8 Tips for Writing Lyrics, Inspired by Nas’s Career

Nas is one of hip-hop’s most respected and successful artists, often cited as one of the greatest rappers of all time. He has collaborated with rappers and singer-songwriters like Jay-Z, Timbaland, Alicia Keys, Dr. Dre, and Lauryn Hill. He’s sold more than twelve million albums, garnered fourteen Grammy nominations, and performed his debut album, Illmatic, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, with the city’s National Symphony Orchestra. He’s also an accomplished actor, a veteran film producer, and an astute businessman.

When setting out to write lyrics, it helps to have a process. Use these tips from Nas’s life to find inspiration, craft compelling lyrics, and break through creative blocks.

1. 1. Challenge yourself: If you get stuck, try to build a verse out of the first unexpected thought that comes to mind. That’s how Nas conceived “Rewind,” which famously tells a story backward. “I came up with the song, ‘Rewind,’ as a sort of punishment to myself because I didn’t feel creative that day,” he says. “I didn’t know what to write about that day. I’m in the studio. We’re in Long Island. I’m with Large Professor. He’s workin’ on tracks, and he plays somethin’ I liked. . . . So were listenin’ to that song, and he just chopped it up and made it into abeat. I felt like it was gettin’ late, and I wanted to get home soon and chill. . . . Because I couldn’t come up with anything good today, I’m just gonna make a story that starts at the end and make it go backwards.”
   
2. 2. Compose on the go: Your phone is a handy tool for writing lyrics. “A phone is easier,” he says. “It’s easier to handle. I’m not stickin’ to a book. I’m makin’ it up as I go along. The phone could easily be in my pocket. I could pull it out to remember somethin’ and put it back in. It’s way easier to me.” You can use your phone’s voice-recording appwhen you’d rather recite than write—and Nas insists that “words need to taste like clear, fresh water in your mouth.”
3. 3. Connect: Remember the goal: vivid stories and emotions that connect with your audiences. Ensure your song makes sense to a listener, and keep your lyrics connected to your five senses and your heart. “I think people connect with my music because a lotta people think, ‘Hey, he’s talkin’ about somethin’ I think about or I thought about or I haven’t thouht about.’ And I think that’s what being a good MC is. You have to kinda intrigue your audience. To make descriptive storytelling, you need a beginning, a middle, an end. You need your characters, places. You need to describe each scene like a movie. You need to describe the emotions of whoever’s in your story. You need to describe their goals, their setbacks.”
4. 4. Cull: Once you have some lyrics going, take a step back: Which lines excite you, and which ones leave you cold? Could your favorite line become the first line of the song? Keep selecting, cutting, and shifting until you’re happy with every line. For Nas, this process continues even when he’s in the vocal booth. “It’s like I’m havin’ a conversation with myself, I guess,” he says. “Like, things pop up in your head. You’re in your creatve space, so thoughts are open, they’re free. And I lay down some lines, and I go back. I listen to how I’m sayin’ it, and I might just change it altogether. Start it from the top. Say somethin’ else. Or maybe the last line I said should be the first line. I need to hit ‘em up from the top of the line and keep hittin’ ‘em. There needs to be no weak parts. And I’ll go back, and I’ll do that until it’s done. Once it’s done, I’ll come back the next day, and I’ll change a lot of it, and I’ll keep doin’ that.”
5. 5. Group your ideas: As a kid, Nas would organize his ideas by theme. Take a page out of his book: In your notebook or smartphone, try grouping your observations by romantic stirrings, money woes, aspirations, and so on. “I had notepads full of raps, chapters,” he says. “Like, this chapter’s about girls, so there’d be certain amount of paper and a divider. The next one would be about the next subject and so on and so forth. If I had to spit somethin’ for you, I had categories to go to.”
6. 6. Imitate: As a kid, Nas and his friends would sing and rap along with the hits of the day. “I think I first realized that I could put words together in a rhyme rap style, I think I was probably ten years old, maybe nine,” he says. “I started to kinda put things together. I would imitate the songs that was out.” From there, Nas and his friends could start to plug in words of their own, drawing inspiration from their lives. Pick a favorite song of yours and give it a try.
7. 7. Observe: Gather cultural artifacts—movies, brands, overheard conversations, bits of jargon—as you go through your days and jot them down in a notebook or in your smartphone. Once you sit down to start writing a song, all of these observations will be at your fingertips, a treasure trove for whenever you need to make a relatable reference. “My writing process. . . I take bits and pieces from different stages of my life,” he says. “I take that and I work with it today. I was a young kid trying to write, and I would have notebooks of rhymes, stories.”
8. 8. Pick a word: Sometimes an unexpected word choice can birth a song. “Certain words have the syllables that [takes] up some space to say, rather than [a] word like ‘great’ and ‘late,’” he says. “You have other words with more syllables like the word ‘syllable’ in itself. It gives you a chance to break down your flow [and] have fun within each line when you have that rhythym in the words. Puttin’ words together in a rhythmic way is also fun, and it’s fun for the listener.” You can try this yourself by picking a word that’s at least three syllables long and thinking of another word that rhymes with it (the second word can be any number of syllables). String those rhymes together with two brief lines that work with the word pairing.

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