Choosing The Song
Don’t spend your time and resources shooting a music video for a song that isn’t your best. For many potential fans, this may be the song they hear that causes them to follow you.
There’s a reason major labels spend so much on music videos for their signed artists’ singles alone; they know the song is going to gain and retain fans for the artist. Therefore, be very picky about the song you choose. It should be the one song you think can help you take off as an artist and rapper worth following and supporting.
The song you choose needs to represent you as an artist.
The camera is a great lie detector. Audience will be able to tell if you are selling yourself short.
This may be the most honest or “real talk” song you have. This might be the catchiest song you have; the best vibe, the best lyrics. Whatever you choose, it should be reflective of your genuine voice as an artist.
For instance, if you try to shoot a video for a song talking about how rich you are, how many girls you get and the cars you drive but the video doesn’t have any of these things, the audience will react poorly. You’re obviously fake. Who wants to follow that?
If you want people to become fans of you as an artist, they need to connect with you on a deeper level.
This only happens when you are being yourself to the best of your ability.
Through my years of releasing hundreds of songs, I always noticed the most response in the songs I never thought people would be interested in. They were the real talk songs where I expressed my emotions, pains, struggles and real life circumstances. It helped people see me as a person just like them. They could see a connection to me because I admitted the tough stuff that everyone goes through. Not everyone is rich. Not everyone has a perfect life. Though a certain lifestyle is very popular in rap and popular culture, it is not a good idea to brand yourself that way unless that is your actual life. If it is, congrats! This course isn’t really for you.
The Commercial Choice
The more commercial your song is, the more likely it will be a hit.
But what makes a song commercial?
A song is commercial if it is capable of appealing to many different people. This is also known as “cross-over.”
The biggest songs have people downloading and streaming them who are fans of hip-hop, pop, rap, EDM, and other genres combined. It appeals to many groups of music listeners, therefore selling many records and making you rich.
I used to only want to do rap music until I realized how much it limited my reach to inspire people. Increasing my musical skill set meant reaching a broader audience. Once I moved past my ego’s desire to stick to only rap, my fan base started immensely.
To learn more about genuine voice, commercial songwriting, and producing a hit, check out our other courses on the Smart Rapper website. If you don’t have a song but want to make a video, I highly recommend you check out the courses, invest in yourself, and resume this course once you have a song worth making a video for.