Image Credit: Facebook

TikTok for rappers? New BARS app lets aspiring rappers create 60-second videos over professional beats.

Facebook has introduced a brand-new app to encourage aspiring rappers to start creating and sharing their own videos. No equipment needed, just an iPhone.

BARS provides pre-made beats over which users can create 60-second videos. Aspiring rappers can practice on the app, refining their flow to feel more comfortable performing onscreen.

Once uploaded to the feed, the community watch and respond by marking it as “fire”, tapping on the video as many times as they want. The beats are easy to access, so that users can immediately lay down whatever rhyme has popped into their head, and the app auto-suggests rhymes to keep the flow going.

BARS also has “Challenge mode” with elements more geared towards gaming, encouraging freestyle with auto-suggested word cues.

Immediately obvious is the similarities to TikTok, in tools and layout, with audio and visual filters to lay over creator’s videos. There’s even auto-tune. Videos can be saved to the camera roll and shared out to other social media platforms.

BARS Community Manager DJ Iyer, who’s also a hip-hop songwriter and ghostwriter under the alias “D-Lucks”, said:

Rap has a rich and varied history that has influenced culture for over 40 years… I know access to high-priced recording studios and production equipment can be limited for aspiring rappers. On top of that, the global pandemic shut down live performances where we often create and share our work. So, along with a group of aspiring rappers, we’ve been building BARS: a place for aspiring rappers to create and share their art.

DJ Iyer, Community Manager at BARS

The app has been launched by the New Product Experimentation (NPE) app development team at Facebook. Previous concepts from NPE have included the musical Collab app, similarly TikTok inspired, which let users stitch together video clips of themselves playing an instrument and add further tracks over the top.

BARS is available for download from the US iOS App Store to join a waitlist before trying the closed beta test. Invites will be sent out in batches, and Facebook will no doubt monitor how much interest the app sparks before fully committing.