Bro just accept that your first drafts are gonna be trash - even Em's old stuff makes him cringe now. The only way through is writing more, not less. Your brain gets better at filtering the good from the bad when you actually give it material to work with
Treat the slop as warm up and write long enough so you come up with something good. Plus something that may only seem okay today, might seem like the greatest thing you've ever written the next day
It's like listening to a beat you produced the night before, but with Morning Ears™️. Sometimes you were so exhausted from hearing the same 4 bars over and over that it sounded like ass, but when you wake up and turn that shit on, you realize its a headnodder. Sometimes, it's not so pleasant lol
Similarly, maybe you fried your language circuits the day before but once you look it over with fresh eyes, you see something you didn't before - or you see something that you can build off of.
I can't even write doubles - I mostly just make beats, but I've been jotting down decent (to me, atleast) ideas for bars in like 10 notepad files for a long time. No fuckin clue how to string em together into something coherent tho fml lol
I think cringe often happens due to TMI. There's a fine line between making something relatable and unique to your own experience, you gotta walk that line
From my experience, when I now listen to my first songs - 10 years ago - I drown in my shame, but I guess is was necessary to develop writing. So what helped where two things - I let go of perfection- just wrote about 100 lines - what came to my mind on the beat and let it flow, afterwards I picked the best lines and made a new file - that actually worked for me. 2nd method was (like Eminem) I just wrote the last words of the line and then filled the rest over time.
But I can definitely say - perfection is the biggest killer of creativity
i feel like if the flow / rhyme schemes / punchlines are solid then it can make up for otherwise cringey stuff. idk what cringe would even look like except for masturbation bars
You just got to improve with time lol. I’d say around the 6-7 year mark I generally like everything I wrote, I just got better since then too. Year 13-14.
Be authentic. Write stuff that you'd find difficult to say to people. Things that are real to you. Don't write a load of waffle and similes. Write things that are scary to you and people will relate
Time !
Sometimes something that I write don’t make sense in that moment .. and many years after I rediscovered those songs and I said to myself wow that’s great !
We often compare ourselves to big names so that our art could get a similar quality but instead I realised that the things I was doing when I was naive to the process were the best things I have ever written. So my suggestion is just keep write and don’t trash anything. It might be useful in a near future :)
Bro just accept that your first drafts are gonna be trash - even Em's old stuff makes him cringe now. The only way through is writing more, not less. Your brain gets better at filtering the good from the bad when you actually give it material to work with
Eminem went through 69,000 papers just to finish REVIVAL
Treat the slop as warm up and write long enough so you come up with something good. Plus something that may only seem okay today, might seem like the greatest thing you've ever written the next day
It's like listening to a beat you produced the night before, but with Morning Ears™️. Sometimes you were so exhausted from hearing the same 4 bars over and over that it sounded like ass, but when you wake up and turn that shit on, you realize its a headnodder. Sometimes, it's not so pleasant lol
Similarly, maybe you fried your language circuits the day before but once you look it over with fresh eyes, you see something you didn't before - or you see something that you can build off of.
It's funny when you write a double and you go over your lyrics the next day and realize you actually came up with a triple, or quadruple lol
I can't even write doubles - I mostly just make beats, but I've been jotting down decent (to me, atleast) ideas for bars in like 10 notepad files for a long time. No fuckin clue how to string em together into something coherent tho fml lol
The idea is sprung, you just gotta dig into it. Or you could sell the beats with concept ideas attached.
quadruples dont exist
Expound?
do you have any examples ? i feel like people reach to get a third or fourth meaning often times
Ok thx
Anything can be cringe if you perceive it that way. It's all a matter of perspective.
Maybe try to identify the why about the cringe? Maybe it's the topic maybe it's the way you said it. Branch out and try different things.
Usually I try not to be cringe but happens anyway
Still, you need to figure out what is cringe and why. Then change it.
You might also just not be used to reviewing your own work, we are extremely harsh critics of our own stuff
Great point, we are our own worst critics
I think cringe often happens due to TMI. There's a fine line between making something relatable and unique to your own experience, you gotta walk that line
What do you find cringy about your lyrics?
Embrace being cringe
From my experience, when I now listen to my first songs - 10 years ago - I drown in my shame, but I guess is was necessary to develop writing. So what helped where two things - I let go of perfection- just wrote about 100 lines - what came to my mind on the beat and let it flow, afterwards I picked the best lines and made a new file - that actually worked for me. 2nd method was (like Eminem) I just wrote the last words of the line and then filled the rest over time. But I can definitely say - perfection is the biggest killer of creativity
i feel like if the flow / rhyme schemes / punchlines are solid then it can make up for otherwise cringey stuff. idk what cringe would even look like except for masturbation bars
Learn how to write.
Stop just writing lyrics and discipline yourself to learn prosaic writing. Write creatively and learn how to properly use analogies and symbolism.
Then come back to writing rap.
Guarantee you it improves your rap writing. Profoundly.
When a hot line comes to mind make a note of it immediately. All the time!
If you can just keep writing focused on flow you can go back and edit if necessary for it to make sense or improve lines.
You just got to improve with time lol. I’d say around the 6-7 year mark I generally like everything I wrote, I just got better since then too. Year 13-14.
Be authentic. Write stuff that you'd find difficult to say to people. Things that are real to you. Don't write a load of waffle and similes. Write things that are scary to you and people will relate
Write several songs worth of lyrics, pull the hardest bars from each and string them together. That's what I do and people seem to not mind my stuff.
That what I'm planning
Just write ironic stuff. Bullshit nonsense that you don't really mean. A very good exercise. Then get back to "normal" and see if something changed
Just write dope shit
Write better ones
Time ! Sometimes something that I write don’t make sense in that moment .. and many years after I rediscovered those songs and I said to myself wow that’s great ! We often compare ourselves to big names so that our art could get a similar quality but instead I realised that the things I was doing when I was naive to the process were the best things I have ever written. So my suggestion is just keep write and don’t trash anything. It might be useful in a near future :)
By remembering that Biggie said he’d perform head on a girl’s father to be with her.
😭
Which song 😭