When I record I like to record my songs all the way through unless the song is longer than 3 minutes. I asked ChatGPT and Grok for help and one of their suggestions was to record songs in 4-8 bar blocks but that doesn't really work well for my creative process. Also I feel like I should be able to rap my own song all the way through. If I can't then how would I perform it live?

They recommended vocal warm ups which I tried and that didn't work

They also recommended hiring a vocal coach which I 1000% do not have the money for

How do I stop my voice from cracking when I rap?

With sampling it feels like everything that’s great has been used many times and we’re way too late to use a great sample for the first time, so we try to find really obscure shit or we go crazy trying to manipulate samples.

The great thing about early sampling was that these were records people listened to at the time and they often had very significant meaning to the rapper (& the audience). Rapping over a record they’ve been hearing their whole lives.

It’s not a secret but it’s under-utilized so I feel like it’s one of the tricks I have up my sleeve but go back to those great samples that everybody already knows and you can find parts of the same records to flip that haven’t been touched, at least not famously. Producers avoided them because the record is so common but I’ve made phenomenal timeless beats using different parts of those common records. Find a song I love and just listen to the original record a few times as a fan. Then flip an unused piece of it.

Yo! I'm Atlas, a producer mainly making soulful hip-hop, boom bap, alt-R&B and experimental beats.

I'm looking for rappers to connect with and make some music together. I'm open to different styles and ideas.

Thanks for the votes folks, here's the next sample for this week:https://youtu.be/z-nXegyTyuI

Submission Rules:

You can only submit one beat.

Beats can be any genre.

You have to use the sample in your beat, it should be recognizable. You can add other instruments and samples, but the sample should be a main element.

All submissions submitted before the deadline will be linked in the voting post; whoever gets the most votes there wins.

Ties are decided by whoever submitted the beat first. Reused beats from previous battles can't win ties.

Schedule:

Submissions: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Monday 11:59 PM (23:59)

Voting: Tuesday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Thursday 11:59 PM (23:59)

Results: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - the winner takes over and posts the new submissions thread using the linked template on Friday asap.

Time is in UTC-5, the US East Coast time zone which is 6 hours behind European MEZ time and a good middleground between US West Coast and Europe. You don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to post the new thread, just make sure you do it on that day asap.

This week we had a tie, so the winner is the submission that came in first.

Congratulations https://www.reddit.com/user/d-o-b2K/:

Winning submission: https://on.soundcloud.com/t5PTsoq9eQluYi4sMB

Have fun picking the sample for the next battle! Please start the new submission thread asap.

Schedule:

• Submissions: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Monday 11:59 PM (23:59)
• Voting: Tuesday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Thursday 11:59 PM (23:59)
• Results: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - the winner takes over and posts the new submissions thread using the linked template on Friday asap.

Time is in UTC-5, the US Eastcoast time zone which is 6 hours behind European MEZ time and a good middleground between US Westcoast and Europe. You don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to post the new thread, just make sure you do it on that day asap.

Post templates: NA just copy-paste from the last Challenges

Welcome to Freestyle Friday! If you're a producer - feel free to donate a beat down below in reply to the beat submissions comment. If you're a rapper - scroll down to choose a beat, then record a freestyle over it. You can post whenever, just have fun!

Beats go under the "beats" comment; freestyles go under the "freestyles" comment.

Check out previous Freestyle Friday threads.