how many words in a rap song?
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How Many Words Are in the Average Rap Song?

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Rap music is becoming increasingly more popular as time progresses. As rap has grown in popularity, the competition to be the best has become much more competitive.

One way rappers’ skills are assessed is by word counts in their songs.

There are between 400-500 words in the average rap song, with some songs reaching word counts past 1,000. This is much more than other genres like rock or country, both of which average under 200 words.

If you’re interested in learning more about different rappers’ word averages, and even some of the world records held by rappers, then this is the article for you. Read on to find out more!

Rap Word Counts vs. Other Genres

Rap music has a much higher word count than any other genre. Many rappers are known for their speed, and therefore it comes as no surprise that rap songs have the most words.

In a sample of 50,000 rap, country, and rap songs, rap came out with exponentially higher word counts than rock and country.

Rap music averaged just upward of 400 words, whereas rock and country both averaged just under 200 words.

In the same study, the top country song had just over 400 words, and the top rock song was just shy of 600.

The top rap song stands completely unmatched. The top rap was well over 1000 words. There is no comparing the word counts to any other genre.

Rap also has the most unique word usage of any other genre as well. The vocabulary of many rappers is far more extensive than most artists of any genre.

It just goes to show how unmatched rap is compared to other genres of music.

Fastest Rappers and World Record Holders

Rappers across all generations have competed to have the fastest bars and verses. Many names come to mind when asked to think about the greatest rapper of all time. Here are a few of the top greatest and fastest rappers of all time.

Eminem

Eminem is regarded as one of the fastest rappers of all time. In 2014, Eminem’s hit song “ Rap God” set the record for most words in a song. Across the song’s over 6 minute run time, the iconic rapper averaged over four words per second.

The song, in total, has one thousand, five hundred, and sixty words. One section of the song contains 97 words in 15 seconds, and thus Eminem was rapping at 6.5 words per second, which is almost unmatched.

Harry Shotta

Harry Shotta is both famous as well as infamous for dethroning Eminem for the most words in a rap song in 2015.

His song “Animal” clocked in at one thousand seven hundred and seventy-one words, beating Eminem by over two hundred words.

Even though he technically broke this record in mid-2015, it was not confirmed in The Guinness Book of World Records until almost a year later.

It was then published in the 2017 edition of the popular book. This was a huge moment for UK rappers.

Twista

Twista is both officially and unofficially regarded as the fastest rapper of all time. In 1992, he was able to rap at a speed of 11.2 syllables per second, beating the previous world record.

This was broken down after he performed 598 syllables in 55 seconds.

Though he is no longer the record holder, he is still famous and thriving. Recently, he’s been featured on many tracks by artists, such as Chance the Rapper, Tech N9ne, and Busta Rhymes.

He is commonly known as the world’s fastest rapper.

Twisted Insane

Twisted Insane began rapping at the ripe age of 12 in order to achieve his status as one of the fastest rappers alive. He was first noticed by Tech N9ne and was able to launch his career off of the connections he made through this meeting.

Since then, he’s received props from many of the other fastest rappers alive, such as Busta Rhymes and Twista.

Busta Rhymes

Busta Rhymes was unique in many ways, and one huge one was the whiplash-inducing speed of his lyrics. He used a technique of internal rhymes and half-rhymes to achieve impressive speeds.

This speed demon of a rapper has received 11 Grammy’s for his work and is still making music today.

Tech N9ne

Though he isn’t necessarily a world record holder, Tech N9ne should be high on your list of fastest rappers. In his song, “Takin’ Online Orders,” he achieved a speed of 15.2 words per second when he rapper 12 words per beat at 76 beats per minute.

Though this may not have gotten Guinness’ attention, it caught the attention of his fans. He went on to break the world record for “Most Top 10s on a Rap Album Chart,” according to Billboard.

Aesop Rock

Aesop Rock is the rapper with the most expansive vocabulary of them all.

Matt Daniels was able to collect data and analyze how many original and unique words rappers used by comparing their first thirty-five thousand words with Shakespear’s thirty-five thousand words.

With a whopping lead of over eight hundred words, Aesop Rock had seven thousand, eight hundred, and seventy-nine unique words.

He is by far the most versatile rapper when it comes to the extent of his vocabulary. His average puts him three thousand words above where the average rapper lies on this same scale.

He’s been quoted saying he spends a lot of his time reading news articles and scientific journals to expand his vocabulary and dominate the charts as the most well-spoken rappers of all time.

Tonedeff

Tonedeff is a unique rapper on this list, as he is primarily a battle rapper rather than a traditional one. However, on Substantial’s song “Velocity,” he reaches high speeds, an impressive feat for any rapper, let alone a battle rapper.

In addition to his high-speed feature, he also founded his own label, QN5 Music. His rhythm and tone variation keep his rap lightning-quick and yet still entertaining and understandable.  

Krayzie Bone

Even though he doesn’t hold any records, Krayzie Bone reaches some insane speeds on some of his tracks. His verses on “Heavy Heated,” “Clash of the Titans,” as well as “Flow Motion” do an excellent job of showcasing his crazy speeds.

He also won a Grammy for best performance by a duo or group for his performance in the song “Ridin” with Chamillionaire.

These are just a few of the fastest rappers of all time. Every day, there are new rappers writing, making, and producing new music.

There are so many new rappers emerging on the scene, all the time, who add a new layer of creativity and a new level of competition for speed.

As more rappers continue to pop up on the music scene, rap will continue to change, and records will continue to be broken. Raps will get longer and wordier and continue to push limits to inspire more great poetry.

Conclusion

As rap is a relatively new genre, it’s baffling to think about how speeds and rhythms have changed and increased over time. Over the past 40 years, rap was born, and all of these amazing and impressive records were set.

In the next 40 years, rap music may continue to evolve and continue to break records.

As records continue to be broken and rap gets faster and faster, there is no doubt that rap will either get faster or change entirely to accommodate the changing of times and styles.

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