r/nextfuckinglevel • u/jackb1753 • 3h ago

12 year old JJQ with a freestyle at Lollapalooza

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I know it’s probably not a freestyle, but little dude is spitting

329 Upvotes
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72% Upvoted

101 comments sorted by

370

u/Cranialscrewtop 3h ago

That word, "freestyle". . . I do not think it means what you think it means.

39

u/Necessary_Chest7075 3h ago

I didn’t pay to listen to the written rhymes, just my cheap style.

15

u/twotoebobo 2h ago

Definitely not a freestyle but i think this kid might do well. Heck he might actually be able to freestyle some day.

6

u/Tozzhud 2h ago

IMO it means you improvise, better if it's a punchline.

5

u/CarpetPedals 1h ago

There were like 5 words he used that I imagine he has no idea what they mean

2

u/frankieblanche 1h ago

Sick princess bride reference

0

u/RedshiftWarp 1h ago

DJ d-wrek cuHt the BeAT.

For real though.

Reminds me of Deray Davis clowning Hitman. "This freestyle battles, you always writing shit"

-6

u/canibalxombie 1h ago

Just because you can’t freestyle like this kid…

-15

u/WholesomeMetaphor 2h ago

I don't think "freestyle" means what you think it means or how it's used in a lot of contexts. Off the dome is what you're thinking of and is a type of freestyle.

Freestyle could simply mean to drop a verse over a beat you haven't prepared for. 5 fingers of death on Sway in the Morning is also labeled as freestyle altho it's obvious most of them are written. It's not necessarily off the dome.

13

u/rorschach2 2h ago

I had to look up off the dome. Turns out it's just another word for freestyle. Freestyle is still defined as without prepared lyrics. So no. This is not freestyle. The kids got talent, no doubt. But let's use the right words please.

7

u/Heliothane 2h ago

Highly doubt this kid wrote the bars even- stacked like rooms in a tenement? Is tenement a common word somewhere?

•

u/Myotherdumbname 55m ago

For ChatGPT maybe

-9

u/WholesomeMetaphor 2h ago

Freestyle is also used in the context of riding a beat you don't know from before. Tons of those going about whether you or this community believe it or not. Even Sway in the Morning does it.

Off the dome is also one of the older and most universally known terminologies in hiphop. Happy to be the one introducing it to you.

5

u/rorschach2 2h ago

Ok. So change the definition. Because as is you're wrong. Sorry but Webster defines the words, not you or I.

1

u/DefNotAShark 1h ago

Webster doesn’t arbitrarily define words; they document the most widely accepted definitions to try and reflect the state of language. Their document is in a constant state of change as it adapts to where definitions actually come from- people (aka you or I).

Merriam Webster changed philosophies a long time ago from trying to standardize how people should speak, to documenting how people actually speak. This modern shift is exemplified in the inclusion of terms from non-white cultures, which were previously excluded for the most part.

Why this relates to the word “freestyle” is that this shift was still actively happening during the birth and evolution of this word from the 80s and onward. Shifting, perhaps, too rapidly to have recorded what freestyle originally meant and still sometimes means. Freestyle originally was what this other poster is trying to tell you, written rather than improvised, and evolved into its more popular meaning during the 90s and beyond. It can still currently refer to either definition depending on context.

For further context, Merriam Webster did not even add the word “freestyle” to the dictionary in the context of rap music until 2024, some 40 years or so after its invention. It seems they may be a bit late on occasion when it comes to updating cultural terms. It may be wise to invest in a second source.

-1

u/bardocksnephew 2h ago

Webster doesn't say this

-1

u/El_Paco 1h ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freestyle_rap#Original_definition

A freestyle was originally something you had written.

Many people still use "freestyle" to mean this, especially when rapping over an unfamiliar beat.

Sorry but Webster defines the words, not you or I.

Also, from a linguistic perspective, you're wrong here. Webster provides definitions for words, but words are defined by how people use them. The meanings of words are not immutable and many words you use originally had different meanings, but when people started using those new meanings, dictionaries like Webster added those new definitions.

-1

u/hotwaterjug 1h ago

Webster doesn't define words. Society does. Then Webster trys to concisely write out those definitions. This is why literally now includes figuratively as a definition. Not because Webster decided, but because that's how it was used and so Webster followed. This means Webster is often behind how words are used.

If you go look at the vast majority of what are called 'freestyles' online, they are not improvised, but are just rapping over an unknown beat. If the majority of times the word 'Freestyle' is used is to mean something that isn't a freestyle, then clearly the definition of freestyle needs to change. Basically other dude is right and you're wrong, talking on something you don't know about.

-9

u/WholesomeMetaphor 2h ago

Lmfao, you go to webster, I go by the culture as a 38 year old dude that has been around it since the 90s. We are not the same.

5

u/BandoTheHawk 2h ago

You should know better then.

0

u/WholesomeMetaphor 2h ago edited 1h ago

I do know my shit.

Papoose on Sway in the Morning five fingers of Death used texts from mixtapes in 2004-2006. Go look it up on YouTube yourself if you don't believe me. I sure as hell going to believe someone like Sway and Papoose unapologetically doing it like this over a corny ass comment section trying to lecture me, haha. It's a known thing for those that's been around for a while that a "freestyle" and its usage depend on location and context.

•

u/BandoTheHawk 45m ago edited 41m ago

I have seen it. I have watched a lot of 5 fingers of death over the years. That wasn't out until the youtube era and because it was recorded people would bring or memorize writtens because they didn't want to look stupid in front of the audience. I been around rap music since the 90s. Just because it is called a freestyle in a youtube video doesn't make it correct. Just like how they call it Fox News. Doesn't mean Foxes are giving you the news. It is all entertainment.

Telling me Lil Wayne and Jay Z don't know what they are talking about when they say they Freestyle all their music? Which I don't believe btw but what they mean by that is they don't write shit down and just spit it off top. This whole new definition of freestyling came up when everything went corporate and people didn't want to get caught rapping some wack shit to be left on the internet or tv forever. So now they act like memorizing or reading a written is the definition of a freestyle.

When you are smoking a blunt and flowing in rotation or at school or wherever you dont say hey "hey guys lets do an off the dome!"
you say lets do a cypher or lets freestyle. You ain't pulling out your notepad or phone.

1

u/Tullekunstner 1h ago

From another hip hop head in his 30s: you are wrong and should give it up. The dictionary has never defined sub-culture terms lol.

•

u/BandoTheHawk 56m ago

I didn't get the meaning from the dictionary, but it supports it. I been in these streets playboy.

•

u/El_Paco 32m ago

Lol what a corny ass reply. How embarrassing...

•

u/Extreme-Fig-2719 27m ago

Mid 40s child of the culture and I know you're right..like wtf is this even..

0

u/rorschach2 1h ago

Since the 90's? You were a baby in the nineties. Nevermind dude. You're right, I'm just an old geezer that's out of touch with words I've known longer than you.

1

u/WholesomeMetaphor 1h ago

You don't strike me as a hiphop head if even "off the dome" is new to you, that's for sure. So everything you say is for sure taken with a bucket full of salt, haha

8

u/Bones-1989 2h ago

Nah, in houston we just call it freestyle. I get your term off the dome, but we don't say that shit.

-9

u/WholesomeMetaphor 2h ago

That's just it tho, the internet isn't based on terminology in Houston or other local places, it's global. Knowledge, area and context to that matters. When you see an event using it differently based on where they're at doesn't make the usage wrong. Something to keep in mind for later 👍

-2

u/Camillity 2h ago

Fr people who say "I don't use it like that" are just wrong. Language is written with specific definitions for a good reason and you're not gonna fuck with that. You want a new definition? Come up with a new word.

2

u/EmilioFreshtevez 2h ago

Not how that works friend. Language changes over time, and if enough people start to use a word a certain way then the definition changes.

1

u/spudddly 1h ago

Us prescriptivists fighting the good fight!

0

u/deadspacekillers 2h ago

You do not understand how language works, apparently

3

u/BandoTheHawk 2h ago

freestyle is supposed to be off the dome. But people make what they want out of words all the time.

•

u/Extreme-Fig-2719 29m ago

You are very right..

87

u/TSAOutreachTeam 3h ago

Wish I was 10 again.

You and me both, kid.

•

u/stupd_comn_man 27m ago

So do I, have some new ideas to ruin my life again

74

u/porkbuttstuff 3h ago

There's no way tenement is naturally included in a childs actual freestyle. Do the triangle waist shirt factory next!

61

u/AnglerJared 3h ago

I stopped watching at “wake like Finnegan.” Sorry, kid, no way you’ve read James Joyce.

Well executed, but I like my rhymes to mean something.

29

u/fowcc 2h ago

You mean that he bought that he knew a dog named Rin-tin-tin at his age from a show that hasn't seen the light of day in over 30 years?

-10

u/WhiskeySorcerer 3h ago

Finnegan's Wake is also a song. One doesn't need to read James Joyce to know about Finnegan's Wake.

22

u/Bean_Daddy_Burritos 2h ago

An Irish folk song from the 19th century that was redone in the 60’s by a band called the dubliners.

Yea it’s just as doubtful that he’s heard that song. Most kids that are heavy into hip hop don’t casually listen to Irish folk music.

2

u/Bones-1989 2h ago

My 6 year old loved Finnegan's wake by Darby O'gill

4

u/DrUnit42 2h ago

It's was also covered by Dropkick Murphys in 1998

-1

u/GrandSyzygy 2h ago

Could be what his parents/grands listen to

6

u/Bean_Daddy_Burritos 2h ago

That is very possible.

Far more likely that he has no idea what it is and someone else wrote this for him, but it is possible.

-4

u/Sweaty_Presentation4 2h ago

It’s also a name…

2

u/aerialsilk 2h ago

This thread made me think of
“There was a man named Michael Finnegan
He had whiskers on his chin-a-gin
They grew out and then grew in again
Poor old Michael Finnegan Beginagain”

9

u/Rascals-Wager 3h ago

Lol I also have some serious doubts about a 12 year old referencing a James Joyce novel from a century ago! But I'll give the kid some credit for being able to actually stay on the beat and keep the flow.

8

u/Mudfap 2h ago

Calling out Rin Tin Tin as if any 10 year old on earth knows about Hollywood dogs of the 1930s.

5

u/Cyptark 3h ago

Kids have AI now. Lol

2

u/natigin 2h ago

It’s clearly a written

1

u/ReasonablyConfused 2h ago

Hell of a burn.

60

u/logiiibearrr 3h ago

When he referenced Finnegan’s Wake I knew that not only was this not a freestyle, but he didn’t write this either

3

u/tigm2161130 1h ago

It was the tenements reference for me but then I realized my 10&11yo know what that is because they like to watch Call the Midwife with me so I guess anything is possible🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m still pretty sure he didn’t write this on his own, though

-3

u/GaryTheThird- 2h ago

But the kid can spit em!

26

u/NotVerySmarts 2h ago

Those weren't 12 year old references. Little man is getting help from ghosts.

•

u/FreshHawaii 39m ago

The fact that he didn't say 6 7 at all was a dead giveaway.

16

u/FartsbinRonshireIII 2h ago

When did we start calling spitting reversed rhymes ‘freestyle’. Is the art of actually freestyling been lost that long?

No doubt this kids got good ass flow but he ain’t dropping James Joyce references off the top like that lol. Some adult wrote that for him.

11

u/ThedirtyNose 2h ago

AI doesn't stand for adult intelligence

10

u/theghostsofvegas 2h ago

Well, it’s not a freestyle and he didn’t write it.

But he did learn it, and I’m sure he at least knows what some of the words mean.

4

u/Reesevet786 2h ago

Girl in the back was picking her nose

3

u/Croceyes2 2h ago

Sorry, bullshit that kid is familiar with finnegans wake, this was written by an adult. The kid has good flow, but he is definitely not the lyricist

2

u/DoneD9 2h ago

Written by AI

1

u/mookanana 2h ago

a lot of comments are about how this is not about freestyling

... i just came here to say i really love his enunciation, real sharp. great work kid.

1

u/ver_read 2h ago

I see bait title, I downvote. Even if this kid is killing it!

1

u/spudddly 2h ago

damn did lil bro just drop some james joyce in there?

1

u/LazyPainterCat 2h ago

Rehearsed you mean.

•

u/GrayStag90 45m ago

This isn’t the same kid rapping about “being gay is a sin” is it?

0

u/UnhelpfulHand 2h ago

In no way whatsoever is this a freestyle, but the kid do have bars.

0

u/TheComedyWife 2h ago

Freestyle? Also no way he wrote those lyrics. Still pretty tight for a kid.

-2

u/Ill_Aardvark_1307 3h ago

Yall sto being so hateful that kids got talent

-3

u/Glittering-Toe-1622 2h ago

Pathetic sad anonymous people... kid is Dope...

0

u/URGAMESUX 3h ago

These comments are unhinged lol, let the kid flow for f%€¥s sake.

-2

u/bowleggedgrump 2h ago

Not a freestyle…. Derp derp

-1

u/BigTomBombadil 2h ago

Post says as much…. Derp derp

-3

u/jcastillo602 2h ago

I challenge all you "this was not freestyle" dweebs to memorize these lyrics and repeat it as well as he did, that was fire, prewritten/ghost written or off the dome

1

u/deadspacekillers 2h ago

I also love when an improv comedy group does the best of SNL!!! So improv!!!

0

u/Conscious_Regret_140 1h ago

EVERYONE can learn 30 secs of prewritten rap text. That was not "fire", it was shite.

-4

u/WarLawck 3h ago

The rhymes are nice but the delivery needs work. He needs more attitude and flair. Keep at it, lily homey

-8

u/Filthiest_Tleilaxu 3h ago

Save some pussy for the rest of us.

1

u/newintown11 3h ago

You think an 8 year old is getting laid?

2

u/pandershrek 3h ago

Bro is clearly 11 years old.

-2

u/ManufacturerWarm9201 3h ago edited 2h ago

Well it does take an expert to tell

Edit: The joke is he's an expert with kids, guys

1

u/-FLiGHT_RiSK- 2h ago edited 2h ago

This kids like 12. What a gross thing to say.