So how do the greats do it? Turns out there's a few tricks.

1. Practice

The number one rule for almost anything applies to breath control as well. The more you rap, the more you train your brain to subconsciously account for difficult portions of the verse and take breaths at appropriate spots. Over time you also condition your lungs to hold more air and you can rap unimpeded.Do you have to be in great physical shape? Not necessarily. Many rappers we associate with being overweight show amazing feats of breath control. That said, they do have the benefit of years of practice. Their brains are finely attuned and their lungs are much stronger than their overall image would suggest. All else equal someone who's athletic will have better breath control, but being out of shape isn't a prohibitive factor.

2. Punching in

Punching in is the practice of rapping a few bars, hitting stop on the record button - catching your breath, and then jumping back in where you left off. It's commonly done every 4 bars, and it's a great way to initially build your breath control. Even the great Big Pun would often only rap one bar at a time. A challenge of punching in is matching the vocal pitch and rhythm you left off with (otherwise it will sound uneven, and the "punch-in spots" will be obvious to the listener). A great engineer or producer can make punching in a seamless process, but it can also be done in a home studio using software like ProTools or Reaper.

3. Writing

Before you even step into the booth you can account for breath control in your lyrics. Part of this is knowing your own limitations as a rapper (or if your client's if you're ghostwriting). Trying to pull of a series of double time multi-syllable rhymes right out the gate (like Eminem on "Forever") is extremely challenging. You can sprinkle in impressive lines between parts where the flow changes, breaks down, or where you stretch out words. A secondary benefit of changing your flow for better breath control is that it keeps your delivery interesting and the listener engaged. You can also put pause marks "[--]" in your written lyrics to remind yourself where to take a breath or slow down.

1. You get to express yourself in all new ways. When you ghostwrite you can write about things through another person that you normally wouldn't through yourself. Case in point: When I ghostwrite for a gangsta rapper I can become Martin Scorsese directing a crime drama. It's something I couldn't rap in the first person.

2. You learn about people. As a ghostwriter people tell you about the most intimate details about their lives. It's immensely interesting and rewarding to learn about different walks of life.

3. You help people express themselves. When an client receives lyrics that are a perfect fit they're ecstatic and they let you know. They get one step closer to reaching their dreams or cementing their legacy. It's a good feeling to be a part of that.

4. You get to collaborate. Often clients come to me with amazing concepts that I'd never think of on my own. It's exciting to put my lyrical skills in the framework of their concept. When great ideas meet technical skill the results can be amazing.

5. You have an excuse to listen to lots of music. This is my favorite. Part of my job is to be up on the freshest hip-hop tracks. I'm constantly combing blogs and YouTube listening to new songs and new artists so I'm up to date on what's hot. For someone with a love a of hip-hop this is a joy.

In the mid 90s hip hop was lyrically dense. Verses were layered, internal rhyme schemes ruled, and "that buck that bought a bottle could've struck the lotto." Rappers like Nasty Nas made the grimy world of intercity living an appealing landscape of multisyllabic double entendres. The listening experience was a complex journey for the verbally visual mind. On songs like Camp Lo's "Luchini" the active listener was rewarded with deeper meanings the casual passerby missed. I'm still catching new things. 90s hip hop was a mentally stimulating experience that, contrary to public opinion, made you smarter as you listened.

Today it's more hit or miss. Underground artists like Fashawn, J. Cole, and Jay Electronica proudly wave the lyricist's flag. Aboveground rappers (who I'll leave unnamed) make emotionally compelling music but lack that complex 90s punch. I equate it to a delicious four course gourmet meal with low nutritional value. You love it while you're eating it. It taste great. But when you finish you find yourself hungry for more.

A lot of people will say this decline is due to commercialism. Once hip hop became a billion dollar industry it was only natural it would lose it's intricate lyrical nuance. I disagree. I think music fans are intelligent enough to appreciate complex lyricism. Look at Eminem's album "Recovery". It's as technically complex as anything that dropped in the 90s and is, so far, this year's best selling album. Look at a song like Big Pun's "Not a Player". His wordplay and flow are incredible and the song was a career defining hit. I think at some point rappers stopped caring. They got lazy. Good enough replaced above and beyond. It became a race to the bottom of lyrical standards.

At the same time the production quality of hip hop has improved. You have breathtaking, high budget beats from artists like Justice League, Kanye West, and Dr Dre. Don't get me wrong, I love 90s production, but today it's on a whole other level. Songs like Rick Ross' "Maybach Music III" sound amazing and set the perfect mood. Kanye's and Jon Brion's work on "Late Registration" was awe-inspiring. Live orchestration is no longer a novelty, it's becoming the norm.

With this in mind, I'd like to paint an alternate reality of hip hop. Imagine a musical world where artists with the lyrical sophistication of Rakim flow over Justice League beats. I think ghostwriters are the key to creating this kind of music. There's a generation of amazing writers who grew up listening to 90s hip hop. They're an untapped resource for rappers today. Their talent could be utilized in a crowd-sourced way to create the best lyrics for the most popular rappers (who may not have the time, talent or desire to improve their lyrics themselves).

Some may raise concerns of artist integrity. If a rapper's using someone else's lyrics then doesn't that make them less genuine? My answer is no, it makes them more resourceful. Rappers can still be the driving creative force behind a song or album. They can set the artistic vision and define specific parameters for writers to fill in. The easiest way to think about this is to compare it to film making. Martin Scorsese doesn't write the scripts for his movies but no one would deny that they're his artistic creations. He sets forth a larger idea and directs people under him who specialize in areas where they have more competence. If more rappers use ghostwriters as tools to reach more complex and interesting levels of expression then it's a win for hip hop fans the world over.

http://allhiphop.com/stories/editorial/archive/2010/01/05/22085384.aspx

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-Jesse

2. Nas & Damian Marley - Distant Relatives - Nas brings his usual lyrical genius and Damian Marley pulls off a nice hybrid of rap and reggae.

3. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - The production on this album contends with the great classics of all time. Musically it's a true masterpiece.

4. Lloyd Banks - The Hunger for More 2 - The G-Unit underdog makes a great album with that dark, dense Queens, NY sound.

5. Fashawn - Ode to Illmatic - Fashawn pays tribute to Nas' Illmatic with multis, internal rhymes, and that mid-90s hunger.

6. J Cole - Friday Night Lights - Understated piano on the production and excellent songwriting make a classic J Cole mixtape.

7. Statik Selektah & Termanology - 1982 - Brings back that mid-90s sound. Term is a master lyricist, reminds me of Big L. Statik's beats remind me of DJ Premier.

8. Drake - Thank Me Later - This album grew on me. Drake's producer 40 has a nice smoothed out sound. Drake may not be Ice Cube, but he's true to who he is.

9. Eminem - Recovery - Surprise comeback. Production is a little uneven but Em makes up for it with rapid flow, strong delivery and good lyrics.

10. Lil Wayne - I Am Not a Human Being - Solid album throughout. Good production and Wayne brings his usual wittiness. Nice prelude to Carter IV.

LIL WAYNE
I wish I was a lil bit iller - wish I was a killer
Wish I was guerrilla, Godzilla, Thriller
Wish I had a lil less swag so I could brag
In my Jag, yeea man, laid back in a doorag
Weezy why you do that, maaan who that cool cat
Wish I knew who my pops was, real bad, real bad
Wish I didn't get all these girls off the ransom
Wish I was like LL, girls cuz I'm handsome
Wish I had a grandson named Branson - I dunno
Wish I could flow like a young Mic Geronimo
Wish I wasn't locked in a cage like a gerbil
Wish I had it locked like Kaiser Soze Verbal
Wish that herbal was jus enough to fuk me up
Wish that this sizzurp ain't lovely in a cup
Wish my dick ain't addict like a cancer stick
Have em coming round nonstop like a fiend chick
Wish I knew Guru before the homie passed
Wish that the Zulus had brought in some giraffes
Wish that Nicki and Drake would make a baby
I'd raise him to the best MC that would pay me
Wish I was like Jay-Z, yea an icon
Oh yea, wish I was tall and could ball like Lebron

ANDRE 3000
Notes was strewn across the room, mind open like a womb
I'm in back of ya, lady Dracula, now she's risen out her tomb
Zoom microscopic topic to discuss is love and trust
Met a lady from Atlanta called Ms Santa selling dust
Thunder bolt volts the antidote to the anti dope I bus
With the musk of mammoth tusk rust spaceship doors plus whores I thrust
Trust in G-O-D, only heaven up above me
So it's clouds that wanna hug me, angel shrouds they wanna slug me
Now I'm back down to Earth, Andre this is your self worth
Combined with lines divine make sublime feel like your birth

CAM'RON
Ayo I got my skates strapped, rollerbladin, hate that
Cruising round Harlem, and I don't need no street map
Smile at the pretty mamis, they like "hey hottie"
God on eight wheels, sex appeal, I'm God body
I got the purple ones, pink wheels, bubblegum
Laces made with satin, rule Manhattan, havin fun
I pop a figure eight, they like damn Cam you great
I pop a clip, aim at your lip if you tryna hate

MF DOOM
Got the butter, did I stutter, shutter speed on the camera slow
To catch the blurred motion from this potent roller skating pro
Flow like my raps over Madlib lab tracks
Facts never fiction, your eviction from our skating pack
Cam got the guile, why they call him Giles, flashy styles
Move like magician, Christian, early, surly, extra wild
Yo, oh, ho, you couldn't hold a torch, no
Candle get dismantled, trampled, found fifty leagues below

CAM'RON
Damn DOOM that's super deep, prefer skating to a Jeep
Catch me at the roller rink, mink coat, bringin heat
Baby girl, she likes to roll, shorts hug her ass yo
They way her cheeks pop make me lose my balance - woah