You’re in the studio, 3 A.M. and the words aren’t coming, exaustion and desperation have taken over. The vocals need to be finished and you need a killer rap for it to be a hit. What are you going to do? No inspiration and nothing left over in the rhyme book. This is how to make a rap.

Beat

One of the most important things to have in mind when making a rap is the beat. This is what will characterise the song or give it the flow and ideas to build on. Everything depends on a solid beat.

“A song that is sad has to have a sad beat, a song that is happy has to have a beat that complements the happiness, so it completely depends on what you are writing about,” Martin Valencia, TCS 12th  student, rap composer and musician, said.

Later, the word choice and organization are formed around the beat. Care is needed because the rap needs to go smoothly with the beat so that the understanding and flow of the song comes out perfect.

“Overall the beat is going to set the tone of your flow,” Michell Schwartz, TCS 6th grade History Teacher and rapper, said.

Brainstorming

When the beat has been chosen, the next step is to brainstorm about the theme or themes to write about. For this part, everything that comes into mind will count and help perfect for the lyrics. It could be a theme to get the audience thinking about social or political topics or personal experiences.

This is the most important step because the use of skill and imagination are required to acquire a great topic or theme. One strategy is to imitate a artist that is admired imitate the feeling and themes that he or she uses in their raps.

The composer’s style or personality can express a lot of  traits about their rapping. For example, if the composer feels angry about police brutality they may be motivated to write about this from the point of view of a person who has been abused by the police. By this feelings toward a topic a very inspirational and powerful song can be created and with this the message can be spread all because of one feeling towards a topic.

“When I rap I get different combinations of styles from different genders to get my own style,” Valencia, TCS 12th  student, rap composer and musician, said.

During the writing process the most important thing is to have confidence in yourself and the raps will come out smoothly ready for the final steps.

Lyrics

It is better to know what to write or what is being expressed before writing so when the moment comes the ideas flow easily. Whatever comes to mind will help,it doesn’t matter if the thoughts are simple or complex, the best ideas to write about are either feelings about a certain topic or also a personal experience 

This is the step that most people will be stuck on but another method of doing a rap is to write whatever comes into mind and then try to put it into a complete song. This is a disorganized method but helpful for many artists because ideas will be easy to think about when you read the lyrics that were written before.

“Usually I don’t start from the beginning to the end I usually write a bunch of lines that are disconnected and then put them together,” Schwartz, TCS 6th grade History Teacher and rapper, said.

Editing

The final step of making a rap is to edit the song. This part is the one that artist take the time to perfect the lyrics and have the lyrics in a perfect synchronization with the beat. It is mandatory to know what words rhyme better with each other and what part of the composition doesn’t sound smooth, it is also important to know what was a smooth rap and the ones that aren’t, this step is the perfection of the song.

Another important concern to have in mind is the tempo of the song, also known as the the correct timing of the lyrics and the beat. It is better to check everything in the song, the punch lines, the chorus,the bridges and the verses. This step will ultimately finalize the song.

After the tempo of the tune is perfect, the final part is to practice the song if people want to see a performance. The most essential element to remember of all the steps is to just do it, there isn’t an incorrect way to create art, so also believe that it is good because if it is good to one person it can also mean that it is good for many more.

“There is no correct or incorrect way to do it but just the way you think it sounds best,” Valencia ,TCS 12th  student, rap composer and musician, said.