Introduction: How to Become a Famous Rapper
This document will serve as a guide to aid one in their attempt to become a famous rapper. Steps will be provided for one to hone their rapping skills as well as creating a marketable image for themselves. This guide is geared toward those who are willing to make big changes to their life in order to achieve rapping success. This is not a guide for those who want to start rapping as a hobby, just so they have something to pre-occupy themselves in the weekends.
Before you claim that you are ready to make the proper sacrifices there a few things that you must be warned about:
1. Rapping is very competitive, you will most likely be brutally insulted by those who you are competing against, as well as the masses if you show any sign of vulnerability or lack of effort within your music.
2. Being involved in the rap game is a full time job, it must be your main priority. If you have other large goals, such as a college degree in mind, your chances of success will be greatly reduced.
3. If by the infinitely small chance you actually end up being a famous rapper, you will be required to constantly improve your rapping skill or you will soon be forgotten and lose everything that you worked for.
4. Finally, you must be aware that being famous will provide you with constant opportunities to cause yourself harm, wether it be though drugs, alcohol, or numerous other vices. If you do not feel that you are strong enough to constantly resist temptation you should find a new goal.
Continue onto the first step of the guide if you feel as though you can mentally handle this life of excess, where your every move will be watched, you will be intensely busy between creating new music, touring the world, and you will most likely lose contact with most of the friends/family that you now have.
Step 1: Step 1 - Rapping Skillz
First you must work on developing your rapping talent, if you are unable to make music that people will pay to hear then you will be guaranteed fail.
Start off by writing a lot of songs, the best way to do this is to go onto youtube type in "hip-hop instrumentals" or something along those lines and select a beat that you like. LIsten to the beat though to get a feel for the rhythm, and then just keep replaying the beat while you write your verses. Every so often stop and recite what you have written aloud to make sure that doesnt sound awkward and goes well with the beat.
Keep in mind that you are trying to make a song that is special in some sort of way. Your goal is to make something memorable so that when someone listens to your song they will want to go back and listen to it again later. And if they really like it they will show it to their friends too. This is how music spreads to more people.
Here are some good ways to make your songs memorable:
1.Tell a story with your song, this keeps the listener engaged. It is easy to for one to lose interest in a song if it is focused on a bunch of random generic topics.
2. Make it so your song includes a complex rhyme scheme, its very impressive if a rapper is able to get a point across while having multi-sylable rhymes from line to line.
3. Be original, most artists talk about the same things, so if you focus on something new then your music will sick out in peoples' minds.
The quality or your music will bring people in to listen, but without a good image you yourself will not be memorable.
Step 2: Step 2 - Your Image
Now you need to create an image for yourself. A good image will cause people to be more interested in you.
Focus on your physical appearance, there are a couple things you can easily do to improve your image right off the bat:
1. Invest in some nice clothing; you'll need to buy from the expensive, well-known companies, such as Gucci, Louie Vuitton, Supreme, Polo, and Bape among other brands. People really enjoy seeing their favorite rapper wearing clothing that they could not afford themselves. It is essential that you have an extensive wardrobe and that you are looking "fresh" at all times.
2. Buy some jewelry; One thing that every big rapper has in common is owning a thick gold chain and a pair diamond earrings. If you buy some expensive jewelry an wear it regularly that shows that you live a frivolous lifestyle and are totally irresponsible with your money, which is cool.
3. Get some tattoos; another thing that many rappers have in common is tattoos. This also plays into the common idea that irresponsibility is cool. You should cover the majority of your upper body in tattoos, but make sure not to get too many in one sitting to avoid poising yourself. Make sure that these tattoos are done by a skilled artist, if you cover yourself with cheap tattoos this will do no good for your rap career, and you'll just end up unemployed because nobody wants to hire someone who looks like they came from the Hell's Angels (a biker gang).
Step 3: Step 3 - Getting Your Music to the People
Getting people to listen to your music is the hardest part of becoming a rapper. The best way to get yourself heard is to put your songs on the internet. The problem with this is that there are so many other aspiring rappers in the world with internet access, which causes a huge overload of music being uploaded onto any website possible. This makes it unlikely that many people will stumble upon your music.
So how so you get more people to listen?
By making an awesome music video that will rack up a lot of views on youtube. You have to make sure that your video is original, nobody wants to watch some no-name rapper doing something that they've seen twenty times before. Also make it so you are in most of the video, so that people can view the image that you have worked for and appreciate the skill you have developed and remember you for them.
If enough people see your video and like your music the record companies will come knocking. It saves them a lot of money if they sign an artist who has already started to develop a fan base.
Step 4: Outro
Best of luck on your endeavor to become a famous rap superstar. If you succeed, all of your sacrifice will be worth it, you will have more money than you will ever need and millions of people will know your name. Your main worry will be continuing to make music that people like, though this will become much easier with all of the resources that you will have at your disposal.
If you do not achieve your goal you will have a hard life ahead. You will probably be very poor due to spending most of your money on clothing and jewelry and it will be very hard for you to find a decent job after you covered yourself in tattoos. You best option at this point will be displaying you rapping talents on a street corner while asking strangers for pocket change, this will allow you to purchase just enough food you continue surviving. All the while pray that the right person decides to stop, listen and offer you a recording opportunity. DOn't me scared though, just use this as motivation to become the best, most well known rapper that ever lived.