How To Be A Better Rapper In 5 Steps
In today’s article we’re going to show you, regardless of your skill level, how to be a better rapper in just a few minutes time.
The tips here are not going to be your usual, “don’t give up” or “have more passion” advice that is too vague for you to actually start implementing today…
Rather this rap tutorial is going to give you very specific, actionable tricks that you can use immediately after watching this video to know exactly how to be a better rapper, no matter what your skill level is.
NOTE: Before we begin to teach you how to be a better rapper, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, “How To Rap” because we drop weekly videos for every up-and-coming rapper and fan of the ‘science of rap’ from rap tutorials for beginners all the way to advanced rap tips from GOAT level artists…
…And if you ARE an up-and-coming artists that wants to take your skills to the next level right NOW… FOR FREE… be sure to pick up our brand new free rap lyric writing course, “How To Write A Rap On ANY Topic In Under 20 Mins.” By clicking HERE.
5. Record Three Takes In Three Voices (At Least)
Our first actionable secret to learn how to be a better rapper is to change the way you record to increase the likelihood that you will find the best vocal “take” in order to give the best rap delivery performance.
The definition of “take” in the world of entertainment refers to the individual performance by an artist that will be edited together in a final released product.
So, one recorded scene of acting that may or may not be used in the movie… between when the director says, “action” and when he or she says, “cut”… that’s one “take”.
In the case of music, if you record 4 bars of rap over a beat that will be eventually be spliced together to make a final recorded full verse… that attempt of you delivering those 4 bars is a “take”.
Different Takes, Different Voices
Now, in the case of when you’re recording your songs, a lot of rappers, especially beginners record 1-2 takes of their rap to the best of their ability and just decide which one is best…
…Usually based on whichever take doesn’t have mess-ups or whichever one isn’t hard to understand.
NO!
It’s much better to KNOWINGLY record multiple “takes” of your rap in different vocal tones, not only to EXPERIMENT and see what your voice is capable of doing…
…But because that is sometimes how you discover the magic of an unexpected voice tone giving an entire different “drip” or aura or sauce to a song that you originally wrote only for one type of vibe.
More Takes, More Skill Development
Additionally, when you do more takes… you are literally rapping MORE (which is why you’re here right… to learn how to be a better rapper…), and as we all know… anything you do a lot of, you improve on…
…As long as you’re experimenting with it and not just doing the SAME thing over, and over again and hoping for the best.
“Hoping for the best” is not the most encouraging way to approach this art that you love known as rap, and frankly… the idea of doing a bunch of different voices over song sounds a lot more fun as well.
So increase your vocal delivery output to 3 takes in 3 different voices, figure out which one you like the best…
…And watch your skills and entertainment value rise.
4. Three Tracks For Every Released Track
Since we’re on a kick with the number 3, you should also change the philosophy with which you approach the music you’re actually releasing.
A lot of beginning (or sometimes experienced) artists seem to think they need to release everything they write or even record…
…ABSOLUTELY NOT.
In fact, the VAST majority of professional and famous rappers do NOT release everything they record, unless their name is DeWayne Carter or Tupac Shakur…
…And even in the case of ‘Pac, much of the work released after his death was unreleased songs he didn’t put on albums.
More Shots At Goal
The reason you want to record a lot of music but not necessarily release a lot of music is frankly… you get more shots at goal, so to speak.
In my experience, if I make 3 songs in a day… One of them will be average (by my personal standards), one might be good enough to use at some point, and one will be FIRE or at least that I’m proud of.
However, if I had just recorded ONE track that day, I’m putting ALL of my eggs into one basket and HOPING it’s the one that I’m proud of.
I don’t like putting all my bets on one color like I’m at some kind of musical roulette table.
I’d rather spread my bets across the table and increase the likelihood I will come up with something fire.
Anytime you hear people say “Quality Over Quantity”, they IDEALLY are referring the music RELEASED… not the music RECORDED.
I can tell you for a stone cold fact that every musician you admire has made a large QUANTITY of music in their life and career, and if they’re smart… released a high QUALITY of music.
That does NOT mean that they haven’t recorded a large QUANTITY, they may just not have released to preserve the QUALITY of their brand and body of work.
NOTE: If writing a LOT of raps on a variety of topics is a big issue for you on your journey to learn how to be a better rapper or if you struggle with writer’s block, again, be sure to pick up that free video course mentioned in the beginning “How To Write A Rap On Any Topic Under 20 Minutes” because you’re EXACTLY who we designed it for… it’s made to have you writing raps expertly and quickly over and over again, basically on command. Get it by clicking HERE.
3. “Chorus-Test” Your Songs With Friends / Strangers
Speaking of quality, be sure that you have effective ways to test the “quality” of your songs using the general public.
One really good test I’ve developed over the years is that I will play songs for my friends (or if I’m feeling confident, strangers I meet), and see if they can remember the chorus / like the chorus / understand the message of the track upon the first listen.
Look: it’s EXTREMELY crucial that your choruses, a.k.a. hooks are MEMORABLE, CATCHY, and EASY-TO-UNDERSTAND…
…Even if you end up spitting supa hot fiyah like Dylan in the verses, having a song that someone can relate to and enjoy upon FIRST LISTEN is usually an excellent sign you’ve got something they’ll want to sing / rap along to in the future, and won’t forget.
Almost every single track I’ve ever done that my friends or business collaborators still talk about years later…
…The first (or second) time they hear it… they’re already like, “Yo I like the song where you go…” and they ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS are going to say the CHORUS when they say that “where you go” part…
…The verses are much more complex (usually) so it takes time to study them as a listener, but if you’ve got a bang ‘em up chorus, people are usually rocking from the first time they hear it.
2. Freestyle About People’s Lives
Speaking of involving other people in your creative process to verify you’re learning how to be a better rapper…
First off, if you’re trying to be a rapper in the 21st century I’m going to personally come out and say you should learn how to freestyle off the top at least a little bit.
Now, there are definitely major artists who do NOT know how to freestyle off the top practically at ALL, and The Internet has had quite a bit of fun roasting those artists for going on places like Tim Westwood or Sway In The Morning and making themselves look silly trying to go off top…
…So in THEORY you don’t HAVE to learn how to freestyle, but there are SO MANY… SO MANY advantages to not only learning how to freestyle off the top… but learning how to freestyle off the top about people’s lives…
Let’s run through some of the advantages of learning how to freestyle off the top about people’s lives in order to know how to be a better rapper:
A) Relevance To The Person In Front of You
Look, no matter how dope your pre-written rap you spit for that person who asks you to rap right now is, if you can pull out something that references THEM or what’s going on IN FRONT OF YOU… you’re going to increase the chances they become a fan INSTANTLY by like 100x…
People like to think about themselves and trust me 99.9% of people have never had a RAP spit about them in their LIFE so if you can weave in THEM, they are going to become your biggest supporter in minutes
B) Increasing The Fluidity of Thought When Writing
Yo! If you can think of relevant information OFF THE TOP IN THE MOMENT when people are around you, just think of how easy it will be when you can take the time to think of something relevant to a song as you write in a studio.
Freestyling off the top consistently helps your writing process become more fluid, more relevant, and frankly more fun.
I hear a lot of artists complain that they don’t know how to stay on topic or they end up just writing braggy bars instead of thoughtful storylines, well MAYBE part of the issue is they’re not practicing STAYING on topic enough by doing things like rapping about people around them…
C) Free Concepts For New Songs
Freestyling about a person in real life or an event happening at the moment you create it can be the easiest way to come up with a new idea you wouldn’t otherwise.
Even just forcing yourself to think of something in front of a person will psychologically adjust your mind towards tailoring your music for OTHER PEOPLE and not just YOURSELF IN A ROOM WRITING A RAP.
Remember, if you want to know how to be a better rapper… you need to know WHAT PEOPLE THINK GOOD RAPPERS MAKE MUSIC ABOUT.
So that in-real-life IRL feedback will do nothing but help the process of you knowing what people resonate with time and time again…
1. Have A Variety of “POV’s” In Your Songs
POVs in this case means “points-of-view”…
In other words, first person, second person, and third person.
So, if you have a bunch of songs that are just from the perspective of “you”… let’s say songs with titles like…
- I’m Gonna Make It
- Me and My Homies
- My Life
- How I Roll
…or whatever, that’s great… because you’re telling YOUR authentic life, but that’s only one POINT OF VIEW you’re speaking from and it can get stale and limited lyrically and creatively.
Why not add, both in song concepts and lyrics… second person and third person to your creative palette?
Second person, meaning “you”, “your”, and “y’all”… think of how many songs are more focused on the LISTENER or another PERSON… you should ALSO have song titles and concepts with names like:
- You Never Should Have Left Me
- You and I
- You Know Why
- You Heard Me Say
…And third person…
- They Doubt Us
- She Knows The Truth
- He’s Rising
- Her And Her Dreams
…And so on. Don’t focus on these mock-up titles just focus on the idea that you should have a variety of points-of-view for different songs and different emotions to both engage your audience more and just straight up give yourself more creative freedom on your journey to learn how to be a better rapper.
Conclusion
So we’ve given you QUITE a lot of options to know how to be a better rapper…
5. Record Three Takes In Three Voices (At Least)
We told you to experiment and record more “takes” in order to improve your rap skills faster and increase the chance you’ll get an interesting vocal performance…
4. Three Tracks For Every Released Track
We explained that you can use quantity to get to quality while MAINTAINING quality by not releasing EVERYTHING…
3. “Chorus-Test” Your Songs With Friends / Strangers
We showed you how to TEST your quality with friends…
2. Freestyle About People’s Lives
We made it easier for you to create music and instant fans through freestyling…
1. Have A Variety of “POV’s” In Your Songs
…And we even gave you a way to expand the creative reach of your lyrical perspectives and song concepts with POVS!
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