Rapper’s delight or weapons-grade nonsense? The app that uses AI to help MCs bust a rhyme

New tech is promising to take rap artists to new lyrical heights. But will its algorithm be able to handle our novice writer's rubbish rhymes?

I may be many things, but I'm not a rapper. I discover this when I'm asked to freestyle a few verses on a visit to London's Abbey Road recording studios. Immediately lines from famous rappers flood into my head - some classic Biggie, a few Young Thug yelps, the theme to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - but I've got to think up something original.

Out of desperation, I decide to rap about my morning routine. Adopting a slow pace and simple rhyme scheme that even the Sugarhill Gang would disdain, I begin: I wake up at seven and I brush my teeth." Already I am at a loss. What rhymes with teeth"? Panicking, I look at the computer in front of me, which is running a demo of iRap, AI software built to assist lyric writing in real time. It has been transcribing my words and offers possible rhymes I might want to use: heath, sheath, underneath". Could that work? Make a bacon sandwich, put some cheese underneath," I sigh. I have fallen short of even my own low standards.