Should Rappers Learn to Produce Their Own Beats?

Today it is so easy to get a laptop download a crack version of a beat making software and start making beats. A lot of producers are doing it and now a lot of rappers see how easy it is and are taking the same route. Is there a problem with this? Absolutely NOT if you look at some the biggest artist to make history a lot of them have done just that. Artists like Kanye west, Soulja boy, Tyler the creator and many more took the multi-faceted route. How much time and effort did they put into making their production is a whole other story but HEY they made it work! However there are definitely a few things a rapper should take into consideration if they choose to take this path.

TIME

Time is a very important aspect to take into consideration if you choose to be a rapper that produces. Will you have enough time to work on your rap skills while simultaneously learning how to produce? One thing to think about when taking this route is maybe splitting it up. You could definitely do it all at once but if you really want quality music you’re going to have to lock in and focus on the ins and outs on how a craft works. That’s not say that you can’t spend a couple weeks on a beat making software make a beat throw some vocals on it and you got a hit record. It’s definitely possible but also very RARE that that happens. SO DON’T THROW ALL YOUR EGGS IN THAT BASKET. Even Soulja boy had to spend some time learning the FL studio program and getting used to the tools and features that he had to work with. However in return he had also sacrifice part of his artistic ability, which gets me into my next point.

MEDIOCRE

Music is a free flowing emotion based art. You can make the simplest beat add some vocals over it and people will feel it. Here’s the thing though, PEOPLE know when something is quality and when something is thrown together. That’s what sets the best apart from the mediocre! I’m not saying that you can’t be the best in more than one thing BUT if you look at the real big players in the music game those are the ones that stuck to one thing and truly mastered it AND THEN moved on to different things. For instance Jay z is considered one of the best rappers of our time. He doesn’t produce he just raps. He focused all his forces on that one thing and now he’s one of the best. Just take a look at all the greats in their fields Tupac, Lil Wayne, Young Jeezy, Timbaland, Pharrell, Zaytoven, etc. AGAIN I’m not saying that’s it not possible to be multi-faceted BUT remember you’re going to have to sacrifice being great in one aspect during that process therefore putting one side of what you do in mediocrity. You should always strive to be THE BEST.

INVEST IN YOURSELF

If you really mean business in this music industry or any industry for that matter you’re going to have to invest in yourself. People who try to find loop holes around everything never truly prosper. You hear the stories about the broke rappers who made it from nothing all time but one thing I can assure you about them is that THEY DID PAY. Everyone has to pay their dues either way you can’t get around it. Everyone has their own situation, some people are well off some people are BROKE but you just have to live within your means. If you have a 100$ to your name find a way to take $50-$75 of that and invest it in yourself, your presentation, your craft. It takes money to make money. You can never do anything completely alone in business; you have to build a team. What does building teams mean? It means you’re going to have to pay people with some form of currency or whatever you work out to get THE BEST out of them what you can’t provide yourself. Don’t EVER ask for anything FREE. And if someone decides to offer or give you anything FREE just remember it comes with a price to pay (don’t mean for it to sound so dark but its true). If you want to be a prospering artist you have to think in terms of business and entrepreneurship instead of just an artist or you WON’T prosper. And a true entrepreneur takes these principles into consideration and applies them to their business, so should you on journey to becoming one of the best rappers.