How to Write a Rap Song

Initially a domain which exclusively belonged to African Americans, rap is gaining worldwide popularity as people from all races and cultures get down and start rapping. I believe that the golden era of rap was the time when most rap songs dealt with the issues of African Americans such as racism and social problems. Tupac Shakur was one of the best known exponents of rap music and a lot of his songs talked about the range of hardships that African Americans had to face. But today, with the rise of a form of rap known as 'gangsta rap' which talks about violence and promiscuity a lot of rap music today is marked 'parental advisory'. But fact remains that if you want to learn writing a rap song, the best inspiration for you would come from Tupac.

Creating Rhymes on Paper

Now enough with the history of rap already!

The Basics
Rapping has two main aspects: the words and the beat. If you want to know how to write a song for kids, perhaps I'll let you go with childish lyrics, but a good feel of the beat ought to be established at a young age. Hence kids should understand the beat and the rhythm and should be able to work their way with it. In case you are not able to create a beat on your own initially there are several beat machines that will create a beat for you along with a bass line. But eventually you should be able to make the beat yourself!

To get the words right, you better learn the phonetics! Learn what words rhyme with each other. And over a period of time you will also learn how to make non-rhyming words rhyme. It's all about twisting the pronunciations of the word to fit the song.

The Scheme
How should a song 'go'? Well most songs are structured as: verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, breakdown, chorus and an outro. Other popular schemes of writing a song have 2 verses before each chorus while others keep the second of the two verses the same each time. The chorus and the beginning refrain has to be very catchy, because these two really make the song a hit. If the opening refrain sounds boring, no one will want to listen to the part that comes later. And the chorus stays with the listeners for a long time, so that's got to be good too!

The Lyrics
While wondering about songwriting, most people come across a stumbling block: lyrics. So since you're a beginner to rap music, why not start with something basic? Take a few rhyming words together and make a song. Rap lyrics are usually assertive and talk about how awesome the singer is and how no one can mess with him/her. These ideas may prod you to the right direction. Like I said before, learn all the phonetic words. Slowly you'll learn how to fit the words to a song rather than a song to the words by twisting the pronunciations of words.

What Inspires You?
Songwriting is an art and you should take it seriously. Sit yourself down and think about what you want to write. Few people in this world can cook up a song with a good scheme and a good beat easily. For beginners, you ought to really sit down for some time and think about what you're feeling, your theme, and your words. In my opinion, a song has to be written in one good inspired sitting because if you decide to put it for another day, you might be in a different frame of mind, so there may be some inconsistency in your thoughts which will reflect in the lyrics.

Like I said, songwriting is an art, but it can be improved with practice. So now that you know how to successfully write a good rap song, you can probably seriously work towards your dream of becoming a famous rapper!