Article - “The Importance of The Freestyle”

What are the benefits to freestyling?

This is the question I pose to you.

In a resurfaced video clip from a 2016 interview for radio-show KiddNation, Outkast member Andre 3000 spoke on the authenticity of freestyling. Specifically the newer generation of rap artistry, which prefers the art of freestyling over written raps. 

Andre stated, “I think it’s a confidence thing. An overthinking thing too You got to let your mind free, and actually that’s the greatest thing to rapping now. They actually freestyle most of those verses now. They don’t write.” He continued, “It’s about the first thing that comes to mind, whether it’s drinking, smoking, or girls, it’s pure though.”

This made me think, what advantages do freestyle pose over  raps? And the truth is, well, a lot. However, these advantages are beyond the scope of the 16’s and radio play, as it focuses on the creative aspect of rhythmic soliloquies. However, to explore these advantages, I have to explain why I believe freestyling has an initial appeal to begin. 

I believe, in the realm of hip-hop, there are a few rules the artist must follow. These rules are the burden of rhyming and the narrative of the story. The game of hip-hop runs on stories told by artists. Whether the story is the hustle playbook orchestrated by Jay-Z or the troubled upbringing of Eminem, the success of the hip-hop artist is dependent on these stories and how the fans gravitate to the relatability of these stories. However, there’s a third aspect, which is equally as important as the first two rules; authenticity.

In the aforementioned quote by Andre 3000, he sums up the freestyling experience with two words. “It’s pure.” While not in the sense of speaking unquestionable truths, rappers are habitual liars through the nature of the entertainment aspect of their craft. There’s purity in their art of saying the first lines that come to their minds. 

However, freestyling is more than just speaking the first thoughts that come to your mind. As you'll soon learn, the benefits of freestyle rapping are better for the growth of any artist

To examine freestyle rapping in general, in simple terms, it's rapping to a beat, while saying the first thoughts that come to you. While difficult for some, 

Andre 3000 is correct in labeling this as a pure form of rapping. However, the benefits of freestyling extend far beyond purity, as several mental components operate while you freestyle.

Beyond simple purity, there's a science of known benefits associated with Freestyling. These known benefits include the expansion of creativity and the inclusion of action known as the flow state. According to an article published by the  Journal of Leisure Research, the flow state is "Being in the zone, the mental state in which a person performing some activity, fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity."

In a scientific article published by Nature.com, scientific research found that freestyling constantly is associated with the emergence of a network that integrates motivation, language, emotion, and motor function. 

During this article, subjects were scanned while they performed two tasks, each of which used an identical 8-bar musical background track: 1) spontaneous, improvised freestyle rap (improvised) and 2) conventional performance of an overlearned, well-rehearsed set of lyrics.

The article states, “The results of parametric modulation analyses indicated that innovative performance – incorporation of features such as inventive wordplay or novel rhythms into the improvisation – is associated with increased activity in a subset of left hemisphere regions. This suggests that regions that may correspond to the location of the mental lexicon (in which words and their semantic features are stored, likely consistent with subjects' superior performance on verbal fluency tests) and regions that play a role in motivation, drive and self–organized behavior, may play a prominent role in the innovative use of language and rhythm.”

Meaning freestyling not only impacts the creative fluidity of your brain but also sparks motivative influence. The article summarizes the benefits of freestyling, stating “Freestyle rap provides a unique opportunity to study spontaneous lyrical improvisation, a multidimensional form of creativity at the interface of music and language.” 

This evidence is also backed by a second research done by the voice, speech, and language branch of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). In an article written by sciencedaily.com, it states “Freestyling also increased brain activity in the perisylvian system (involved in language production), the amygdala (an area of the brain linked to emotion), and cingulate motor areas, suggesting that improvisation engages a brain network that links motivation, language, mood, and action.”

So once again, what are the benefits to freestyling?

Simple. It helps you become more creative, more motivated, improved speech, improved brain activity, and intellectual performance among others.

In short, Andre 3000 is correct, but he completely undersold the newer generation of artists. Freestyling is pure, it’s art, and more importantly, it’s healthy. My friends, Keep freestyling.