7 Tips on how to earn Money in Nigeria as an Underground Rapper

Most Nigerian Artists will tell you "Money no de rap" but they drop albums upon albums or

do you think they did it for free?.

The problem with most Nigerian upcoming acts is the ignorance

of actually making money and keeping it real without necessarily following trends to "blow" as the

norm is here.

The Original motive of Hip Hop in Nigeria was to address issues in the country

through the use of education, intelligent, enlightening lyrics to provoke and bless the audience, but ever since entertainment came into Hip Hop skill is becoming very insignificant to the eye.

But as an underground artist to earn money will actually be easy if you follow these simple steps which includes

- VERSATILITY: You might be a talented Boom bap rapper but the audience don't care. If you do not

work on how to be flexible in Music styles to appeal to them (doesn't mean your lyrics will water

down). You may not achieve financial success as you deserved

- FAN-BASE: Without this, there is never a talk about money. For someone to sell something, he or

she needs customers. If you sell your music and there is no fan-base it's the same as when food

spoils because there is no consumer. You eat your music yourself

There are other factors that are very important as well but that will be for another article so

that you will know why it is important to be musically ready to take your music to the next level.

CONCENTRATE ON YOUR TARGET MARKET ONLINE: A Business Entrepreneur once told me, "You

will earn more if you have 100 faithful followers than to spread your music to 10,000 people

online" because nobody knows you or your Music really. Therefore, focus on getting more

hardcore fans of your music which means putting out quality music constantly, this surely grows

your ratings. So whenever your release an album or body of work you will be sure of getting cash

online constantly especially if it is on a foreign streaming platform.

UPLOAD QUALITY WORKS ON STREAMING PLATFORMS: Let’s be honest, people hardly try to

download your full project especially if you are new to them. They rather try to listen to a minute

of your first track or any random track that the theme moves them, to see if you are worth the

time. Streaming platforms like Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, even our very own Boomplay are places to

upload your music, where every play counts no matter how short it is played. When you check out

it’s cumulative results it always surpasses when you just drop an album zip link.

CREATE EXTRA SERVICES TO EARN MORE: In this world of nowadays, from the richest rappers to

even the normal underground artist they always add something extra to their art which increases

their earnings. Some venture in Production or being a Sound Engineer, others go into Fashion,

Photography or have their own clothing line. While others go into full Entrepreneurship along with

their career as a rapper. Irrespective of whatever service you want to offer to your audience, it will

surely increase your income, it can even become your main income if utilized effectively.

UTILIZE AND EXPAND YOUR TALENT TO THE FULLEST: You might be very talented as a rapper

writing your own verses or singing your own choruses. There are many others that can rap but

can’t sing or they can rap and sing but can’t write and you can see that they have that marketing

power in their music. Sell your services to them. They need you to survive. Fiverr is an example of a

site meant for such avenues, you can create packages (Gigs) to other artists who need help in

songwriting. There are world renowned rappers like Jay-Z, Kanye West, Missy Elliot has written

songs for people which you wouldn't believe and the royalties involved in such deals are mouth

watering. Imagine you yourself in such shoes.

MARKETING YOUR BRAND: You cannot ignore the fact that even with your online presence and

efforts on putting out music constantly, there must be the physical side to things. Advertising your

brand matters to your environment. There are still shows and events happening around your city,

that pay upcoming acts. Also, many artists can earn more from shows than actual sales of albums. I

know how one show can pay all the expenses of an artist for a year if performed accordingly and

with the right organizers. Do not neglect any opportunity that presents itself for you to perform

live, many popular acts get better deals performing live than just listening to your works.

Hip Hop in Nigeria is very frustrating with too many factors obstructing the progress of a talented

artist. But with knowledge of how the hip hop business works plus putting these 5 tips to use, I can

guarantee that you won’t be a begging rapper.

This is Hip Hop Head, a site that educates and promotes quality hip hop sounds to our audience in

Nigeria and beyond. Stay tuned.

Written by Sami TesLa