Pure Rap

What type of metric foot is most common in rap lyrics?

Iambic, anapestic, trochaic, dactylic, spondaic, pyrrhic? I'm new to lyric writing and scansion and appreciate everyone's responses. Is there a resource online or in print that I should look to for a focused examination of scansion in rap lyrics? Thanks.

Public Comments

1. I don't know of any online resources. However, it's pretty clear that rap lyrics typically don't really scan at all. While the lyrics may have a stressed syllable in time with the underlying beat, or in synchopation with it, the number of unstressed syllables is typically inconsistent. In the rare cases where I hear a steady meter, I suppose it's usually closest to Trochaic. (Stressed followed by an unstressed syllable.) It reminds me of an earlier generation lampooned in Tom Lehrer's song, the "Folk Song Army": The tune don't have to be clever, and it don't even matter if you put a couple of extra syllables into a line, It don't even matter if it ain't good English, and it don't even gotta rhyme. (Excuse me, Rhine.)