He calls himself “an artist who thinks outside the box,” and that’s an understatement for someone who has achieved a lot of recognition for his talents. Yes, Will.I.Am is “l’artiste extraordinaire,” as some French people might call it, and he is considered to be one of the best hip hop rappers in the music industry today.

Just like Will.I.Am and any other rap artists, they had to earn their status in the music industry. Rappers have to face a lot of competition from other rappers who have different styles and flavors of their own. So, in order for you to stand out from among the herd, try to follow some of these tips to get the look of a rapper:

Getting the Look

First, create an alias of your own. Look at the names of the most famous rappers in the industry today: Snoop Dogg, The Game, Chopper, G-Unit, Master P, 50 Cent, Jim Jones, Silkk the Shocker, Rated R and Rich Boy. Their names sound really hip, so put this in mind when creating your alias. Remember this: Your name will make or break you, so be careful in choosing it.

Second, Do the “Thug” Dress Code. The jeans and the whole ensemble should create a feeling of hip-hop vibe, so make sure that they reflect on your choice of wardrobe.

Third, get yourself a “Crew.”  This is important, because they will be there as an extended family not only for you, but for themselves as well. Their roles are diverse, but most often, they are there to back you up and support you in your dreams of becoming a rap star, so make sure that you choose only the ones whom you trust.

Fourth, maximize your “beefs.” The effectiveness of creating beefs should not be underestimated, because creating them is one of the fastest ways to increase your chances of exposure to the press. It’s not difficult to do. Just pick out a really famous rapper and get in touch with him. Try to make a scene – bad mouth his gang, talk bad about his record label, or do anything to antagonize him. The object here is to make them retaliate so that people will know who you are. Of course, this is optional. You don’t have to do this if you don’t have the guts to do so. But, if ever you decide to try it, you’ll certainly get results.

Learning the art of rapping

Now that you have the whole look of a rapper, master the technique. Here are some ways to do it.

First, try to listen to some rap artists and see what kind of styles suits your taste and skill. It’s also important that you take note of the lyrical content, the flow, speed and vocalizations of the rapper.

Second, do some vocal exercises and tongue twisters to exercise the mouth of your muscles and lips. Rapping requires fast changes in mouth movements, so make sure you have done your vocal exercises so it’s much easier to manipulate your mouth.

Third, try to rap along the tunes of the rap artists that you admire. Make sure that you absorb the lyrics while keeping pace with the music. If it’s hard for you to rap along, try to build it up slowly first.

The truth of the matter is, it’s really easy to rap — but it’s not easy to become a master at it, like the cool Will.I.Am. Learning how to rap takes a lot of practice, hard work, and determination, but the payoffs are equally worth everything.

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You know what you’re gonna hear coming out of White House if this goes through: “My Humps”. Repeatedly.

Rapper Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas (of the “MY HUMPS” fame..lol) is considering a job in the White House, following in the footsteps of actor Kal Penn (the Kumar in “Harold and Kumar“) who took a job as the Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison. Will.I.Am, it must be remembered, campaigned extensively for Prez Obama during the elections last year.

Will.I.Am, we just hope you don’t bring Fergie along to the White House…

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There was a time, not too long ago, when all the cool kids played guitar and had a rock band.

They hung out in basements or abandoned warehouses, grew their hair long and (gasp!)  feathered them. If you grew up in the 70s or 80s, you knew at least one kid in your school who had a band or played the guitar and got all the chicks.

In the 80s, this was not considered gay. Really.

Rap, in the 80s, was still emerging from the underground. Its unfortunate that what did emerge from the underground int he late 80s was kiddie rap like MC Hammer.

Can you blame me now when I say 80s rappers sucked?

Then came the 90s with Nirvana and the avalanche of alternative rock it brought along with it. Alternative rock, for all its worth, really gave a huge fillip to hip-hop’s mainstreaming with the emergence of some really awesome rappers (nod to Public Enemy), and some really shitty rock bands (here’s looking at you, Fred Durst). Result: rappers suddenly became the new ‘edgy’ mainstream, while all rockers could sing about was their sad, sad, misfortune at not being able to steal their elder sister’s black mascara.

You had some awesome rappers come out during this time: Jay-Z, Snoop, Nelly (oh, well!), and company. But most importantly, you also had a white rapper who was actually good (no, its not Vanilla Ice).

Prove me if I’m wrong, but Eminem’s arrival really set the stage for the way hip-hop completely exploded rock off the charts. You might hate him but you can’t deny that the guy can make up a mean rhyme. But more importantly, he was plenty controversial and had a style that was more accessible to non-rap listeners (read ‘white people’).

Of course, rap then entered its douchy, money grabbing, oversized gold medallion wearing phase. But rock at this stage was still reeling from the 90s and there was no major single band that could command the kind of attention that rappers like Eminem or Jay-Z could (at least no band not in their 40s). The 2000s also saw rock becoming excessively wimpy with indie-rock and its hippie stepchildren becoming more and more popular. Any competition that could throw rap off its popular perch (no, we won’t consider pop music as a competitor) went along the flower trail.

My point: its amazing to see how cool and mainstream rap has become. You can say that that’s the fate of anything that started underground. But you just can’t help feel that there’s a certain ‘edginess’ lacking in the rappers of today. Clearly, most of them still haven’t gotten over the gold plated Cadillac phase. There was a historic even in black history this year with Obama being elected El Presidente, but it was really disheartening to see any really good politically charged rap songs. I would’ve loved to hear Public Enemy of the 80s come out and sing about Obama. But all that I could get was Will.I.Am and his idiot moniker on a stage.

But hey, all the cool kids still rap!

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