How Long Does It Take To Get Good At Rapping?

Have you recently embarked on your musical journey in hopes of one day becoming a “Rap God”? Just like any other trip you may take, you’re probably wondering how long it’s going to take you to reach your destination. Well, after reading this article you will certainly have a better understanding of how long it actually takes to get good at rapping. Let’s get straight to it!

What’s Happening?

I have been personally training and developing rappers 1 on 1 via my coaching service for the past 3 years and I’ve certainly noticed that some of my students grow faster than others.

As a teacher, I asked myself, “why is this happening?”. To be quite honest it was bothering me because once someone pays me to train them I take ownership and responsibility for their growth as a rapper very serious. Teaching is something I’m very passionate about and I love to see my students grow.

Well, after I did a little investigating I figured it out! Have you ever struggled to understand something but once you did you were like, “duh! Why didn’t I already think of that?” Yeah, it was one of those kinds of moments. lol!

What I realized was my students that were growing the fastest were putting in more practice hours on a weekly basis than the ones who were not seeing much improvement.

The Numbers

Here are some numbers for you. My students that were growing the fastest were practicing for 10-15 hrs a week. Which is about 2-3 hrs per day!

My students who were seeing very little improvement were only spending about 2-3 hrs per week!

It has been said that it takes about 10,000 hours to master something.

If this is true, if you practiced rapping for 3 hours a day it would take you around 3,333 days to master your rap skills which is a little over 9 years.

Keep in mind, that is to “Master” rapping, like at a “Rap God” level. However, if you’re putting in 3 hours of practice a day It won’t take you long to get “good” at rapping.

How Long Did It Take Me?

I’m going to show my age a bit.

I started rapping as a kid in 1996. It was just something fun I was playing around with. It wasn’t something I was doing on a daily basis. However, I would listen to a lot of rap music and whenever I felt the urge, I would try and pen together some rhymes.

It wasn’t until about 4 years later when I got into high school that I started to take rapping more serious. This was mainly because up until that point I didn’t know any other rappers so I was working in complete isolation. Take note!

In high school, I started recording local rappers who I was a fan of and who were better than me at the time. I was still somewhat of an undercover rapper but it didn’t take long for them to figure out my secret.

Progression

Next thing you know, I’m asked to join a rap group and on average we would spend 3-4 hours easy every day after school working on music.

After I graduated the daily time spent rapping increased even more and so did my skills! I remember there were plenty of days were one of my fellow rap members would wake me up by knocking on my window at 6 am and we would be working on music all the way until midnight.

The Cause Of Growth

It was during this era of me being in this rap group (4-5 years) where I saw my biggest growth as a rapper in the shortest amount of time. And this was for two main reasons.

1. I was no longer working in isolation and was forced to acknowledge that my rap skills were not as good as those around me. This gave me a reference point of what skill level I needed to reach so I wouldn’t feel like I was ruining the songs that I was featured on. It was a healthy amount of pressure that pushed me to work harder on my rap skills.
2. I began rapping for at least and I do mean bare minimum, 2-3 hours per day for about 4-5 years

Getting Results Quickly

But here’s the thing, once I started putting in those amount of hours per day, I started noticing my rap gains rather quickly which is what gave me the drive to keep going harder! With that being said, everyone is going to grow at different paces for different reasons. Here are a few…

1. Everyone doesn’t have the same amount of free time per day to practice.
2. Some people have a stronger drive or passion for rapping than others and therefore dedicate more time to it.
3. Some people already have some sort of musical experience coming into rap which gives them a musical advantage.
4. I’ve also found people who listen to a lot of music, often, tend to learn how to rap faster. This is because they have learned a lot of their favorite songs which is the equivalent to music practice.

The Journey

So regardless of where you are at on your musical journey just know that the more miles you cover per day, the quicker you will reach your destination.

But there’s no need to rush! A journey isn’t about reaching your destination as quickly as possible. It’s also about your traveling experience. This isn’t a race, it’s a marathon and the people who reach that “Rap God” status has been rapping for 8+ years! I’ve been rapping for over 20 years! And guess what? I’m still learning!

So don’t set unrealistic expectations for yourself. If you’re putting 10-15 hrs of practice in per week you’re going to start seeing “rap gains” rather quickly. But the key isn’t just practicing, it’s about practicing the right things!

And the number one thing I recommend anyone practice when they’re first starting off rapping is Ear Training and Rhythm. And lucky for you I’ve already put together a free mini-course for you called “5 Minutes To A Better Rap Flow”. If you haven’t already, be sure to check it out! It’s going to help you out a lot!

The most important thing I can leave you with is this. The reason you’re rapping in the first place is very important. If you have a true love and passion for rapping then that will help you endure the bumps in the road you will encounter throughout your journey. If you love something you will sacrifice your time for it. You will stick with it through the toughest of times. And you will love it simply for what it is and not just what you hope comes with it such as fame and money etc. The key to mastering anything in life is passion, patience, and consistency!