Rap Song Hook And Verse Length

How Long Is A Hook In A Song

There is a frequently asked question of how long is a hook in a rap song.  The answer is different depending on the length of the verses of the song.  The hook of a typical 3 verse rap song and a 2 verse rap song is 8 bars long.  That means that there are 8 rhyming lines.  The difference between them is that a 3 verse rap song usually has the hook in it 3 times.  Where as a 2 verse rap song typically has the hook 2 times in it.  The hook always follows the the verse.  So if you have 3 verses then you have 3 hooks and if you have 2 verses then you have 2 hooks.  The chorus is used at times as and intro and also the chorus can be used as the outro.  I hope that this helps you to know how long is a hook in a song.
  

How Long Is A Rap Verse

Another question often asked is how long is a rap verse.  A typical rap verse is 16 bars long.  This is what is referred to as a hot 16 or when someone says spit 16 bars.  Rap verses are usually sixteen lines in lenght.  There are also other types of rap verses such as a 24 bar rap verse.  A 24 bar rap verse is typically apart of a rap song that will include only 2 verses within it.  The structure is as such: intro, first verse, first hook, 2nd verse, second chorus, and an outro.

How Long Of Hook On 24 Bar Verse

On a 24 bar verse the typical hook is 8 bars long.  It is the same hook structure as a chorus on a 16 bar verse.  The same rules apply on both type of rap songs.  However there is no set way to structure your rap song.  You can have your producer to tailor a beat to fit any style that you would like to rap.  For instance if you wanted to have 4 verses in your rap song instead of three then you could request that you music producer add an additional 16 bars to the beat for the forth verse and another 8 bars to the beat for the fourth hook.  But if you examine the average song on the radio or on an album then the 8 bars is how long of a hook on a 24 bar verse

How Long Should A Rap Song Be

There is no set length of how long should a rap song be.  The typical rap song is 88 bars long.  It should look like the following:

RAP SONG PART	NUMBER OF BARS
INTRO	8 BARS
FIRST VERSE	16 BARS
FIRST HOOK	8 BARS
SECOND VERSE	16 BARS
SECOND HOOK	8 BARS
THIRD VERSE	16 BARS
THIRD HOOK	8 BARS
OUTRO	8 BARS

 So the "intro" should be 8 bars long.

The "1st verse" should be 16 bars long.

The "1st hook" should be 8 bars long.

The "2nd verse" should be 16 bars long.

The "2nd hook" should be 8 bars long.

The "3rd verse" should be 16 bars long.

The "3rd hook" should be 8 bars long.

And the "outro" should be 8 bars long.