Simple Question for YOU (yes YOU)... Can RAP be your career??

[thedream233]

this is for everyone...

if youve never rapped in your life... why not? you love rap enough to join a rap board... why not try it out?

if youve rapped for fun... recorded a few tracks... but no ones ever heard them... whats stopping you from letting others hear your music?

If you've recorded music and shown it to lots of people online or in real life but rap still isnt your thing... what kept you from taking it a step further like, say sending a demo to a record label...

If you consider yourself an MC... what obstacles have been/are in your way from keeping you from having a successful career in rap?


now thats about as far as I can guess that our RM family goes... something tells me 50 cent isn't secretly posting on here...


basically, if you get the drift... what obsticles keep you from chosing rap as a profession?

[CrowdAds]

[AntOne1]

i love the culture too much to pollute it with my less than average rhymes, i just wish 90% of other rappers took the same approach as me

[Halfway_Crook]

I think I am pretty dope and I love doin' it. But I just don't have a circle of friends around me who love the same shit as I do. There's no one here to push me to do it properly.

I'm moving out of my fam's place soon and in my new place I will be able to record tracks regularly.

My friend is good friends with Wyclef and his brother is currently in New York being 'trained' by Wyclef and his crowd to see if he's gonna sign him. Apparently Busta Rhymes went in the studio to spit over his beats and said he's sick haha. Hoping to use my contacts eventually...

[Geedorah]

Because I suck at it.

[Murder Ink]

I'd love to try and gain a decent underground following..be as big as Vinnie Paz or Slug. I don't think I could deal with immense fame though (Eminem status)..I'm a real humble and down to earth dude and I just don't think I could handle people always taking pics of me or interrogating me lol..

Honestly though I really think I could get there..I'll be hitting the studio very soon so I can finally show y'all what I've been brewing up for the past 2 years..

[Geedorah]

Originally Posted by Murder Ink

I'd love to try and gain a decent underground following..be as big as Vinnie Paz or Slug. I don't think I could deal with immense fame though (Eminem status)..I'm a real humble and down to earth dude and I just don't think I could handle people always taking pics of me or interrogating me lol..

Honestly though I really think I could get there..I'll be hitting the studio very soon so I can finally show y'all what I've been brewing up for the past 2 years..

Dont have any songs recorded yet?

[Ace the Prophet]

I wouldn't say there's anything that would be holding me back, because if it's something that you wanna do then you can fuckin do it as long as you keep workin at it.

For me, the biggest things to success (once you have a semi-decent quality sound to your music) are music videos, promotion, and shows.....none of which I've done yet, lmao....

I put my songs up on youtube constantly and tell everyone when a new song's up (here and IRL). I've got plenty of connections (in a group with producers, emcees, engineers, graphic designers, online radio hosts, etc...) that I use whenever I can...it's all about what you think is going to work for you and further your rap career.

Music videos are the first step IMO...people get to see you and your image is important so that people can see who they're listening to. They're like your commercials basically. And nowadays to get a good quality music video it's going to run you about $500. As someone who's planning on giving away his upcoming album for free, $500 is a lotta cash to spend on something that'll basically just get my name out. So if I really think a song of mine like "Trilogy of Fame" can reach a whole lot of people for $500 then I might invest in that in the future. In the meantime I'm going to end up shooting a video for "Just Can't Stop" by myself, which of course all of you will see.

Shows are the other thing that I feel is very, very important....if you're not doing shows and you're not doing videos people aren't going to take you very seriously. Personally I've been doing this as a glorified hobby, something I might wanna do in the near future if there's enough buzz around it when I start trying to get the ball rolling more. Shows are a big step because you can reach so many more people than just by showing them a music video because it's more personal. It's another side of you that fans get to know.

Promotion's there too....you can pay for promotion, which a lotta people do, but everything is still word of mouth. An ad can get someone to click and listen to your music, but you still have to be good enough to get them to tell other people about you.

Personally, I haven't really tried anything more serious because I don't know if the money's worth it...if it'd be a smart move to put a lotta money into this route and focus on it more than my current jobs and school....it's a lot to give up for a small chance of succeeding...I don't know what money's like for upcoming artists doing shows so it's not a chance I'd want to take away from my other job where I know the general amount I'm going to make (bartender at a restaurant).

So I guess it's money that's holding me back. I said it in "Blank CDs and Sharpies" too: "You only are what your money is". And it's true....if I had enough money to put a lot into this and still be completely fine I would, but at this point I'm not sure if it'd be worth it so I am holding back until further notice

[Ace the Prophet]

As far as demos go....(I forgot to hit on this point)

That's something I wanted to actually make a thread about recently...I met one of the big radio personalities here in Denver last week (came into my restaurant) and thought to myself, "What an inopportune time to not have a demo." Then I thought to myself, "Should I hit him up with some youtube links?" Of course I thought about how dumb that shit sounded but it's true.

How should you hit up labels nowadays? Demos aren't getting listened to as much because the internet's getting so big and popular with music that it's becoming the preferred method of music. You need a twitter following, subscribers on youtube, fans on facebook, etc...and honestly I wouldn't know how to hit up someone who's higher up in a label with my music...what do I show him? I know it'd be smart to have a demo ready but do I also tell him about videos on youtube if I make them?

Things are changing a ton and I don't know if demos are the way to go anymore

[thedream233]

Ace and Murder Ink, I had yall i mind when i made this thread cause Ive heard songs from both of you.

Ace, youve actually been doing shows? how do you put one together?

Murder, have you ever done a show?

[Wong Fei Hong]

Rapped. (Past tense)

I didn't have enough energy or effort to put into making albums, 16s, hooks, and finding a voice I myself would like.

[Kry]

Rapping was a major passion of mine, I spit for 10+ years strictly for the love of doing it. Made a few moves that never turned into anything special. I experienced the underground scene in my early years, recorded in state of the art studios a few times, did some shows, a radio interview and all that...it just never materialized into anything big enough to actually make a career. A lot of hard work turned to nothing due to other people's decisions as well as my own. Bottom line is I loved rapping and making music, but the music "business" just isn't something I was ever too fond of. I just wanted to make music, everything else that came with it just wasn't for me

[Ace the Prophet]

Originally Posted by thedream233

Ace and Murder Ink, I had yall i mind when i made this thread cause Ive heard songs from both of you.

Ace, youve actually been doing shows? how do you put one together?

Murder, have you ever done a show?

Guess I shoulda been a little more clear in my post, lol...

Haven't done any shows yet. Mostly being because A) I wanted more original music of mine to perform (In The Making was basically all remixes and I didn't think performing a bunch of remixes was the way to go) and B) I'm not sure how the money behind it works. I don't know how much I would make doing a show...I have opportunities in the near future to perform with others (which I'm probably going to do), but I haven't tried to do a show myself....

I also want things to be in place before I start doing shows so that I can at least be taken serious by people who don't know me. That way when they see me at a show they can go home and DL my album, they can check out a music video or two on youtube, can follow and like me on twitter and facebook....I'm kinda viewing it as a slow but steady process....not tryna overblow anything too quickly cuz then shit gets fucked up...

There's no guarantee that yes, if you put in enough work you'll blow up..so I'm not gonna make any moves that IMO aren't worth it....

But when I do perform know that I'll be puttin footage up everywhere, hahaha!

[Kris Benwa]

Man I'd rap I got good lyrics and ear for beats I just can't write good hooks and I think I have a stupid voice and I'd probably sound terrible on a song.

[Freebass]

Business and art collide and change the view of things......making it is largely luck, and one needs to figure out how to best align with luck oriented situations....ace I'd say that an abundance of music is important for labels to hear, but really its like one song can get the ear of a label or insider and from that many things might be requested of u.....business mindset is important, but there is a easily Crossable line where it can go too far into what u do.....

Always be preparred for the what if situations.....what if they like this, what might they want as a next step.....always know that performance is a needed tool, and any type of excuse is usually a negative impression leaving statement in the mind of a businessman....

[NinjaMic]

could never get my life straight and stay in one place long enough... shouldda focused on it harder and lived the life instead of the ones i did. if i knew then what i know now.