Songwriting and Inspiration

By Amr “ZAG” Awwad

Yo, ZAG here with another Music Biz blog. This time we’re covering songwriting and the inspiration when it comes to writing your own material. As a Hip-Hop artist, we often have the highest bar to set when it comes to intricate lyricism and uniqueness. Although you may not see that being the case when it comes to many rappers in our mainstream. Anyway, that’s a topic for another day!

Today I’ll be going through my own process of songwriting with ya’ll and some tips and tricks that I’ve learned since I started spitting in 6th grade.

You Don’t Always Have To Rhyme

Remember that time when you were in 3rd grade and you were asked to write a poem? And all you could think of is “The Fat Cat ate a Black Bat then sat on my Lap.” Yeah, turns out you don’t always have to do this. More important than rhyming is actually creating a scenario with your words that also happen to fit on a beat.

“Making all of this money hoping I don't get rich
Cause ni**as still getting bodied for foams
Sometimes the truth don't rhyme
Sometime the lies get millions of views”

- Chance The Rapper on “Acid Rain”

Yes, rhyming is obviously an integral part of songwriting for the most part, but remember lyricsdon’t always have to rhyme. Rhyming can even curb your creativity, especially if you find yourself trying too hard, because it can keep you distracted from finishing the idea you’re trying to write down.

You Can Rhyme the Ends with the Beginnings

You can take the last word you used in your first sentence and instead of trying to rhyme it with the next one, you can build up your story by rhyming that word with the first word in the next sentence and build up a new rhyme scheme from there.

“Life was stagnant for a 9th grade cat with a heart for rappin’
No Cappin’, only beanies with American Flags
Corrupted by whitewashed American standards, yes
So I packed my bags and headed West”

- ZAG

Here, I’m talking about how I wanted to pursue a career in “Rappin’” followed by the rhyme, “No Cappin’” which means “No lie” but also literally no caps; as at the time I only wore beanies with American flags on them. A double entendre and a true story.

You Can Continue Your Line Into the Next Bar

When I started writing my own raps, I always thought every line had to end at the end of the bar. I thought it was a very strict art form, until I met MF DOOM. A rather ugly brother with flows that's gorgeous, he became some sort of an inspiration for me when it comes to rapping outside of the box. There really isn’t much to say about it, you have to listen to him yourself to know what I’m saying.

Kendrick Lamar is also really good with this, I suggest you check out “Sing About Me, Dying of Thirst” from his album, Good Kid M.A.A.D City

When it comes to inspiration, there’s a huge difference between inspiration and biting. You can be inspired by other artists’ lyrics and persona, but it becomes biting when you copy someone’s exact lyrics. Kinda similar to writing an essay, where you can cite other authors (inspiration) in an essay (song) without completely copying them.

An excellent example of a piece of art that’s heavily inspired by other artists without losing its integrity is Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. Lin Manuel Miranda made sure to litter Hip-Hop references throughout the play as to pay respects to those that shaped black music, especially that most of the cast for Hamilton are indeed black and brown themselves.

An example of this would be 10 Duel Commandments in Hamilton that is a take on Biggie’s 10 Crack Commandments. You can listen to both below and see that even though one is inspired by the other, they are both still two separate bodies of work, and the only way to notice it is if you know both songs.

There are some wrong ways in which you can bite someone else’s lyrics. Sometimes certain rappers can get too lazy and just keep ripping lines from one of their dead friends. Yeah, it’s really sad, but Joey Bada$$ isn’t really making this easy for us when he keeps recycling lyrics from his late friend Jamal Dewar, also known as Capital STEEZ.

“Teach her many lessons
Reduce the stress and balance out the imperfections”

- Joey Bada$$ on “500 Benz”

“I got these bi***es stressing
I never love 'em, I just balance out they imperfections”

- Capital STEEZ on “Vinyls”

“Unfortunately, I am not that type of niglet
But pass the pot, let me skillet”

- Joey Bada$$ on “1Train”

“Keep a stash even when my pockets was looking thin
So pass the pot and let me skillet”

- Capital STEEZ on “Chicago”

There are many other instances where Joey is stealing lyrics from STEEZ without paying proper respect, to the point where STEEZ even prophesied this in his last song recorded 10 days before his untimely death.

“How you not going to give me mine, every time I rip a line
I haven't seen the limelight, in a right mind
Rappers base their careers off of white lies
A ghost writer been why he so nice
And the time he spit some of his lines it's no concept”

- Capital STEEZ on “Last Straw”

I don’t think there’s harm in taking certain lines from other artists if you’re planning on crediting them somehow in your music, whether that be Lin Manuel Miranda’s way by making obvious Hip-Hop references throughout Hamilton, or interpolating lyrics, like how I do in one of my poems.

“Raising generations of youth that speak truth to power
Telling the Nas from the hilltop that this world is ours”

- ZAG on “Yesterday”

Nas means people in Arabic, my mother tongue. It’s also the name of the Queensbridge Hip-Hop legend, who has a song called “The World is Yours” off his debut album Illmatic. So I’m interpolating that in my song while still mentioning Nas, as a way of paying respect.

So there ya go! Hopefully my tips are going to come in handy the next time you pick up a pen and pad. Also, I’ll be leaving one extra link relating to what I’ve been writing about in case you’re interested in doing more research on your own.

Throwback: Winter Magic

Winter Magic 2018 was a blast!!

Performer & Host Mirabai

By Zoser

With the lovely Mirabai hosting, her casual jokes and love for Christmas lifted the spirits of the crowd. Ran by the interns of Totem Star, the night behind the scenes went smoothly. It was a very different experience for me and rapper, Primoe, with us being stage managers. Most of our lives we’ve been the act, but to manage the acts themselves was a challenge. The constant running around made us feel like we were apart of something that we were building.

ZAG spitting truth

Luckily it wasn’t just us who were dictating where the vibe of the night went. Our DJ and Totem Star artist, ZAG, displayed his knowledge of music while on the decks. According to ZAG, “It’s always good to be a DJ because I get to dictate what the mood will be like.” Mirabai calls ZAG a “benevolent mastermind.” He even played “A Whole New World” off of the Aladdin soundtrack to make me feel like a cloud in the sky. The night was elegant and benefited Totem Star as a whole. With the many donations that we received, Totem Star will live to see many more days, and years!!!

Teaching Artist Matt and Totem Star Artist Primoe

I took one thing to heart that night. My family is more than just my mom, or my grandmother. It’s the community that brought me in when I felt alone. It’s the community that let the artist be true to themselves. It’s the community that makes us want to show what we’re all about. Totem Star will be my family for as long as I’m alive; and Winter Magic will be the biggest memory that I’ll have of them.

Totem Star Artist Zoser performing Small Worlds by Mac Miller

What’s ZAG listening to?

By: Edgar Vega

What song do you currently have on repeat and why do you like it?
I have this album that I'm listening to at the moment. It's Drogas Wave by Lupe Fiasco, which was released last September. The first half of the album tells a story of slaves during the transatlantic slave trade whom were on board of a sinking slave ship. Instead of drowning, they grew gills and are able to breathe and live underwater. They were called Longchains. Armed with long chains for arms, hence their name, they proceeded to drown other slave ships to free their people from slavery. Some decided to run back to Africa's shores, while others are supposedly present to this day in the middle of the Atlantic, guarding the waters. The second half of the album relates to current life of African Americans in this country, as a sequel 400 years later to the first part of the album.

The reason I'm in love with this album and consider it my favorite, is not only because of what I said earlier, but also because of the complexity of Lupe's lyrics and how he could tell a story so vivid only though words. I can proceed to visualize in my head what he's saying. Also, every time I listen to the album, I discover something totally new in what he's saying; and that's the beauty of Hip-Hop poetry.

How would you describe your music preference in general? What qualities make a song truly great?
My music preference in terms of Hip-Hop, I'd say I like Boom Bap and Lo-Fi, or anything that is sample based. Yeah, I listen to the occasional Young Thug when I'm tryna turn up, but for the most part my favorite artists are the J Coles, Kendrick Lamars, and the Black Thoughts. I've also been lately into R&B after listening to some of SiR's stuff and that new Anderson.Paak joint, Oxnard.

How does the music you listen to affect the music you make?
Lately, I've been drawing a lot of my inspiration from J Dilla and Lupe Fiasco. With Lupe, his lyricism motives me to up mine. I'm mesmerized by his worldplay, and I always aim to be more lyrical, while not reaching a point where people won't understand what I'm saying. Because what's the point of using complex worldplay if no one will be able to understand it, right? As for Dilla, his instrumentals don't need words for me to understand what he's saying. It's like his beats teach me how to vibe with the listener, and that I don't always need to be explicit with my message for people to understand what I'm saying.

ALLI 2018 Throwback

Photo by: Amy Piñon

By Amr Awwad

Summer of 2018, I had just wrapped up an awesome month-long program with The Residency as I got into ALLI, the Arts, Leadership, and Liberation Institute. It’s a two-week intensive summer program put on by Arts Corps, Youth Speaks, Massive Monkees, and Totem Star where 28 youth are trained in artistry, social justice and organizing. Youth leaders develop as cultural workers in four arts pathways: spoken word poetry, music production, visual art and breakdance. This cohort of youth hones their arts and organizing skills, while deepening their understandings of race and social justice issues. They collaborate, build community and create art that challenges oppression and envisions a more just world. Personally, I chose the music pathway, as I wanted to learn more about how to be a DJ. But anyways, that article isn’t about me. I’m here to talk about the program, and boy, was it dope.

Photo by: Amy Piñon

At the beginning of each day, we’d have everyone in one room to partake in different activities, meshing social justice and art in our work. For example, on one day, we were split into different groups and had to work with a quote that was given to us by the teaching artists. My group’s quote was about Revolution, and we had to create a performance piece that included all 4 pathways and perform it in front of the other groups. Overall, the activities were really good at giving youth the inspiration and creative path to fuse art, in its various forms, with elements of social justice.

Photo By: Amy Piñon

In each pathway, youth would practice on refining their craft but also delve into unknown territory in terms of new skills to learn. For me, before ALLI, I had ZERO knowledge on how to DJ and what it takes to mix music. By the end of the two weeks, I was able to DJ a 30 minute set in front of over 100 people. I also grew a passion for DJing and now get to DJ at other events.

Photo By: Amy Piñon

The day of the ALLI showcase, we had many people from the community come to see what we’ve been working on. They got to see a gallery of paintings made by the visual art pathway, and also attend an open mic that was hosted by two of our poetry pathway students, Bitanya and Suraya. For the show itself, which was hosted by Kid LIO, every ALLI participant got to shine on the stage and share their unique experience through their art.