Do Rappers Write Lyrics Before Beats

Recently we received an email from an up and coming artist asking an often asked question, “Do rappers write lyrics before beats?“. The question was asked because he wanted to know if here is a particular format he should follow to get the best results when creating his music.

Today we address answering this question so all who are reading this can pick which method works for them best.

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Do Rappers Make Beats or Lyrics First

The answer is that the majority of rappers want to listen to the beat first in order to know what rhymes to create around it. The beat gives them the vibe and theme of a song. If you watch it on Youtube you will find many rappers want it this way, including Lil’ Wayne, Jay-z, Kanye West, and J. Cole.

There are a small amount of rappers who write their rhymes first and look for a beat to fit the rhyme after.This is actually an arduous process because the producer now has to sit there with you and go through all his beats until you find one that you think fits well with your rhymes. It doesn’t matter what tempo the beat is, the producer can always slow down or speed up the instrumental to your liking.

Some Rappers Create Their Own Beats, if that’s the case then they can do either or. But again, most rappers whether major or unsigned first create the beat, then the lyrics for a song.

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Can You Write a Rap Without a Beat

Yes, you can definitely write a rap song without a beat and find one that matches it after. In fact, we encourage you to do so if you are inspired and a beat is not around. you should always stay in the moment of creativity and produce music whether you have a beat or not. Writing is a part of creating music and if you wait all the time for you to have a beat, then it takes away from the magic of creating.

If you don’t have an instrumental before writing, but feel inspired, write anyway. Nothing should stop you from creating.

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How To Write Rap Lyrics To a Beat

Every rapper has a different method to writing rap lyrics to a beat. This is because rappers have different styles. Well, to be honest, in today’s world, most rappers sound the same but there are some that value being unique and take a different approach to rapping.

There are many ways to approach writing lyrics to a beat, but start off with the basics. The basic way to start is to rhyme on beat. Catching the beat for beginners can be hard, especially if you have no experiencing with rapping. If you’re a novice that has written a few rhymes before, you will fair a bit better with rhyming on the beat. If you’re a beginner with absolutely no experience you may want to get a tool to help you rap on meet. The best tool to help you rap on beat is called a metronome. It will help you match lyrics to a beat.

You want to not only rhyme in sync with the beat but you also want to create a flow. A flow is basically the way you “ride” the beat. “Riding” meaning the way you flow with the beat. When flowing with the beat you can use different tones, pitches, and cadences. Learning how to rap can get very technical. Many think it’s an easy thing to do, but if it was easy everyone would be doing it. Well, correction, everyone is trying to do it but failing horribly. It’s not as easy as it looks.

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Do Rappers Write Their Songs

We’ve had the discussion last week answering the question “Do Rappers Write Their Own Songs“. The answer still remains that some do and some don’t. For example, we now know that Drake writes some of his songs, but other artists like The Weekend, Party next Door, Quinton Miller and a few other have admitted to writing for drake. In fact, Drake has taken many songs from these artists and placed it on his album to have more appeal to fans.

Whether you agree with it or not you have to realize that Drake uses strategic moves to do this and he benefits greatly when he executes and achieves this. Drake has big corporations behind him and as long as artists agree to hand over their hit songs to him, He’ll always have the top spot in rap music.

Conclusion: Do rappers write lyrics without beats? Some of them do but the majority of them don’t. Some need a beat do design a rhyme around. This can be seen on video-recording of some of the major label rappers. But if you are an up and coming rapper trying to decide which route is for you, try both ways. And keep in mind that if you feel inspired to write a rhyme and there’s no beat around for you to flow over, write the rhyme anyway! It’s better to jot down rhymes when you are inspired than miss out on a possibly writing a great song because an instrumental wasn’t around.