cypher

My favorite part of BET's annual Hip-Hop awards are the cyphers that showcase new talent and give the big names a reason to stop by and flex their muscles. This year, we saw collectives A$AP Mob and TDE go in along with a healthy list of rising stars like Action Bronson and Travi$ Scott; but in the end, all eyes, ears and tweets were on Kendrick Lamar.

Freestyle rap is most easily defined as coming up with lyrics "off the top of your head", either performed a capella, over another person beat-boxing or over a hip-hop instrumental.