The Ingrediants...

So Can You
written by Just K

I just wanna fly – fly//

It’s hard to stay grounded when you dream to the sky//

And I ain’t scared of falling from up high//

I’m scared that I’ll never get to try, so I…//

Push it to the limit//

Go until my threshold folds, give it all that I can give it//

Take off like a work day when I skip it//

Like a weak R&B singer stripping as the gimmick//

Haters livid – whatever//

They bitter, I switch one letter I’m already doing better//

They try to make it rain but it drizzles, no umbrella…//

Necessary effortlessly fly above the weather//

As if my back been strapped with fat propellers//

Me, myself, and I – birds of a feather flock together//

Elevator up like it’s headed to the penthouse room//

Still going, we’ll be on the moon soon//

Play among the stars, Neptune, Jupiter and Mars//

Light years ahead of peers so far//

I’m feeling so hot so-lar so far//

I’m talking spaceships, they still bragging ‘bout cars?//

Dog, I’m tryna self-Beyonce, upgrade me//

Beyond reasonable doubt like a young Jay-Z//

But I find my own lane, never HOV//

Shine a light, bright enough that the blind gon’ see// ~ Just K

Can anyone be an MC? Naw, but anyone can put words that rhyme on a piece of paper. The problem is that people confuse the two. Rhyming isn’t enough to qualify you to hold the same title as people like Rakim, Ludacris, Tupac, Kanye, and MC Lyte. What does it take to be an MC? Glad you asked.

Flow

You have to be able to flow over a beat. Find a way to express your thoughts, feelings, and opinions while being confined to a certain amount of beats per minute. Do your lyrics fit the speed of the beat? Did you find an interesting enough cadence (in R&B it would be the melody the singer uses) to recite your rhymes? Do your lyrics fit into the confines of the flow you’re using? Fast, slow, medium speed flow? Do you want to rhyme on the bass part, the snares, or even follow another instrument? You find a flow, you’re a step closer to being an MC.

Delivery

Don’t think that just because you wrote something passionately means you’ll be able to recite it passionately. How do you evoke emotion with just the sound of your voice? Are you going for angry, sad, inspired, fun, cocky, humorous? Whatever it is, you have to sound the part. What words will you place extra emphasis on by saying them louder? Which syllables will you hold a little longer than most so that people will pay attention to them? And those random sounds on a track a la Weezy, you have to know where to use them, and whether they’ll sound dope or just plain crazy. When it’s all said and done, when we hear you on a track, do we believe you? If so, you’ve just taken another step.

Lyrics

Rhyming is the easy part, unless you’re talking multi-syllable rhymes (see: Fabolous, Kool G Rap) where you rhyme words like common sense, continents, compliments, often tense, confidence, fallen since (see: poetic license). The most important part is what goes in between the rhymes. You have to have a meaning and a point. Anyone can rhyme car and bar. What did you do in the car? What kind of car is it? How did people react when you pulled up in it? Who’s at the bar? What did you get to drink? How much did you spend there? That’s the stuff that goes in between the rhymes. Punch lines, similes, thought-provoking words, stories, concepts, topics...lyrics!

Grind

How do you get on in the first place? You have to grind. Be at the top of your shameless self-promotion game (see: CDs, myspace, youtube, flyers with your own picture on them). Make connections with club owners, DJs, managers, other rappers, and people in the industry. Expect to get screwed over, jerked around, and ignored. Keep fighting. Eventually, if you’ve got the flow, lyrics, and delivery, things should work. But even then, these aren’t the good old days when artists dropped CDs every two years and stayed dormant until the next release. Not at all. Now you’ve got to be featured on other artists’ tracks, do mixtapes, EPs, make appearances on whack DVDs, land a movie role, etc. And I sure do hope all of your stuff is quality because you will get criticized for every average song, whack verse, questionable line, scene of dialogue, whatever. By the way, did you hire the right people to protect all that money you’re making? You’re almost there. You just need one more thing.

X Factor

I can’t explain it. You just have to be…special.



I won’t bother with label politics, image, the actual work of recording at a studio, dealing with crazy fans, avoiding haters, staying out of trouble, and trying to ignore harsh criticisms from bloggers, magazines, and newspapers. Nope. I won’t even get into that.

Any average rapper – anyone can be that.

A good MC – someone who truly hones their skills can be that.

A great MC – you have to have a gift.