Rob McPherson has developed an app that helps young rappers and artists learn to freestyle rap.

Hip hop has been one of the most influential music genres to date with hundreds of artists having revitalized the genre over the years. A big stepping stone for many hip hop rappers are freestyle rap battles. Simply being in the room during one is an amazing feeling. However, the skill it takes to be a freestyle rapper is more difficult than normal. Coming up with words and rhymes on the fly can be challenging for many. Recently, I’ve discovered something that could make this process much easier. Rob McPherson has created a smartphone app called Hypeman. This app was designed to help freestyle rappers by using a template system that shows rhyming words.

McPherson is a senior at Montclair State University studying computer science. McPherson always had a passion of writing rhymes in the form of poetry while in high school. Once college began, he got more involved with rapping and producing beats for raps with a few friends. This is where he applied his skills from writing poetry to his love for hip hop. However, freestyle rap wasn’t always a focus. McPherson said that he struggled with freestyling.

“Up until recently, I always had trouble with the multitasking of freestyling. It was always something I envied and something I was always mystified by when I saw people do it. Even if I had been a better writer than they were,” McPherson said.

The idea came up on a typical Friday night. McPherson and a few friends were hanging out in their apartment just listening to hip hop and got the idea to try freestyling just for fun.

“I had this thought that what if I didn’t need to worry about the words because I feel like the main part of it was that flow and keeping to the beat anyway? I just envisioned it as a software developer, like how can I fix that,” McPherson said.

“To me, it came pretty easily as something I could make. I probably got the prototype running as this little Java program within a few days,” McPherson said.

McPherson developed the app Hypeman which is currently on the Google Play store in the beta mode and is coming to IOS in the future. It is a template for freestyle and a freestyle songwriting aid. It consists of thousands of rhymes with just a touch of a button and has a built in Youtube player that gives you instrumentals and beats. It also comes with a recording feature where one can record themselves and share with friends through social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram. McPherson is currently working on making a platform that consists of a website titled Hypeman.com where they can build a community through people uploading and participating in competitions all while using the app.

“You’d be shocked with just how inclusive hip hop has grown which I think some people may not interpret at first,” McPherson said.

“I think everyone has tried their hand at freestyling and I think that this app is suitable for anyone who likes to do it just for fun or maybe someone who’s never tried it before,” McPherson said.

For more info, check out McPherson’s website Hypemanapp.mcphersondev.com.