(…If You Want To Be Taken Seriously)
Today, we’re going to give our young readers a bit of the game and explain to teenage rappers what they need to stop…
IF they want to be taken seriously as an artist.
We’ll breakdown step-by-step what the things that are hurting the careers of teenage rappers are, why they need to be stopped, and what to do instead.
So, if you’re one of those teenage rappers that’s looking to be taken seriously with your music, be sure to read this all the way through and follow EVERYTHING we tell you with no questions asked…
To help GUARANTEE you have a long and baller career in rap music.
“I would really appreciate it if you listen…”
First and probably most common thing is DMing or emailing people you think that can help your career by begging them to listen…
Or more specifically, telling them why YOU would appreciate them listening…
As opposed to thinking of why THEY would appreciate doing business with you or listening to your song.
Truth of the matter is, young reader, I totally understand why your initial reaction is to explain to the other person that it would really mean a lot to you if they listened…
You’re a young artist, passionate about music, who is grinding it out and trying to get better.
On the surface, of course any person should want to appreciate you for your hustle and motivation to even MAKE the song let alone promote it.
The problem is that this approach doesn’t take into account the other person’s life at all.
What I mean by this is: most people in the world who have any real power or influence already have a very FULL schedule filled with things that have to take priority for them because they have to feed themselves.
You as a teenager may not have much experience in this but you know how older people are always like, after school… “The REAL world hits you”?
As a teenager that always confused me but once I finally had to actually feed myself I began to understand it.
What this essentially means is that right now you probably don’t have to worry about having money to eat or being kicked out of your house if you don’t pay somebody else to live there.
And yes, that is the brutal truth of life teenage rappers…
When you become an adult…
Not only will you have to PAY somebody else just to EAT and not be HOMELESS…
They will LITERALLY kick you out of your own house of you don’t pay them.
THAT’S A REAL THING.
So, when you realize that fact as an adult… EVERYTHING that helps improve the chances you will EAT… and not get KICKED OUT of your house comes first.
So, in your case, when you message somebody and say, “I WOULD really appreciate if YOU would stop whatever it is you’re doing to make sure you don’t get kicked out of your own HO– USE… to help ME”
What they MIGHT read that as is “MY LIFE is more important than YOURS because what I APPRECIATE is more important than you being able to EAT.”
I know this might sound harsh, but I’m telling you as someone who runs their own business and has to wake up everyday and make sure he doesn’t get KICKED out of his own house because he answered too many DMs instead of actually WORKING…
AND MY JOB IS TO HELP RAPPERS.
So think about everyone else.
On an emotional level, this is how it feels. NOT always, and sometimes the person will have a few extra minutes…
But understanding how the other person THINKS will help you avoid sending that message.
The better option is to list specifically what you appreciate about what THEY’RE doing in their work…
Whether that’s music, their business, etc.
(In other words you appreciate how THEY manage to feed themselves)
And then make a statement about how YOU have been successful already in music (even if it’s just you’ve written a lot of songs)…
(In other words how YOU are managing to support yourself creatively if not financially right now)
And how listening to your song can benefit THEM.
It will take a while to master this but if you JUST practice that instead of the “I’ll appreciate it approach”, you will get many more responses.
No picture of you in the profile pic
This is a big one as well.
Look, I know when I was younger showing my face or being the center of attention was a bit scary. I can really appreciate that.
The good news is it WILL get better, but for whatever reason our biology makes it so that when we are young the world is a lot scarier… but it will get better.
In any case, if you want to be taken seriously as a teenage rapper, you need to have clear photos of yourself on your social media…
EVEN IF IT’S SCARY.
The reason for this is that people who have great pictures of themselves appear more confident, seem like they are proud of their personality, music, and brand…
And in the fast-paced social media environment, you may only get 3-5 seconds of someone looking at your profile to decide if they listen to your music.
If you have no picture of yourself or even worse… a picture of an already famous rapper…
The powerful person will likely not check your music.
The reason that having your favorite rapper is a bad idea is that it automatically tells the person you think that rapper is not equal to you…
That THEY are more important to you… than yourself.
If you put someone ELSE on YOUR profile… you are signaling to the world that YOU are not on the same level as that rapper…
Just imagine if you saw a tour of Tom Brady’s house and there was a picture of Peyton Manning on the wall…
Or if you found out the Cristiano Renaldo was Lionel Messi’s iPhone wallpaper.
That would be considered weird…
Because you would think “Does this guy think the other guy is better than him?”
NOTE: The only context I could think this might be “okay” is if they were doing it for a short-time before a big game and they wanted a reminder that this is the person they wanted to DESTROY… but then again when you put your favorite rapper as your picture, you probably don’t want to destroy them, do you? Haha)
Again from personal experience, I receive DMs all the time from young rappers who have no profile pic (or a picture of Eminem or Kendrick or whatever)…
And all they’re telling me is “I’d appreciate if you heard my song”…
And that one two combination let’s me know that they’re probably a kid, and probably not very confident.
So don’t do it!
Life Story in The Comment Box (or DM)
This is another very common one that I see that, while well-intentioned, in the long-term does more harm than good.
Usually I see a comment in a video that goes something like this:
“Hi! Great video, but I am a poor child from a small village in Alaska who’s only dream is to leave my small town become a famous rapper like Eminem and Kendrick Lamar and buy my Mom a new Igloo because the one we have currently is melting and my Mommy’s fingers look like Icicles from all the cold dripping water… so I have spent the last four months writing a song that I recorded on my phone so if you could please listen to my song I would appreciate it so that I can fly in a private airplane next to Elon Musk and then come back to my village and eat Snowcones with my family”
Okay I’m exaggerating for effect but you get the idea, and the sad part is many comments like this are not far off.
First thing I want to mention is that these comments (for whatever reason) DO get a lot of likes…
But teenage rappers, please do not confuse that will meaning that it is a good promotion strategy.
Most of the people liking it either are feeling sorry for you or are ALSO teenage rappers from small villages who are inspired…
This is NOT the same as somebody who will actively go out of their way to spend money on your career or sign you to a record label.
Getting a bunch of likes for telling your life story in a comment box is like when the whole room of parents clap for your piano recital. It might feel good, but that doesn’t mean you are the next Mozart.
The truth of the matter is that you should be following the EXACT same strategies as an ADULT rapper would to promote yourself…
And carrying yourself ALREADY like you are the super successful multimillionaire rapper you want to be.
I have attached a playlist of promotion strategies that you can watch by clicking HERE.
Trust me, when you are successful, people will tell your life story FOR you.
Final Word:
The last thing I want to mention here is PLEASE do not give into the inclination to comment with a bunch of disagreements or opinions based on your FEELINGS from the content of this article.
The entire point of this article is to give you a wider perspective of someone who has been coaching teenage rappers (and adult rappers) for over half a DECADE and has personally done music professional for more than a decade…
This is not the time to say “I disagree with point #2 because this one time…” and try to wiggle out of responsibility…
This is the best time to really reflect and be like, “Have I done these things before? This person is specifically trying to speak to me to HELP me by describing the facts of what’s hurting my career…”
Even saying this now I guarantee there will be a couple comments that say, “Well I disagree because I wrote my life story one time to one guy…” and yet I would challenge anyone reading to go check out their social media and see if their “I disagree with everything” strategy is working.
I would guess probably not because they are spending more time disagreeing rather than taking solid advice and improving.
With that being said thank you for reading this and hopefully it helps!
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