INTRO TO RAP FLOW
Your entrance to the Science of Rap: The fundamentals of rhythm and rap flow.
An innovative collection of focused lessons for learners by Mazbou Q A.K.A The Rap Scientist, designed to introduce you to the concepts at the foundation of your favourite rappers' flow and accelerate your pathway to proficiency in rap.
What they say about Mazbou Q
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“We loved your work! I'm teaching Pop Music Analysis next semester, and we're already thinking about ways to incorporate your material into our required readings for our Hip hop/Rap unit.”
Stephen Tian-You Ai - PhD Candidate, Harvard University
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“When Maz visited us at Louisiana State University, he showed his ability to work with all levels of students. The students were deeply engaged and loved his demos of different rhythmic techniques in rap. I believe that Mazbou Q’s teaching will have a lasting impact on our students, inspiring them to explore new avenues in their artistic and scholarly pursuits.”
Dr. Olivia Lucas, Assistant Professor of Music Theory, Lousiana State University
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“Mazbou Q's artistry is educational! His unique fusion of music artistry and music science not only captivates the audience but also inspires, leaving a lasting impact on all who have the opportunity of experiencing his dynamic and enlightening sessions.“
Rodney Alejandro, Chair of Songwriting, Berklee College of Music
What’s inside
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF RHYTHM
If you're new to it all, get a head start. If you've been around the block, this will brush you up.
Covering beat, bar, time signature, tempo, subdivisions and more, this module demystifies the strange language that artists and musicians use to communicate rhythm.
RHYTHMIC CONCEPTS AND FLOW
We open up the hood of rap flow to uncover a range of different rhythmic concepts and techniques responsible for making it sound dope.
Building on the first module, this module will give you clarity on concepts like syncopation, swing, micro-timing, accent patterns and how to implement these into to your rapping, as well as concepts around structuring to make your verses more refined and polished.
RHYMING TECHNIQUES
We all know that rhyming words is crucial to the art of rap, but simply rhyming won't help your flow without knowing where to place those rhymes, or how and when to switch them up.
This module covers the basics of effective rhyme patterns, transitioning, and helpful do's and don'ts that will ensure your flow sounds top notch.
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Get access to this innovative collection of focused lessons for learners by 'The Rap Scientist' and accelerate your pathway to proficiency in rap.
✺ Frequently asked questions ✺
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This course is ideal for beginner rappers and people who have very little-to-no knowledge of rhythm theory principles and/or how to apply them in a Hip hop context.
However, there are useful takeaways for artists of all experience levels, as the contextualization in rap provides a novel perspective.
Even if you know a thing or two, it will give you some ideas on how to approach rap flow differently.
Those who have experience with music theory already may find the first module, Rhythm Fundamentals, to be basic and can skip through it.
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In the same way a course on rudiments won't make you a great drummer, or a course on vocal control won't make you a good pop artist, this course alone won't maker you a good rapper.
Being good at something is more than that.
The art of rap is both rhythm and poetry. Becoming competent in both is essential to being a well rounded rapper. There's also delivery, live performance, charisma, authenticity, daringness, wisdom and so much more.
No set amount of work will make you great, but a great person will do the work.
The 'Intro to Rap Flow' course focuses solely on the rhythm aspect of rap, i.e. flow. The successful completion of this course will equip you with all the tools you need to be able to create effective flows on top of any beat.
You need flow to be a good rapper. For that, I got you.
This course only superficially intersects with the poetic component (i.e. lyricism) by way of dealing with rhyming techniques, but only as they pertain to the impact on flow.
Where to put your rhymes is a flow thing. I'll show you that.
Lyrical content is not covered, however course page contains links to resources on learning lyricism.
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Music is one of the most fundamental forms of expression for humans. Learning music and making music remain highly intuitive processes for the majority of us.
It's natural for us.
Think of music as a language - it kind of is. Much like language, you don't need formal learning to become fluent.
However, a structured perspective will assist you in making important connections between your intuitions and the established concepts that exist in rhythm. The stuff that makes you say "they must have just been born with it" - it can all be broken down and learned from the ground up.
This will actually help speed things up significantly. You will be able to identify several patterns and techniques in the rap songs you listen to, and you will have the tools to adapt and modify them in your own work.
Imagine just listening to something and confidently being able to say "Ahh, I know what they're doing!" You'll get there much faster this way.
We naturally learn via subconscious pattern recognition and replication. If we are exposed to things enough, we start to do it ourselves. Bringing this process to the forefront of your mind will expand your learning potential and creativity.
You'll be good without it - but you'll be much better with it.
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Shoot me an email!
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Yes.
This course is designed to take you from absolute beginner, i.e. no knowledge or experience in music or music theory, to being confident in composing flows on any Hip hop instrumental you may encounter.
If you already have some knowledge of music theory, you will still benefit from the contextualization in rap, however you may want to skip the Rhythm Fundamentals module.
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You probably discovered my videos on Tiktok, Instagram or YouTube shorts and decided you'd like to dive a bit deeper into what I teach.
Yes, there's a lot of overlap between the content in the course and what you can find online. But that's just it - you'll need to find it...somewhere online.
The 'Intro to Rap Flow' course offers you in-depth and structured lessons based on the concepts you'll find on my social media. It's designed to give you everything you need to form a foundation of rhythmic knowledge applied to rap, then progress on to more developed concepts.
On top of that, it offers specific exercises to further refine your understanding and skills, as well as extensive lists of timestamped song recommendations so you can contextualize the information.
It's just better. Like, way better.
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That's true, but not everyone has taught their material at:
Berklee College of Music, the top contemporary music program in the world
Harvard University, Lousiana State University, Southern University and BoxHill Institute
BIGSOUND Music Conference Queensland, SXSW Sydney and Hip Hop Congress Inc Annual Conference San Francisco
My work is also cited in a Hip Hop Studies Bibliography, adapted from Dr. Robert Komaniecki, professor of music theory at University of British Columbia.
You can at least confident that I know what I'm talking about!
Unlike many other courses out there, I'm not making wild promises about significantly increasing your income or building a successful career in music.
If you love rapping and you want to get better at it, this course will certainly do that for you.
With any skill, your success is in your hands.
It's up to you to put in the work, with or without this course.
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Soon!
For now, please check out the POLYRHYTHM/METER playlist on my Tiktok for some advanced rap flow material.