Sometimes, writing a rap song can feel like a daunting task and seemingly take forever!
Just think about this for a moment. Rap songs typically contain the most lyrics and rhymes in comparison to any other genres of music. Simply put, our lyrical content is much denser and therefore requires more work from us from strictly a songwriting perspective.
Within this article, I’m going to share one major hack to help you finish your rap songs faster! Let’s get straight to it!
Fresh Perspective
One major downside to spending a lot of time writing a rap song is that we lose what I like to refer to as our “Fresh Perspective“. If you’re not sure what that is, it’s that excitement you get when you’re working on a new song. The more time you spend working on a song, the more the “newness” wears off and the normalcy of it sets in. This can trick you into thinking your song is no longer good and can cause you to throw it away and never complete it.
New Stuff
You have likely witnessed this as a kid. You know when you get that new game or toy for Christmas you’ve been frothing from the mouth for? At first, you’re elated and high off the excitement from having this new awesome thing! But after a few weeks, the newness wears off and so do the emotions attached to it. This same thing happens with songwriting as well.
The Hack
Now that you’re aware of this, here is how you can get around it using what is known as “Parkinson’s Law”.
Parkinson’s Law states the following.
“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.
In other words, the longer you give yourself to complete something, the longer it will take you.
Example
For example, for several years I had been wanting to make a Christmas Rap song but I kept putting it off. Until one year, there were about two weeks until Christmas and I just said “Screw it”, this is the year it gets done!
One of the reasons I had been putting it off so long is because I’m a perfectionist and sometimes to a fault. I wanted to make the beat, write a full-length song, and have a professional music video.
Well, if I was going to knock it out in such a short amount of time I realized I was going to have to make some adjustments. So here’s exactly what I did.
Day 1 Picked out an instrumental to lease and wrote a verse and hook
Day 2 Recorded and mixed it
Day 3 Created a storyboard for my super low budget music video, film locations, shots around the town I wanted to get, etc..
Day 4 Me and my wife filmed most of the music video using an old camera that could only record short video clips. I ended up running out of space on the SD card.
Day 5 Finished getting the rest of my shots
Day 6 I edited my music video
Day 7 I started sharing it with the world with still 1 week left before Christmas!
Compromises
The Song
Instead of writing a full-length song to match the length of the instrumental, I simply wrote 1 verse and a hook and edited the instrumental accordingly.
The Instrumental
Instead of spending a whole day making the instrumental, I was able to lease an instrumental and write everything within the same amount of time.
The Video
The video quality wasn’t amazing. There were some lighting issues and video glitches I encountered during editing. I hadn’t fully memorized the lyrics so there are even some parts in the video where my lips don’t line up with the track because of it.
The Verdict
Did everything come together perfectly? NO! It had its share of flaws. But remember, “perfection” isn’t always what is most important. “Sometimes done is better than perfect!”.
My main goal was to create a fun Christmas Rap song that would hopefully bring enjoyment into other peoples lives during this time of the year. And I accomplished just that within only 6 days from start to finish!
And 4 years later, I’m still proud of it and other people are still getting enjoyment out of it too!
Back To You
So if you want to finish your rap songs quicker here are 3 main keys to doing so.
- Give yourself less time to complete it. Write an actual due date down and hold yourself to it.
- Focus on what’s most important and be willing to make compromises with the things that aren’t as important.
- Have a clear plan to get you from start to finish with your song. If you haven’t already check out my 5 step blueprint for writing rap songs.
Let me know in the comments section below if you’ve ever started writing a rap song that you was super excited about and then after spending a lot of time on it, you felt it was no longer any good.
Cole, this article was great! Just started following you and your stuff is top notch. This was very useful and I liked how you worked psychology into your advice. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for your kind words! I’m really glad that you’re enjoying my content! Thanks for reading and commenting! I really do appreciate it! 🙂 – Cole Mize
It happens to me too!!! Thank you for the advice.
Another thing is, I find difficulties in changing tune from verse to corus and then to a rap. Can I get any idea from you?
Thanks for your positive feedback Edie, I’m glad you enjoyed this article! If you’re having difficulties with the pitch of your vocals going from verse to Chorus, I would record the Chorus separately and focus on nailing that part down by its self. That way you’re not rapping the whole verse over and over again but only messing up on the Chorus. The squeaky wheel is the one that gets the grease. I hope this helps! 🙂 – Cole Mize
Yea man this awesome! I often get super excited hearing a beat and play it over and over thinking i needed to have the beat memorized or something. But then like a week or 2 later i hear a new beat and im excited to write to that one and the old one is left unfinished. I have like 18 unfinished writings and it frustrates me that i cant even complete them now. So im glad you wrote this, im a natural procrastinator to an extent, so I know now to give myself a limited time to get a track finished
Hey Jay, Thanks for all of your kind words about my content! I’m really glad that you’re finding it to be helpful! Keep up the hard work! You got this! 🙂 – Cole Mize
Working on a song right now and realized that the fun of it is starting to die down. Thanks for this. Working on an EP and I can already feel the hype of the NEXT song instead of this one getting up there. I know that’s dangerous, so this will help with the next couple for sure.
I’m really glad this was helpful for your workflow! Thanks for reading and commenting! Much respect! 🙂 – Cole Mize
Bro your stuff is so on point. Keep inspiring the people. You are a God send!
Thanks, Ash for your kind words! I’m really glad to hear that you’re enjoying my content! Much love and respect! 🙂 – Cole Mize
Dope advice man, I’m a producer and I handle my beats in a similar fashion so I stay excited and avoid fatigue. I’m just starting to get into writing verses and this makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the good advice!
I’ve spent a little over 2 years tryna to finish writin and recordin a 16 bar verse. the first half came fairly quick and after half a year it was done. for the past 2 year’s I’ve written half verse after half verse after half verse just to have nothin I write fit no matter what I do, or what I change, and I can honestly say that after 2 years I’m still at the same spot I was 2 years ago. I’ve gotten nowhere, and I’ve told myself every year at the beginnin of the year, this’ll be the year that I establish some sorta consistency, and actually be a musician again instead of just a writer. like some how outta nowhere I’m just gonna magically be consistent, smh. things have changed for me this year, though. I actually realized that I wasn’t a “rapper”, and that I didn’t know wtf I was doin when it came to writin and recordin. this year I FINALLY quit wastin my time accomplishin nothin, and gave up rap. now I just gotta shake the constant process of randomly comin up w lyrics and wantin to write em’ down all the time. I honestly should have quit 2-3 years ago when it stopped bein fun, and started bein a debilitatin burden that constantly made me feel as low and as worthless as I could.
For me when I’m writing it’s the dope can’t help but bop to it beat ,if you don’t feel like that in the first few seconds that’s not the song to write to