Suno defaults to singing everything — you have to explicitly break it out of melody mode for rap. 'Hip-hop' in the style box isn't enough; that just changes the beat.
1. Say 'rapped, not sung' literally:
Style: hip-hop, verses RAPPED not sung, rhythmic spoken flow, 90 BPM boom bap
The 'not sung' is doing the heavy lifting. Without it, Suno sings.
2. Write rap-shaped lyrics. Short punchy lines, heavy end-rhymes, internal rhythm. If your 'rap' verse reads like a pop chorus (long flowing lines), Suno will sing it no matter what the style says.
3. Bracket the delivery: [Verse 1: hard rhythmic rap flow, aggressive, not sung] — per-section delivery instructions beat global ones.
4. Keep the hook sung. The classic structure works best: rapped verses + sung chorus. Tell Suno exactly that: [Chorus: melodic sung hook, smooth] vs [Verse: rapped]. Contrast is your friend.
5. Tempo matters. 85-100 BPM is the rap pocket. At 130+ Suno struggles to rap and slides back into singing.
Good luck! Hank founder of SonorixPG