Listen to Rap Music If You Need Courage to Write

Here’s why. Don’t copyright me for this.

Say what you want about rap music.

“It’s all about sex, drugs, and money”

“It’s not as profound as [insert genre here]”

“People can’t rap nowadays”

That’s usually the mantra of the old-heads who hate figuring out how to work Spotify and search for quality rap music or the annoying white people who worship Vans and only listen to rock.

Most writers either listen to classical music while they write or they don’t listen to music at all.

Probably because it’s easier to clear your head with soft, quiet music. Less distractions to worry about.

But what happens on those hard days when you feel uninspired and can barely put fingers to a keyboard? There’s no point in listening to a beautiful symphony (even though I love classical music) or sitting in silence. There’s only one thing you can do in these situations that will help you write no matter what.

Listen to rap music.

Here’s why.

The “money rap” is the most inspiring rap music.

The rappers who talk about how much money they have can make the dopest music. No, I don’t get mad at them or call them cocky — like that’s going to do anything — I use it to feed my ambitions.

Rap that talks about the good life, encourages you to have one of your own. Now I’m not saying this should be your sole motivation to write, but it definitely helps you take the dumbbell out your ass and sit down to work.

Hey Alexa, Play Nonstop by Drake.

I guess when you’re working, you might not have time to think long and hard about lyricism (even though there is lyrical “money rap”). You just want to get things done.

It’s almost like seeing Floyd Mayweather’s Instagram. Does the dude flex a lot? Yes. But does it keep me inspired to follow my dreams? Yes.

Chill rap music exists.

This is something people are just now catching on to.

People hear the glaring 808’s and pounding snares and automatically assume that’s the entirety of rap music. Like, if you really need to listen to something chill, there are rap songs you can listen to.

Hey Alexa, play Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe Remix by Kendrick Lamar.

It’s not “money rap” if you hate that. It’s a little more inspirational as Kendrick talks about the people that inspired him to rap and how he’s living out his dreams from the benchmarks they set.

Chill rap music gives you that somber feeling you’ve been looking for plus more motivation to continue writing.

The lyrical rap can inspire your writing easily.

And now for the biggest F you to the rap haters.

Lyrical rap exists. It may not be as prominent as the Tupac days, but it’s still there. You could say the lyrical content is distracting because you’re trying to write and the last thing you want to do is listen for bars. But you could be one bar away from a shitty idea turned into a masterpiece.

Hey Alexa, play Brackets by J. Cole.

This is a great song about filing taxes and how Americans, especially Black Americans, have no say where their money goes but they have to give some to the government anyways.

Maybe you can write a blog post about a bad experience you’ve had with taxes. Has the I.R.S. tracked you down before?

There’s a lot of bars to sift through, but probably ten ideas worth of articles in that one song.

Final Thought

There’s a huge plethora of rap people tend to neglect because it can get very generic nowadays. But you shouldn’t ignore the power of rap for that one reason.

If it can save the lives of kids in the hood, it can help you write.

Chill rap, fast rap, lyrical rap, mumble rap, etc — they all serve a purpose. To inspire those with no inspiration.

Instead of listening to a bunch of background noise, listen to something that will lift your spirits. Give rap a chance and see how it goes. You might just become a new hip-hop head.

Hey Alexa, turn off the music because I don’t want to get copyrighted.