not matter that the artist does not consciously know
what direction they want to go. However, the music becomes a
drug for the conscious mind to lay down its inhibitions so that
the subconscious can begin to realize new ideas.
The freestyle session is an experience within itself. Before
words can begin to emerge from the subconscious mind the
numbing of the conscious mind by the music must be
complete. For the realization of imagination to occur, it is
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imperative that the artist’s inhibitions and fears be put to rest
by the music and groove that he has found. This spontaneous
act of expression creates a drift that the artist must flow into
and begin to express the subconscious minds ideas and
imagination. This blind faith is necessary so that the moment
is not lost in fear. Most people begin to catch a flow initially,
but then they get so excited at how one line or two to four lines
were successfully connected that they abort the process due to
the hype of the moment. A novice is interested in fleeting
success; an artist is searching for an idea rather than a rhyme.
Depending on the sacredness of the freestyle session, this act of
expression will lead to new artistic discovery. Consequently, it
is kindred to stumbling upon buried treasure without a map in
hand. However, it is the vibe or energy of the moment that
give way to blind faith in order to step out into the current and
let the stream carry the person away. If it leads to the ocean,
flow with it. If it leads to a pond, flow with it. If it leads to
the breakers, flow with it. The key to discovery is to find
meaning and structure out of lack of self-control while
simultaneously seeking to broaden what is already being said.
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The process of the spontaneous act of freestyling will lead you
to your promised land. The process of creating meaning is
more important than actually rhyming verse to verse. If the
artist says something with enough passion and meaning behind
it, it will demand approval because of its inherent potency. An
artist could say, “I’m walking down the street, rhyming to the
beat, makin’ everyone move their feet.” Yes, these words
rhyme but they lack style and aesthetic beauty. That same
artist could say, “What up for-real, let’s get down, and check
out this new smoke.” Though this doesn’t rhyme it has
eloquence, style, and meaning that goes beyond the simple goal
of finding a rhyme. The artist is on a quest for something
more profound in meaning and should never be tempted to
search for any rhyming word simply to connect the previous
line. The full creative impulse must be expressed though some
say skills should never be sacrificed for style. However, I feel
the spontaneous act in search for meaning is the act of
expression. This process of spontaneous expression is a
metaphysical and transcendental undertaking of creating
something out of nothing. For example, when I think back on
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most of my personal creative processes. Most of my raps come
from times when I was driving in my car freestyling. Usually I
have a title before I create lyrics. My song “Peppermint Cool”
was conceived in the car while listening to an instrumental
track. That particular day I felt “cool” for some strange reason
and the word “peppermint” was a description of my feeling. I
connected the two together and this inspired my creative
processes. I began to meditate on what “Peppermint Cool”
meant to me. As I wrestled with this problem, I allowed my
subconscious to take control. My primary improvisation
sessions were in my car while I was driving to and from work.
These freestyling sessions lent themselves to new artistic
discoveries. The vibe or energy I derived from the freestyle
session is an aesthetic experience in itself. Keith Murray said
in one of his raps, “I need a lot of music and a rowdy
atmosphere to even think clear,” this statement has a lot of
meaning in it for me. My interpretation of it is that for him to
get aroused to a certain level of aesthetic sensitivity, he needs
this external inspiration to begin to release imagination in a
new way. The title “Peppermint Cool” came out my mouth
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just as randomly as thoughts came to mind. Along with the
vibe of the drum track the words “Yo man, I’m glad that
schools out, Pour that brew out,” emerged and told me in what
direction my subconscious was leading me. Then I began to
build on my song by turning the music back and reciting the
words over again. I came to the conclusion that what I was
trying to reveal was not destructive or negative, but instead
positive energy. The next line flows off like this. “Let’s get
bent, and light incenses, to Peppermint and cool out, and cool
out...” I could then retaste the flavor of the first two lines so
that the transition I made to the next statement have the same
feel. This flavor drove the lyrics in the same way the Native
American chants serve to contact the spirits.