“Whoever want to f**kin’ rap… I’m AT them n***as…
Don’t f**kin’ compare me to no f**kin’ producers, man…
I don’t give a f**k about a n**a classify me a producer… MY BEATS WAS WACK AT ONE POINT, dog! I wasn’t always having hot beats.
I learned how to make hot beats. I’m focusing on rapping now. I’m gonna be the f**kin’ best. And I’m gonna be charting with these n***as.
I’m gonna come out #1, hopefully… If it’s not the first album, it’ll be the second album, if it’s not the second album, it’ll be the third album. I’m not just trying to come out and trying to say I’m gonna sell 10 million…
I’m gonna do everything in my power, and I got a one up because I just hear my beats first.”
Kanye West Interview
In this clip, we see a young Kanye West demonstrating a force of personality and self-belief that would not only become synonymous with his career…
But eventually influential entire generations of people learning how to become a rapper and use Kanye level confidence to power their dreams into reality.
In a minute, we’ll see clips from the recent Kanye documentary on Netflix demonstrating his reaction to Roc-a-Fella Records staff essentially ignoring his attempts to rap his future top 10 hits…
But this first clip demonstrates Kanye as a living breathing example of a quote from Napoleon Hill’s iconic self-help book Think and Grow Rich:
“Tell the world what you intend to do, but show it first”
#3 Show It First
The reason most new artists who try to become a rapper are cringy is because they follow the first part of the quote “tell the world what you intend to do” but shortcut the second part.
Kanye West from the very beginning knew that in order to be able to back up his trash talk, he first hand to be world-class at every previous creative act, such as making beats, but for he demonstrated he could take over the next creative act, such as rapping.
He truly knew he had to “show it first” because he could move on to conquering the next goal.
That first clip we just saw was not just another kid saying “I’ma be the next” without a project out or with no buzz, this was a Grammy-nominated producer who helped lay the foundation for one of the greatest rap albums of all time, Jay-Z‘s The Blueprint.
Additionally, Kanye despite his superhuman confidence understood that it would take to time to master beat making before he went on to rapping (“I wasn’t always having hot beats… I had to learn how to make hot beats”)…
…Thus again demonstrated a commitment to SHOW HIS SKILLS before attempting to blabber on and on about what he planned to do.
95% of cringe rappers simply talk the talk without walking the walk, and that’s the first hurdle that must be jumped over if you’re interested in learning how to become a rapper or have a friend who would like to be a rapper.
But, what happens when you or your friend has indeed developed the skills to become a rapper, but feel like nobody is paying attention?
Let’s watch Kanye demonstrate his reaction to essentially getting curved by what would become his future record label while rapping a future top 10 single, “All Falls Down”:
#2 Rejection Is Just A Reset
“Rejection is a just a reset” is our preferable way of explaining the “no is just a not yet” mentality.
Certainly many cringe artists can watch a clip like this and think “Well, he just barged into an office and started rapping, so I should do the same until somebody accepts me”. Not so.
What we at How To Rap see here is someone who has first:
- Developed The Skills First
- Shown It Through Prior Successes
- Takes Rejection As Part of The Game
Therefore, once the prior success of producing and the skillset is there, any rejection in Kanye’s mind was just a “reset” and an opportunity to think of the next way to gain attention for his music.
That Kanye level confidence comes from “leaving evidence at the scene of the crime” through hard work and persistence… not from just randomly “spraying and praying” with any old track you’ve got.
Look at this clip from the Kanye documentary on Netflix where he first attempted to get legendary rapper Scarface to rap on “Jesus Walks”, and then after being denied, starts performing his now classic song “Family Business”:
#1 Clarity of Vision
Another aspect of new rappers just talking the talk but walking the walk is that they don’t have a very clear vision of what they actually want once they attain success.
Often artists simply say, “I want to have hits, I want to feed my family, etc.”
Here we see Kanye breakdown in very specific detail exactly what his jewelry line is going to look like even going so far as to actually draw sketches of what he’s going to create.
Another great quote from an anonymous source tells us, “competence leads to confidence” therefore much like in lesson #3, the clearer an artist is about their competence (a.k.a. their ability to execute at a high level), the more confident they will become.
Therefore, in order to gain Kanye level confidence like what we’ve seen out of episode #1 of the Kanye documentary, utilize an emphasis on competence, seeing rejection and simply a “reset, and be sure to show your skills before just bragging about them.
NOTE: If you’re one of those rappers who actually wants to take this thing seriously, be sure to pick up out free video course The Top 20 Songwriting Secrets of Professional Rappers by clicking HERE
COMMENT: What aspect of your rapping are you most confident about?