When it comes to learning how to rap, rappers often make these 3 mistakes. It's easy to ramble onto a long freestyle that doesn't make much sense yet it sounds pretty fire. But to really make your song a masterpiece, you must take into consideration all the small details in the rap. Before we talk about what we should do in a rap song, it might be better to say what NOT to do. These 3 mistakes are among the most common in making rap songs.
If you're not counting beats you probably don't have a great sense of rhythm. This may come natural to some people but for others, finding the rhythm can be a hard task. This is because you might not know where to look or hear the beat. To stay "in the pocket" means you are staying within beats that are inside of each bar. Counting beats is essential for all rappers who are looking to build their foundation. Here's our article on beat counting. To be honest, many articles explain how to count beats using the four count, 8 count, 16 notes etc. But I recommend you simply listen to type beats and count to 8 in your head. It is likely that the pattern will alter in some way at the end of that 8 count. After following along and fitting the 8 count within the bars of the beat, you now get the general rhythm of the beat and you may execute your rap alongside. After some practice, you will be able to speed up your rap and fit more content within the 8 count or bars.
Not knowing the song structure can really damage your song quickly. You must be knowledgeable of where you want to place the verses and hooks. Building up your track is important and is commonly ignored by new rappers. In most beginner rap songs, you will hear straight bars right away and sometimes they extend far into the song, usually missing a hook. When it comes to hip hop, verses and hooks go hand to hand. Hooks make your music memorable and bars help define key points within the song. Building up your song in the intro can include adlibs, instruments, fewer bars etc.
It is also important to know that the amount of instruments vary within the song structure. For rap verses, there are fewer instruments that are present. This gives the verse enough room to clarify the bars spitted. For hooks, there are more instruments present and gives you the space to be musically creative. Listen to some songs you want to emulate and take note on the placements of verses and hooks.
This may come as a surprise, but focusing on quality instead of quantity is NOT what you want to do. As an upcoming artist, you want to be as consistent as possible. When you focus on quality, you take longer to produce, thus only dropping projects one every 3 months or so. Although it may be a masterpiece, no one will be anticipating something they don't know much about. This is why you need to consistently upload tracks. Promise your viewers you will drop things every week or so, and deliver on that promise. You will then build a predictable schedule with your viewers. This is far more effective then waiting a long period before you drop a project. Let's face it, people usually forget the new artists they hear, not because the song is trash, but because we are simply not that familiar with the artist. I recommend uploading a track every week if you're a new artist. Since music videos take a long time to produce, upload small video snippets of your daily life including the audio in the background. This homemade look adds a personal touch to your music.
These 3 mistakes are common with new rappers starting out in hip hop. From inability to count beats to mistakes with song structure, try your best to avoid these mistakes when it comes to your hip hop career. Of course, we have more common mistakes by rappers but for now, what do you think of these 3? Is there any way you can relate to this? Learn from our rapper tutorials and progress in your music!
