Welcome back to the 4th video in my songwriting series for rappers.
Now in the last video we…
[1] Committed to what the song was going to be about
[2] Developed a storyboard
[3] Discussed the benefits of writing your hook before you write your verses
Now we’re going to take a look at the hook I wrote and discuss how I did it.
In the 2nd video of this series, I recorded myself scatting 3 different ideas for the hook and my personal favorite was my 3rd idea so I used this as my musical foundation to build my hook off of.
Here’s a reminder of what that scat sounded like.
And since I’ve already created a storyboard for my song based on my initial brainstorm, I already have a clear direction for the song from a writing standpoint and my gameplan is to make the hook about encouragement to work hard to make your dreams a reality”
THE HOOK
So with both my musical idea from the scatting and my lyrical concept from my storyboard here is the hook that I wrote.
Now the 1st very important thing I want to point out to you is that I did not follow my original scat 100%
My first 2 bars are the same cadence as my scat but my 3rd and 4th bars are not.
ADDING AD-LIBS
BARS 1-2
Now I loved how my first 2 bars sounded but I decided to fill in some of my pauses with adlibs to make the hook feel a little more hype
BARS 3-4
On bars 3 and 4 I felt like I wanted a little more bounce and energy so I kept the same groove as my original cadence but I added some more of these clusters of 32nd notes and 16th notes.
I also pulled back a good bit on my 4th bar by using 2 semi quarter notes which made this bar feel less aggressive which helped with my transition between the hook and the verse since the beginning of verses often feel less energetic than the hook.
And for the same reason as before, I decided to fill in my pauses with adlibs to make the hook feel more energetic and bouncy.
DON’T LIMIT YOURSELF!
One of the main things I want you to understand about my approach to writing this hook is this.
Don’t limit yourself.
Even though I already had a cadence to follow I didn’t limit myself by trying to follow it 100%.
Always give yourself permission to tweak things if you feel it’s necessary.
I also used some of the same sounds from my scat. I typically like to begin translating my cadences into real words by using the sounds in my scat if it makes sense with what I’m trying to say. But this is just a starting point and I certainly changed out a lot of sounds just like I changed a good bit of the cadence as well from the original scat.
LYRICS
And lastly and most importantly let’s take a moment to look at what my hook is actually saying.
One of my favorite writing styles is to say things without directly saying them.
For example, some things are obvious like when I say “ Vision, passion” but my heavy use of slang and figure of speech leaves elements of my hook up to interpretation. Such as make “it” happen. “It” could be anything a person is trying to achieve which makes my hook relatable to more people.
The more relatable your hook is to others, the more people will be able to connect to it and enjoy it.
When I say “Get it, stack it, flip it, get it crackin” This line is also vague and uses lots of slang to express the accumulation and multiplication of money and or things that have monetary value.
And When I say “Get off the porch, get crazy dough”
Getting off the porch is another way of saying leaving home, or growing up and leaving the nest. And “get crazy dough” refers to getting bread aka getting copious amounts of money.
And when I say “Get on the bag, foot on the gas”
This line uses more slang and figurative language with “get on the bag” meaning getting a bag of money, and “foot on the gas” meaning to accelerate, increase, or grow in whatever you’re doing.
And my final phrase “get on the road” connects with “foot on the gas” and is simply saying, get out there and get after it. Get out of your comfort zone, meet new people, and make new connections.
We use roads to reach a destination, so by putting this line last it connects with the first line of my hook where I use the word “vision”
Your “vision” is where you see yourself in the future and “the road” is your route or your mission to reach your vision.
I love this writing style and find it to be more interesting than simply saying a lot of blatantly obvious statements. I like to leave breadcrumbs to give the listener things to follow but I also like to add vague and cryptic elements for the listener to interpret and discover on their own.
So I’m trying to direct the listener so they don’t get lost in what I’m saying but I’m also leaving them things to discover along the way.
NEXT STEPS
So at this point, you should have your hook written which means you’ve already completed nearly half the song! Now all you have to do is fill in the gaps which are your verses. And since you’ve already brainstormed and created a storyboard, you already have ideas for your verses and now it’s time to execute them.
So now focus on writing one of your verses and In my next video, I’ll be going over my 1st verse with you and since I wrote my hook first I’m going to be able to establish connections to my hook within my verse.
If this is the first video you’ve seen in this songwriting series make sure you watch the 3 videos leading up to this one via this playlist.
RAP ESSENTIALS
Also, if you want to get on the fast track to perfecting your rap skills make sure you get my Rap Essentials Bundle which includes…
[1] The #1 Fundamental To Rapping eBook
[2] Bar Sheets to help you improve the structuring of your lyrics
[3] 6 practice instrumentals which include dedicated video tutorials
[4] The CMS Catalog which has my favorite studio gear recommendations
Plus I’ll be sharing via e-mail the most essential video tutorials I’ve made that I recommend every aspiring rapper to watch. These lessons are going to teach you all the core techniques you need to be a better rapper now!
And all of this 100% FREE when you join my mailing list via this link.
And always remember, when it comes to rapping, there’s no rules, there’s only techniques. Peace!
