“This will explain the basics of freestyle, flowing, and battling.”

That was the introductory sentence to the Internet website page “How To Survive a Freestyle Battle” on July 5, 2006. The page was a part of WikiHow, a Wikipedia-style (not Wikipedia-related) community of guides on “how to do” anything that launched in 2005.

Anything.

Occasionally helpful and typically amusing, the WikiHow K-hole is arguably more dangerous than Wikipedia itself. The site sucks you in, largely because its guides drip in perfect naïveté (most seem to be written for a 16-year-old, by a 17-year-old).

Almost 10 years later, “How to Survive a Freestyle Battle” is still very much alive. It’s gone platinum, with more than 1.25 million views, and has a spruced-up layout and illustrations. The 2015 intro is wiser. More detailed. It’s clear the editors of this page have been through their share of battles.

Battling is the basis for all rap music. In a rap battle, the rapper with the best delivery, lyrics, and crowd response usually wins. By writing your own rap songs, freestyling as often as possible, staying relaxed, and feeling the energy of your crowds, you’ll not only survive these battles, but you’ll thrive, rising to the top of the heap.

After the intros of most WikiHow pages, there are “Steps,” followed by “Tips,” occasionally “Warnings,” and then “Related WikiHows.” Each of the categories in “How to Survive a Freestyle Battle” have changed over the past 10 years, some much more than others. In some ways, the page has grown with the times, and in others, it still feels like it’s 2006.

A “How to Survive a Freestyle” step in 2006:

Listen to previous freestyle flows and battles by great artists (e.g., rappers like Jin, Jay-Z, Yusaf, Benefit, Rakim, Eminem, and any other great artist that spits hardcore rap).

That same “which rappers should I listen to?” step in 2007:

Try and get your ears on some freestyle raps done by accomplished artists who are well known for their battle raps. Rappers unlike Jin, Jay-Z, Ludacris, Jada Kiss, Big L, Eminem, and any other artist known for battling. And more like Immortal Technique.

Wow, in one year, the tables have turned. 2006 wants you to be like Jin and Jay Z, but 2007 says you should be unlike Jin and Jay-Z (and more like Immortal Technique). What a script flip.

2008:

Try and get your ears on some freestyle raps done by accomplished artists who are well known for their rap battles. You can learn a lot from rappers like Eminem, Tupac, Biggie, JIN, D-Graz, John Farnham, Big L, Ill Bill, Eyedea, Adeem, Vinnie Paz, Illmaculate, Pacewon and any other artist known for battling. Good battles to look up include the Blaze Battles from HBO, Scribble Jam, among others. YouTube.com is an easy way to find these.

Jay Z’s gone altogether, but Jin is back in favor with the freestyle gods, as is Adeem, Pacewon, D-Graz, and YouTube.com.

It keeps going. And keeps getting more Pacewon.

2009:

Try and get your ears on some freestyle raps done by accomplished artists who are well known for their rap battles. You can learn a lot from rappers like Nas, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Mos Def, Immortal Technique, Eminem, Tupac, Biggie, JIN, D-Graz, White Frosty, Big L, Mono (Dynasty Club), Ill Bill, Necro, Eyedea, Adeem, Vinnie Paz, DMR (Dynasty Club), Illmaculate, Pacewon, E-40, Eazy E, Ice Cube and any other artist known for battling. Good battles to look up include the Blaze Battles from HBO, Scribble Jam, among others. YouTube.com is an easy way to find these.

Prince Williams/Getty Images tbd by editor

This council of freestyle WikiHow editors can’t make up its mind about Jay Z, which you have to respect. In addition to that, 2009 was an interesting year for the Steps section, because it was the first time when the film 8 Mile became a focal point of the advice (even though it was mentioned in brief in both 2007 and 2008). In 2009, it got its own step.

Take 8 Mile’s Final Battle for example, since B-Rabbit was put to spit first, he insulted himself and basically said a big ‘so what?’. “Yes, I’m white, I’m a bum, I live in a trailer, my mum’s a drug addict…”, thus basically taking every possible insult directed at him away from Papa Doc before Papa has anything to fight back. Then B-Rabbit dissed Papa Doc for being a private-schooler, then he closed out his turn by saying this battle is pointless, “Here, tell people something they don’t know about me”.

Well said.

2010 is a funny year for this step, because a certain rapper makes his way into the crowd (emphasis added):

Try to get your ears on some freestyle raps done by accomplished artists who are well known for their rap battles. You can learn a lot from rappers like Eyedea,Tech N9ne, Twiztid, AMB, Drake, Lil Wayne, Nas, Eminem, Tupac, and Biggie. Good battles to look up include the Blaze Battles from HBO, Scribble Jam, among others. YouTube.com is an easy way to find these.

Aubrey Drake Graham had arrived, and as it goes with many rappers in their early stages, they’re immediately thought of as good freestylers, since all “come up” raps who performed at radio stations, BET basements, and BET award shows are referred to as “freestylers.” But the illusion doesn’t always hold up.

2011:

Try to get your ears on some freestyle raps done by accomplished artists who are well known for their rap battles. You can learn a lot from rappers like Eyedea, Tech N9ne, AMB, Nas, Eminem, Tupac, Jin and Biggie. Good battles to look up include the Blaze Battles from HBO, Scribble Jam, among others. YouTube.com is an easy way to find these.

Bye, Drake. Maybe the editors got a whiff of BlackBerry Side Scroll Drake and decided he wasn’t worthy.

In 2015, that step still exists:

Watch videos online of battles, or try to go to rap battles near your hometown. Check out websites like rapt.fm. Study some freestyle raps done by accomplished artists who are well known for their rap battles. You can learn a lot from rappers like Eyedea, Atmosphere, Tech N9ne, AMB, Nas, Eminem, Tupac, Jin and Biggie. Good battles to look up include the Blaze Battles from HBO, Scribble Jam, among others. There is also a scene in the movie 8 Mile that is a good representation of what a freestyle rap battle is really like. Pay careful attention to the techniques those artists use to battle, and try to mirror them which will help you enhance your own techniques.

Yes, I’m thinking the same thing you are. Ten years of “How to Survive a Freestyle Rap Battle” and Jin’s still here.

Many of the other steps have stayed relatively consistent, with a few slight changes. Here’s how “Practice freestyling” has evolved over the years:

2006:

Practice free-styling — anytime, anywhere, as much as you can. Even if you run out of things to freestyle about, just continue spitting, no matter how wack you think you sound. It helps you develop better rhymes and your mind becomes more focused on what sounds good when you spit. It’s like a mental workout. So always practice spitting anywhere.

2010:

Practice freestyling (rapping without pre-written lyrics on the spot or impromptu) – anytime, anywhere, as much as you can. Even if you run out of things to freestyle about, just keep going, the longer you force yourself to rap without giving up the stronger you’ll become mentally. It’s like a mental workout.

2015:

Practice freestyling. Rapping without pre-written lyrics on the spot or impromptu should be done anytime, anywhere, as much as you can. While you’re at it, practice freestyling battle rhymes. Even if it means looking at a photo, thinking about an ex, or imagining a future opponent, do whatever you can to come up with clever new ways to insult. Whenever you think you’ve run out of things to freestyle about, just keep going; the longer you force yourself to rap without giving up, the stronger and more flexible you’ll become mentally.

The 2015 piece on practice illuminates another consistent piece of advice: Figure out people or things that you don’t like. And focus on those things you find most easy to insult. This tactic has presented itself in many ways over the years.

2006 did the best job of this:

Have your first real battle against someone you at least somewhat dislike. If you can find someone who just gets you emotional or who angers you, it makes it easier to flow about them. You want to make sure when you flow about them you include 3 major things.

• Metaphors – Making comparisons with your target (the person you’re battling) to something that denigrates them.
• Disses – Saying things that either make fun of them in general (e.g., how they dress, speak, spit, look, walk, talk, act, or their personality) or about them personally (e.g., the way they live, their past, their lifestyle, weaknesses about them, anything that directly goes against them in a way that makes fun of them).
• Punch-Lines – a Punch-Line basically is a bar (2 lines you spit) that incorporates a Metaphor, Dis, and/or anything else to enhance the flow directed at your opponent.

This portion eventually made it to the Tips section of the WikiHow, where it still exists today, but with one major change:

Similes – Making comparisons with your opponent to something that insults them.

Apparently it’s better to use similes than metaphors. I didn’t get that in 2006. I get that in 2015.

Another common thread over the years is to “Relax.” And that makes sense, because if you’re going to a WikiHow for help on freestyling, you’re probably a wee bit nervous.

2007:

When you think you lost it, don’t worry – just relax. The worst thing to do is freak out. Just relax and keep going. There is always value in overcoming a mess up.

2013:

Relax. Staying calm will not only help you keep your cool while your opponent disses you, but also allow you to focus on coming up with a good response. Not only that, but keeping calm will improve your delivery, which can make or break an insult: since the hallmark of good delivery is timing, allowing your mind (and mouth) to race in panic can cripple the best diss.

2015:

Breathe deeply. Deep breathing stimulates the Vagus nerve, which has a calming effect on the body and mind. In fact, some researchers believe that making a habit of relaxing and breathing deeply can change the way that your genes express themselves, making you calmer person all around.

One of the many great aspects of WikiHow is that, when telling someone that a key to freestyling is to relax, you can also click on the word “Relax,” which takes you to another WikiHow, titled “How to Relax.”

Overall, the steps are about gaining confidence, never giving up, visualizing, and practice making perfect. And then, once you do all that, you’re ready to enter a freestyle battle.

The Tips also touch on those themes, with a few exceptions, such as the tip that homophobia is a good way to get under an opponent’s skin, you know, like Nas did (presented in 2007 and still here in 2015):

Battle raps are made up of two parts; a set up and a punch line. The set up is a line that is an opener or rhyme line that your punch-line (where the insult is) will follow. A Punch-Line is basically a line that incorporates a Metaphor, Dis, and/or anything else to enhance the flow directed at your opponent.

• Example: In Nas’ song called Ether (a famous rap battle song directed towards Jay-Z) he says “Put it together (the set up), I rock hoes ya’ll Roc-Fellas” (the punch line is an insult using the name of Jay-Z’s rap label and insinuating that Jay-Z and his camp prefer men over women).

Another important tip, introduced in 2008, is to lie:

Even if the opponent is not using pre-written’s, say that he is using them. Create some uncertainty in the crowd.

2008 was a power year for tips:

Don’t look down, when you look down you show that you are getting beat, stay looking into his eyes, but not like you are hard and your gonna hit him, cause chances are he will hit you.

Ordering of the spit is also important to some degree. While you are trying to rebut someone dissing you when you reply back, but when you spit first, you want to take that away. You can do that by self-deprecation. Anyone who can self-criticize can be very unexpected for the opponent trying to find flaws.

Don’t say anything that is unrelated to the person, and don’t say your going to kill them or that you sell drugs if you don’t.

That final tip, which can be summed up as “don’t lie,” segues seamlessly into the third major section, Warnings. 

These are the best. You can almost hear a kid storm to his room after yelling at his mom for not letting him get a new horse, putting a do-rag on his head, and reading these as he listens to Cormega.

2006 Warning:

“Spit” as used in the context of this article is a synonym for rapping, not the forcible expulsion of saliva from the mouth. Please do not practice the latter kind of spitting; it does not make you look nearly as cool.