Page "Rapping" Paragraph 17

MCs stay on-beat by stressing syllables in time to the four beats of the musical backdrop.

Poetry scholar Derek Attridge describes how this works in his book Poetic Rhythm – " rap lyrics are written to be performed to an accompaniment that emphasizes the metrical structure of the verse ".

He says rap lyrics are made up of, " lines with four stressed beats, separated by other syllables that may vary in number and may include other stressed syllables.

The strong beat of the accompaniment coincides with the stressed beats of the verse, and the rapper organizes the rhythms of the intervening syllables to provide variety and surprise ".