Off-centered rhyme

An off-centered rhyme is a rhyme scheme characterized by placing rhyming words or syllables in unexpected places in a given line. This is sometimes called a misplaced-rhyme scheme, or a Spoken Word rhyme style. It is an awkward rhyme scheme where one intentionally breaks common rhyme schemes.

Here's an example from a recording artist from De La Soul:

Playin waitor, with the data servin' your ears

with information due to confirmation of the nation's most

wicked ways of livin, like them glassy eyed beans

Inhale to smoke the fiends, while bangin' a tape

Rated at the high point of the mass

Rippin' MC's at the top of a class, occasionally

rippin' some sucker's face, or some suckable ass from a girl

It's a big brother beat for the wide wide world

Comparing this to the common rhyme scheme, where each ending word of a line is a perfect rhyme match, it would look like this does not rhyme. But due to the concept of off-centered rhyming, it does.

This is a common rhyme scheme found in the Spoken Word form of poetry. This can be found in Hip-hop as well, but it is not as common in Hip-hop as it is in Spoken Word.

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