S. Samuel
New Orleans rapper Curren$y recently opened up on his song-writing skills and just how he gets into the zone when it comes time to penning hits.
Known for putting out music on a regular basis, Hot Spitta said he typically lays his pen game down once he hits a recording studio.
“Sometimes I’m in a zone where I just write while I’m watching a movie or something and I’ll have a beat. For the most part I don’t write until I get to the studio,” Spitta revealed in an interview. “I might jot something down because I thought of it but I don’t write until I get to the studio. I write on the spot. I listen to beats when I’m at home but I can’t really write at home. I end up just smoking, cleaning up, or drawing pictures or something.” (HHDX)
A couple years ago, West Coast rap veteran Xzibit defended not writing raps mentally.
“Nope when I approach music [it] is totally different then when I used to approach it on my other albums it’s a whole new formula, a whole new format,” X to the Z explained in an interview. “Musically the way I write is the same because sometimes I write with a beat without a beat but I always write it on paper. I’m not one of these new fangled rappers who don’t have to write sh*t down or put it in their BlackBerry, I’m old school. What’s gonna happen in the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame when rappers have to put their BlackBerry’s in because they never wrote stuff down on paper? (laughs) I want lyric sheets.” (All Hip Hop)
The Clipse’s Pusha T previously said he also prefers to throw his bars down on paper.
“I have the coolest little writing journal. I love to just blackout in it, and I can’t wait! It’s like everything. I’m just taking on all beats and all types of sh*t and just spilling,” Pusha said about his pen game. “To me, not too many people are good at freestyling. Everyone always talks about how they freestyle lyrics. Freestyling lyrics with no depth is stupid to me. That’s corny. I can do that. I’ve done it, and it’s never as detailed as it could be. Someone like Jay-Z that does that has mastered it. People try to mimic, but they don’t understand, you can mimic the process but you have to master it to have that type of effect. I freestyle melodies. I’ll find a melody by just vibing with a record, but not actual lyrics. That’s a puzzle.” (Artist Direct)
In the past, platinum-selling rapper Drake spoke on the writing process he undergoes.
“I’ll never forget how nervous I was,” Drake explained in an interview referring to when he freestyled from his BlackBerry phone. “It was such a rookie hip-hop moment — and, obviously, the controversy of me pulling out my phone and rapping off my phone because I just wasn’t prepared. A lot of people don’t know the difference between freestyle or off the top and coming to a radio show knowing you got to go there, so you got verses cued up in your head, whether they be off your upcoming album or verses just that you have laying around. A lot of artists get that preparation time…I’m a writer, man. I appreciate the elements of hip-hop. I appreciate a guy like Common who goes city to city and just spits at the crowd for 10 minutes about everything he sees. I admire talent like that, because that’s just not my creative process.” (MTV)
