Editing Rapping (section)

===History===
Old school flows were relatively basic and used only few syllables per bar, simple rhythmic patterns, and basic rhyming techniques and rhyme schemes.{{sfn|Krims|2001|p=44}}<ref>{{cite web| url =https://www.allmusic.com/explore/genre/d1| title =Allmusic| website =[[AllMusic]]| access-date =December 22, 2005| archive-date =December 7, 2010| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20101207023619/http://www.allmusic.com/explore/genre/d1| url-status =live}}</ref>
Melle Mel is cited as an MC who epitomizes the old school flow – [[Kool Moe Dee]] says, "from 1970 to 1978 we rhymed one way [then] Melle Mel, in 1978, gave us the new cadence we would use from 1978 to 1986".{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=325}} "He's the first emcee to explode in a new rhyme cadence, and change the way every emcee rhymed forever. Rakim, [[The Notorious B.I.G.]], and [[Eminem]] have flipped the flow, but Melle Mel's downbeat on the two, four, kick to snare cadence is still the rhyme foundation all emcees are building on".{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=334}}

Artists and critics often credit [[Rakim]] with creating the overall shift from the more simplistic old school flows to more complex flows near the beginning of hip hop's [[New school hip hop|new school]]{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=224}} – Kool Moe Dee says, "any emcee that came after 1986 had to study Rakim just to know what to be able to do.{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=324}} Rakim, in 1986, gave us flow and that was the rhyme style from 1986 to 1994.{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=325}} From that point on, anybody emceeing was forced to focus on their flow".{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=326}} Kool Moe Dee explains that before Rakim, the term 'flow' was not widely used – "Rakim is basically the inventor of flow. We were not even using the word flow until Rakim came along. It was called rhyming, it was called cadence, but it wasn't called flow. Rakim created flow!"{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=328}} He adds that while Rakim upgraded and popularized the focus on flow, "he didn't invent the word".{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=324}}

Kool Moe Dee states that Biggie introduced a newer flow which "dominated from 1994 to 2002",{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=325}} and also says that [[Method Man]] was "one of the emcees from the early to mid-'90s that ushered in the era of flow ... Rakim invented it, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, and [[Kool G Rap]] expanded it, but Biggie and Method Man made flow the single most important aspect of an emcee's game".{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=206}} He also cites [[Craig Mack]] as an artist who contributed to developing flow in the '90s.{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=39}}

Music scholar Adam Krims says, "the flow of MCs is one of the profoundest changes that separates out new-sounding from older-sounding music ... it is widely recognized and remarked that rhythmic styles of many commercially successful MCs since roughly the beginning of the 1990s have progressively become faster and more 'complex'".{{sfn|Krims|2001|p=44}} He cites "members of the [[Wu-Tang Clan]], [[Nas]], [[AZ (rapper)|AZ]], [[Big Pun]], and [[Ras Kass]], just to name a few"{{sfn|Krims|2001|p=49}} as artists who exemplify this progression.

Kool Moe Dee adds, "in 2002 Eminem created the song that got the first Oscar in Hip-Hop history [[Lose Yourself#Legacy|[Lose Yourself]]] ... and I would have to say that his flow is the most dominant right now (2003)".{{sfn|Kool Moe Dee|2003|p=325}}