Punches

Punch n.: A line in poetry showing contempt for an opposing party.

That is the definition of a punchline, or “punch”, for all whom didn’t know. Punches come in MANY forms, all of which, if perfected, can hit with extreme viciousness. This tutorial is to explain a few ways of coming up with, setting up, and making punches knock like Jehovah’s witnesses. Pay attention…






Section I: FORMING PUNCHLINES:

First off, you need ORIGINAL ideas! Original being stressed like God before Noah built his arc. Get original ideas through whatever medium you need, make a list on paper, and keep them in a notebook or something of that nature. Whenever you think of an original idea you could later turn into a punch, just scratch it down. By idea I DON’T mean the whole punchline…


Example:
“dollar bid—Price is Right”

That’s sufficient to get your mind going on topic. These little ideas keep your verses from straying into the “I’m gonna rape your mother while I drink a 40oz” pasture. You can do this in class while you’re bored, right before you start writing a verse, whenever, doesn’t matter. The thing it does do, is help, A LOT. Once you use an idea, erase it or scratch it off so you don’t accidentally flip or recycle.

All the above is one method to not become punch-drained and diminish writer’s block, but it isn’t really necessary. Make sure you’re being direct to your opponent on any punch you use. For example, you shouldn’t say “You’re so wack your mom had a hysterectomy after you came out of the womb” to someone you aren’t absolutely positive you’re going to KO. Why? You inadvertently just dissed yourself if he gets a vote. Not to mention it’d take one hell of a flip on “you’re so wack” to connect solidly. Disrespect and be personal, but don’t make yourself look uneducated with played/wack/stupid concepts.

For imagery, you want a twisted picture in your head to be splashed on the screen with words. Make sure it’s something completely demented, or very descriptive, to get a good reaction from your reader. Be as descriptive and grotesque as possible.


Example of Bad Imagery:
Make u hit the ground so hard that it hurts your back…
Dull, and doesn’t inspire any pictures in the mind of the reader.

Example of Good Imagery:
Make ya hit the ground so hard the Earth’s polarity shifts…
This is like damn, kid made Santa live at the South Pole.


For punchplay, make sure the wordplay isn’t forced or played, and be sure to relate both sides of the wordplay in the punch…


Example of Bad Punchplay:
I’m taking some of ya money, leaving ya sense-less…
Both sides weren’t related and the wordplay is played.

Example of Good Punchplay:
I’m cotton ya mind, no wonder cats are picking ya brain…
Both sides are properly related and it’s an original wordplay.





Section II: STRUCTURING YOUR PUNCHLINE TO HIT HARDER:

The way you structure a punch can make it drop cats to the canvas or seem jab-like. There are two ways for similes to be put.


Example:
I’m shootin caps off like graduation
Like graduation, I’m shootin caps off
Notice how it can go either way and say the exact same thing, but they hit differently?


TRY to go with the flip that hits hardest, but note that on occasion multi’s may be hard to come by. If so, and you can’t rhyme it the way you wish, you probably need to go with the weaker version. This will be for rhyming purposes, but note that a good rhyme scheme can make a decent to average punch elevate to ill. Try to condense your punches to as few words as possible if they mess up your flow, because that can make or break a good punch. Flow helps shit hit by continuing a good rhythm throughout a verse. If you fuck up that rhythm with a kill punch, it’s going to be downgraded a bit.

Wording is something that takes time to master, but once mastered, makes everything that much more hard-hitting. Try to get your concepts to sound right. If they don't sound right, then it's probably something as simple as bad wording. If you have to fuck with a concept for too long, it’s probably best you jus scrap the line and move on. Give a line about 2 minutes to fix the wording, and if it can’t be fixed, then toss it. Again, try to simplify concepts for the ignorant voters that WILL vote on your battles.





Section III: SETTING UP PUNCHLINES:

Setups need to flow, be relevant, and be consistent with the punch’s multi. You write your punchline first, then multi off of it in the setup. Don’t make the setup a pointless line only there to hold the flow, and with a complex punch, the setup can be very useful in getting your point across. Make sure you don’t force any rhymes or split up syllables oddly to where the setup flows different from the punch. Once again, relevancy is key here, unless the setup is a punchline in and of itself.

written by Wizerd