Over the past 4 years, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with thousands of struggling rappers and I’ve been honored to see so many people grow their skills very quickly! But I’ve also seen many people continue to struggle and not see much improvement.
Why is that? How come some are getting awesome results and others aren’t? It must be because one person is just more talented than the other right?…WRONG! It’s really all about learning how to learn.
Over the years I’ve noticed a trend in the patterns of both types of people and I’d like to share some of them with you today and hopefully, it will help you as you work towards improving your rap skills. LET’S GET IT!!
Reasons Why Rappers Struggle To Improve
Lack of Direction
When some are first starting out it can be a bit overwhelming and they don’t know where to begin. So they just gravitate to what intrigues them the most which usually entails focusing on rhyming and writing lyrics.
When learning any craft or skill you must start with the fundamentals or else everything else will fall apart. For example, if you aren’t able to stay on beat, then nothing else you do will sound good.
That’s why I wrote my 5 Step Guide to Learning How To Rap Which takes you through the process step by step (in order) of not just how to rap but HOW TO LEARN how to rap which is most important!
Lack of Application
Many people have told me they’ve watched all of my videos and have read all of my articles but they are still struggling. You know why? Because that’s all they’ve been doing!
I myself am guilty of this at times. I like to think of it as educational obesity. We get so excited to have all this information to consume so we gobble all of it up as quick as possible but our bodies can only process and absorb so much at a time so it will just store the excess stuff we don’t need as fat.
For another example think of a sponge. It can only absorb so much of water before the excess starts spilling out.
Learning is all about application. If you can’t apply what you’ve learned then you haven’t truly grasped it. So slow down and focus on applying each of the 5 steps in order, not all at once.
Lack of Discipline
Simply put, the people who get the best results the quickest are those who are practicing a lot! I don’t mean for a couple of hours a week I mean for a few hours a day!
Seeing results in anything takes time, consistency, repetition, and a whole lot of patience.
The people who tend to get the least results are those putting the least amount of time into practicing. This is usually due to them not really being passionate about rapping, to begin with. So once they realize that getting good at rapping isn’t easy, they begin to give up and allow other things to take precedence with their time.
Mastering any craft is much like a video game in a lot of ways. You start out by learning the basics “the controls and what not”. And usually, the first level or two is very easy so that you can practice APPLYING these controls.
But as the levels progress the difficulty level also increases along with it. And we’ve all had games that got so difficult that we just said “Screw this!” and we move on to something else. LOL!
Mastering any craft is all about discipline! You have to be willing to keep putting in the practice regardless of how hard it gets! It may take you 50-100 times to beat a level but in every attempt, you are learning things incrementally that you’re doing wrong which adds up to success!
Lack of Resourcefulness
And lastly, people who don’t improve aren’t resourceful. Meaning if they don’t know something instead of trying to figure it out on their own they will just ask someone else. They are afraid of getting their “hands dirty” and making mistakes.
As long as someone is finding out things for you-you’re not working out your problem-solving skills which are like a muscle. The more you work it out the better you get at being resourceful.
Someone who is resourceful utilizes his or her resources before relying on others. Which allows them to learn much more quickly than having to wait for help and responses from others. I can’t tell you how many times I get asked about things that could be figured out instantly by a quick google search.
Having this “problem-solving muscle” is vital to being a great rapper! Because every song, verse, and bar you ever write will present you with problems and challenges that you must figure out the answers for on your own. And a big part of finding the “right answer” is by trial and error. How will you ever know if something works or not if you’re afraid to try it? Success is the product of failing many times!
Tho I strive to create the best content on the subject of rapping which is waiting for you to consume. But remember! Don’t bite off more than you can chew! A Great place to start is with my 5 Step Guide on Learning How To Rap
Yo Cole! Great article as ever, thank you for keeping share your experience and knowledge!Yo Cole! Great article as ever, thank you for keeping share you experience nad knoledge!
Great Content Cole