Becoming adept at hip hop music takes dedication and patience – but the results of doing so can be amazing. The benefits are enormous.
Teachers are using hip hop in classrooms to introduce students to history and culture. Analyze a song by looking at its beat, lyricism and flow.
1. Practice
Beginners or experienced producers alike, the key to learning how to create hip hop music is practice. Like learning any instrument, spending time playing, listening and perfecting your skills will allow you to begin producing tracks with your own distinctive flair and adding your personal stamp of flair.
Listening to all types of hip hop music – from popular rappers and underground artists, all the way back to old-school legends – is essential to understanding its culture and sound, while honing your own rapping abilities.
Pay attention when listening to a song and pay special attention to its drum beats and other musical elements, such as bass drum hits every 1st and 5th count or snare hits on even counts; these rhythm patterns help dancers keep time with the music.
Listen for vocals and lyrics as well. Lyrical content in hip hop songs varies considerably depending on who the artist is and their influences; Lil Wayne may focus on one-liners about pop culture while Raekwon creates more complex narratives with flights of sonic wordplay.
2. Listen
Rap music may initially seem intimidating due to its frequent profanities and fast lyrical delivery; but, with careful listening, you can discover much deeper meaning in these songs. Rap is a form of musical poetry and listening for rhymes, metaphors and ideas is key in order to gain any true understanding.
Start off by listening to various genres and artists. When it comes time to explore more deeply, select a subgenre such as boom-bap hip hop from New York, West Coast gangsta rap or Dirty South chopped and screwed rap and start exploring that further. As time progresses, you should come across artists that you enjoy listening to – both old and new releases by them!
Once you find an artist that you like, try to understand what draws you in – it could be anything from their beats or lyrics, vocal performance or performance style that keeps pulling at you.
If you’re in search of upbeat songs with catchy beats, take a look at this Spotify playlist. With an eclectic mix of popular rap hits that don’t feature too much swearing or vulgar language, this playlist could be just what’s needed to kick start your hip hop music experience!
3. Dissect
Listening to hip hop music is the key to understanding its essence, especially its lyrics and how they affect you emotionally. Doing this will enable you to identify which elements appeal most and which do not. For instance, perhaps you love its impressive speed while not enjoying its storytelling or poetry aspects.
If you want to expand your listening abilities further, try analyzing the music. It should be easy: simply focus on three pillars of hip hop: beats, lyricism, and flow.
Hip hop beats are known for their distinct rhythmic flair, featuring swing elements. As seen below in an example from Denzel Curry’s 2022 song, the tempo begins slowly but changes halfway through to faster, straighter trap-style music.
Hip hop originated in New York’s Bronx during the 1970s and has become an international culture since. Renowned for its social commentary, storytelling and self-expression features such as gangsta rapping, conscious hip hop music and trap music, among many other subgenres such as grime (electronic music created on council estates of early 21st Century London), it has had an incredible effect on fashion, art and politics alike. It has even impacted fashion.
4. Rhythm
Rap music may initially seem disorienting, but its rhythmic power is undeniable. This is especially evident when it comes to its lyrics – many rappers can easily switch between different flows by balancing beats, syllables, and space to produce amazing musical poems that truly impress listeners. When creating your own rap, be mindful of these elements when writing out lyrics yourself.
One way to practice counting beats of music is to count its beats. Simply nod or tap to each beat and count each nod or tap that makes a sound; each nod or tap represents one beat. Once you feel confident about counting beats, try breaking each of them into two parts and seeing how many beat subdivisions there are (called eighth notes), giving an idea of rhythmic complexity of music.
Hip hop music is an accessible genre to start out in for beginners as its rhythmic beat and vocal delivery make it easier than other styles to understand and interpret.
By taking the time to listen and study hip hop music and dance, it can help you form an awareness of what works and doesn’t work for you as a dancer. Doing this will allow you to discover your own distinct dance style within this genre and help make you a more skilled and creative artist.
5. Freestyling
When practicing freestyle, it’s essential to find a rhythm that feels comfortable for you. A great beat will inspire creativity while keeping you on track; start off the beat with an immediate downbeat, then focus on making the rhythm natural to you.
Use headphones to isolate the beat, and practice in an environment with minimal background noise if possible. Once you feel comfortable with it, add more elements of your own into it!
If you have many friends, try freestyling in front of them and getting their honest feedback. Their honest comments can be extremely valuable in keeping true to yourself – which is one of the key components of hip hop culture. Being yourself will also allow you to develop your own style instead of trying to copy what seems cool.
The greatest rappers possess a vast repertoire of lyrics at their disposal, so you should do the same. Read as much as possible and if time permits, listen to various rappers flows and gain familiarity with their rhythms and flows.
Freestyling without words at first can help get used to the concept of improvising lyrics; just use gibberish sounds as an initial way of exploring this practice. Make sure that rhymes appear and try making your rhymes unique and creative!
6. Writing
Writing rap songs requires developing your own unique style. One way of doing this is studying your favorite rap artists; don’t try copying their flow exactly, instead incorporate aspects from their style into yours; this will allow you to develop an identifiable and distinct voice of your own.
Rhyming practice is also recommended, since hip hop music often includes extensive rhyming that adds catchiness and interest. But beware: too much rhyme could ruin the flow of a bar and sound unnatural; find rhymes that fit with both your skill level and song’s overall theme instead.
Once you’ve developed your rhyming skills, the next step should be writing actual songs. Hip hop has long been known for covering various subjects through its lyrics; thus you should consider what kind of artist you wish to become; for instance, do you want to be a rapper who talks about partying or more serious topics?
Decide how long your songs should be. Most rap songs contain 2-3 verses with 16-20 bars each and three or four chorus sections. When recording, be sure to use a professional studio; giving your songs every chance at success will give your career the best possible start!