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Suomenkielinen improvisoitu rap ja komposition strategiat

Authors

• Venla Sykäri

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30666/elore.79150

Abstract

Freestyle rap is improvised, on-the-spot production and performance of rap lyrics. This article analyses the characteristics of the Finnish freestyle and the strategies of composition connected to different performance styles. The folkloristic study is based on earlier knowledge of oral composition and performance, and recent ongoing fieldwork among Finnish freestyle rappers. The data consists of interviews with freestylers, observation during freestyle performances, and analysis of textualised performances.

Rappers have produced improvised lyrics in Finnish from around 1996. During this short time-span Finnish freestyle has become a self-contained expressive idiom, which artistically employs the phonetic and poetic potential of the Finnish language. As a context-specific register, the artists further separate the rap battle, a verbal duel. In the battle the contestants’ aim is to win the rival, and rhetoric positions, strict argumentativeness and dissing and boasting are among the means that serve this end. The most typical performance context is, however, informal freestyling among a peer group. Recently, Finnish freestyle has also been brought into public performances that interact with the audience. The composition is based on the rhythmic units and vocal rhymes situated at least in line ends, as well as on argumentative and associative structures, in which the creation of punchlines or the emerging rhyme structures play the leading role.