Words and Music: Scat and Make-up Songs, the Art of One-Time-Only Rap Reporting

“How do you create those rhyming scat-raps, that you call make-up songs, on the spot?” This question has been asked so many times since I started doing this as a kid, I wish I knew the answer. I don’t have any system except to start the first line, and let it happen. Usually, the last word of the first line gives me rhyming ideas. (For example, “I always dreamed that someday I could cook at least one dish” would automatically trigger “fish.”) Then I would have to build something on the spot and fill in the blank space to lead up to the upcoming word “fish,” thus:

“I always dreamed that some day soon

I’d learn to cook at least one dish,

I feared I’d never find the way

Until I sautéed beer and fish.”