Picture yourself as the next Kanye West?

Rap music is dominating the music industry. Hip hop and RnB make up over over 25% of the music people listen to worldwide, and artists like Young Thug and Lil Baby are inspiring the next generation of upcoming rappers.

Like any other aspect of the music industry, being a successful rapper takes a lot of hard work and persistence. 

But if you’re willing to put in the blood, sweat, and tears, this article will tell you how to become a rapper.

We'll be breaking things down step by step, from the earliest stages in your journey, to handling the day to day duties of an independent music career.

How To Become A Rapper Part 1: Preparation

If you want to be an airline pilot you don't just hop in a plane and start flying. Similarly, aspiring rappers should expect to do a certain amount of preparation to ensure their rap career has a solid foundation.

This isn’t to say you can’t make music and have fun rapping while you’re doing the prep. But if you want to be a famous rapper, to quote Curren$y, you’ll need a Plan Of Attack.

Do Your Research

Immerse yourself in all things rap. Study the best rap artists and discover what their journey was. How did they start out? What mistakes did they make on the way? What can you learn from them?

Extend your research beyond just the most successful acts and look at newcomers on the rap scene, even up and coming artists who are in your area.

Who inspires you, and what is it about them that inspires you? Their sound? Their style? Their personal brand?

Immerse yourself in rap culture, but don’t forget to allow other areas to influence you too. Books, TV, old movies, classical music. Whatever. The broader your range of influences, the more colorful you are as a person.

Learn Basic Music Skills

Yes, rapping is about words. But it’ll make your life so much easier if you have even the most basic understanding of how music works .

If you're a complete beginner at the very least learn how to count in music, and basics the about song structure.

Learn Lyric Writing Skills

Study the words in your favorite rap songs. What’s the content about - is it telling a story, or talking about an emotional state?

What are the rhyme schemes ? Do the lyrics make use of internal rhymes? How about alliteration?

Rap is essentially a form of poetry, so take a look at poems, both old and new. See what you can learn from them, and what you can apply to your own process when writing lyrics.

Practice, Practice, Practice

While Carnegie Hall may not be a mainstay of rap performance, the old adage of how to get there holds true if you want to be a good rapper.

Hone your rap skills by practicing songs you're familiar with. Then move on to rap lyrics you don't know as well.

Start rapping outside of your comfort zone, or preferred style. Even songs you hate. What don't you like about them? Is there one nugget you can take away into your own music?

Listen to as much music as you can and get comfortable rapping over different styles, genres and beats.

When you're ready consider entering a rap battle.

Rap battles are a great way to see other hip hop artists on stage, and are also completely terrifying to perform in. But there's nothing like a baptism of fire, and we learn by failing.

So feel the fear and do it anyway. As well as sharpening your skills at creating rap lyrics on the fly, you'll also learn how to magnify your stage presence.

Why all this preparation? Because if you do enough of it, over time you'll...

Develop Your Own Unique Sound

Finding your own voice is crucial as a hip hop artist.

It'll help you stand out from other rappers, and when you start recording it'll shape your musical decisions and help you be distinct in an overcrowded music industry.

The thing with finding your voice is that you can't push it. It happens over time, and is a mish mash of all your influences; musical, cultural, and emotional.

So don't look for it. Your voice will find you.

And while that's happening you can start to...

Define Your Brand

Having a distinct 'brand' as a music artist is somewhat similar to finding your voice, but it's a little easier to do.

Most successful rappers have some kind of branding going on. But it's not necessarily about the labels on the clothes your wear, or the car you drive.

It's about who you are, and how you fit into the world around you.

Young Jeezy uses rap to advocate for social justice. Snoop Dogg is known for his sense of humor and laid back attitude.

What do you stand for? What's your defining style? Political activism? Environmental issues? Stupid things your dog does?

Your brand will go beyond your lyrics. It should inform what you wear, the colors you choose for your website, and perhaps most importantly, your rap name.

Don't stress about the name though; if in a few years you've honed your style more and want to change your name that's totally fine. After all, if it's good enough for Lil Wayne, it's good enough for you.

If you do all of the above you'll have a solid foundation to start from. But there's plenty more to the rap game. Ready?

How To Become A Rapper Part 2: Getting It Out There

Start Writing Your Own Material

Practicing other people’s music is a great way to hone your skills, but at some point you’ll want to start writing your own material , perhaps even going so far as to make your own beats.

If you’ve never dabbled in music production before you may want to start off writing rap lyrics over existing beats created by other music producers.

These can be leased, bought outright (generally an expensive option), or you can collaborate with other artists who have the skills you lack.

However you do it, write songs, and do it often.

Don’t edit yourself. Your first song will not land you a record deal, but will lead on to the second song, and the next, and so on.

Just like working out (or any skill really), the more you do it the better you’ll become at it.

So make a plan to write new music every day, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Writing lyrics on the regular will also help define your voice.

If you’re also interested in writing music then include that in your plan. It may seem daunting if you’ve never done it before, but it’s a skill that can be learnt.

Use collaboration to learn how others do it. Many other artists collaborate regularly, and it’s a great way of keeping things fresh.

Learn Home Recording

While it's true that famous rappers will more often than not record their work in a bricks and mortar music studio, you can begin making rap music in more humble surroundings.

With todays technology it's a cinch to make a rap song on your own computer. For less than a couple of hundred dollars you can get all the hardware and software you need to create music.

When you have the skills and enough money you can upgrade your gear and make tracks that are release-ready.

And again, this is where collaboration will help. As you work with other music artists you'll pick up a few tips about recording along the way.

And don't forget to harness the power of the internet to fill in gaps in your music production knowledge! (Hint: you don't even need to leave this site... )

Record Your Music

This may seem like an obvious follow-on from the previous steps, but you'd be surprised how many people start recording a song and never actually finish it.

They tinker. They change the snare sample. They try an alternative vocal take. The mix isn't quite there.

Whatever. The song just sits on their hard drive gathering digital dust.

Be a smart rapper. Don't let perfection be the enemy of progress.

Write a song. Record it. Rinse. Repeat.

It's how you'll get better. It's how you'll define your unique sound. And it's how you'll go from being an aspiring rapper to a professional rapper.

Put Your Music Online

And now the brave part. Actually putting that killer hip hop music you've created out into the world.

Gone are the days when you could hope to land a record deal from a demo alone. Today's successful music artist builds a following by constantly releasing new music.

If you want to get noticed in the rap industry you'll need to build up a catalog of releases along with your fanbase. That means committing to writing and releasing new music often, and on a regular basis.

The good news is it's easier than ever to get your music out there.

An easy, free option is SoundCloud. Simply upload, and point your audience towards your playlist(s) . You may end up wanting to switch to one of their paid plans at some point to get more storage space.

You can also release your own music to stream without the need for a record label.

Services like CD Baby, Distrokid, and TuneCore make digital distribution easy, and sometimes offer royalty collection services. These ensure you're getting every cent that's owed to you as a rap artist and a writer.

Make sure your music stands up to commercial releases by having your tracks professionally mastered. This final step in the music making process gives polish and sparkle to tracks, and helps them sit next to 'commercial' releases in terms of loudness.

Whether you go for a local mastering engineer or an online option is up to you, but it's well worth going the extra mile for.

And don't forget about album art. Hire a graphic designer, or design your own artwork that fits your brand.

How To Become A Rapper Part 3: Get Connected

So, you've studied, honed your craft, recorded your tunes, and sent them out into the world.

Now you need to make sure the world knows about it.

Build Your Online Presence

Remember that rap name you came up with? As soon as you decide on it, go ahead and create accounts on all social media platforms using that name. Even before you've recorded anything. Nab the name.

Do the same thing with a domain name, even if you're not ready to build a website just yet. Keep it simple, and don't get fancy with domain extensions unless your preferred domain name is already taken.

Populate your socials with posts that reflect your brand. Even though you've created accounts on all of them (you did that bit, right?) you don't need to actually use them all. Just focus on one or two that you enjoy working with the most.

Be consistent with your posting. Don't ram your music down people's throats. Offer value. Give insights into your process, your life. Engage with your audience. Let them get to know you and follow you on your music career journey.

YouTube videos are a great way to do this - vlogging about your experiences, your shenanigans while recording, maybe that time you crushed it in a rap battle.

Make Connections In The Music Industry

This bit is slightly trickier, but by no means impossible. Do your research on who you may want to connect with and figure out where their fishing holes are.

Go to gigs to meet engineers. Go to conferences to meet industry peeps.

The annual Taxi Road Rally is a great place to meet labels, music supervisors, and publishers. Best of all it's free with membership, which alone is about half of what typical music conferences cost.

Side note: sync licensing is a great additional source of income for rap artists, and Taxi is a great resource for this. You could be the world's least-known rapper but still have thousands of music placements worldwide and enjoy a six-figure income.

Collaborate With Other Music Artists

I've mentioned this before, but it's worth mentioning again. Once you've released music you'll have a digital footprint so you'll be able to connect with more musicians and other rap artists who may be interested in working with you.

The smart rapper will aim for artists who are just above them on the career ladder. Maybe they're performing at slightly larger venues, or have a couple thousand more followers than you. Those will be your best targets.

Basically, don't go asking Cardi B if she wants to drop a track with you.

Network, Network, Network

Networking. The word has slimy connotations, but in reality it's just a fancy word for 'talking to people'.

To become a successful rapper you'll need to do this. A lot.

There's a theory that you're only ever six or fewer social connections away from anyone else. So, your mom's tennis partner's husband may have a best friend who works with someone who knows Jay-Z.

You get the idea. You don't know who's connected to who, and you never know when serendipity is going to weave its magic.

If, like me, you prefer talking to dogs than people this will take some work. But work on it.

Practice your social skills, and become a rapper who people love to hang out with.

How To Become A Rapper Part 4: You Are A Business

To paraphrase Jay Z : 'You're not a businessman, you're a business, man.'

Know The Industry

It's the worse part about a music career as any type of artist. You want to become a rapper to make music, not to learn about contracts and marketing , or to spend hours meeting new folks.

But if you want to become a rapper it's extremely helpful to know the waters you're swimming in.

Read books . Go to relevant events to learn every aspect of the industry, such as the Music Biz Annual Conference in Nashville.

And keep up with industry news. Know what's happening with any changes to copyright laws or songwriter rights.

Stay one step ahead of the curve.

The more you know about how the industry works the less likely you'll get shafted by a dodgy recording contract. And since those are notoriously hard to come by...

Take Control

If you sit around waiting for a record deal to fall into your lap you're letting the world happen to you. Other rappers will be out there blazing their own trails, and you should too.

Decide what you want to do. Figure out how you're going to do it. Make a plan, set some goals.

Then stick with it.

Yes, you'll have to learn things you never expected to, like how to improve your streams on Spotify, or what the standard terms on a sync licensing contract are.

But the best things in life aren't always the easiest to come by.

At some point, you'll need to think about wildly exciting things like accounting. You've made money from your music? Sweet! The IRS is going to want a chunk of that.

Be the smart rapper, not the one who fell by the wayside because they just wanted to make beats.

Rinse And Repeat

Any business is always looking at its operations and finding ways to improve performance, get better, be bigger. You should too.

Keep working on your stage presence. Keep sharpening your writing skills. Listen to hip hop music, but also listen to other, different genres.

Try different ways of writing lyrics. Go to bigger (and scarier) rap battles.

Keep learning, keep growing.

How To Become A Rapper: Conclusion

Unlike some careers, there's no hard and fast rules for how to become a rapper.

Everyone's journey will be different. But if you take the time to educate yourself and work hard your chances of being a successful rapper (however you define that) will be much higher than if you didn't.

Now go forth and maketh the rap music.