I’m a white kid from Virginia who actually grew up with an extreme hate towards rap. Now I’m a little older and was exposed to rap that wasn’t just the pathetic mainstream music on the radio.
I certainly wasn’t born with it. I began writing about 3 years ago.
If I compare those raps to something today, I’ve improved a lot in my opinion. I learned much about multi-syllablic rhymes, double/triple entendres, and flow.

I don’t think where you come from has anything to do with it. It can be learned, but it takes dedication. Christian or Muslim, Urban or rural, black or white, this country or that country, as long as what you spit is real, lyrical, and beneficial to the listener, I respect it.

Skizza306 7,696
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There are certain innate abilities that can greatly improve / increase your chances of being good (pleasing vocal timbre, natural confidence, good linguistic skills, etc. etc.) but to be good you will also have to work at it. Think of it like sports that way: MJ could’ve never been as great as he was without his natural height and athleticism, but he also would’ve never been as great if he didn’t put in all the work and training that he did.

rukan23 27,181
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ANYONE can rap(not necessarily good) if they love it, like i mean really love it i think it’s just a creative way to express life experience and feelings, its da best dawg

November 1st, 2012
DaBait 1,377
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For as long as I can remember I have had a stuttering problem. Although just as long I have been wanting to be heard. So understanding my natural rhythm was a discovery that I cherished with me as I began to rap. Now even though I can’t speak normally with my peers, I can rhyme and flow better than the rest of them.

November 1st, 2012
Troy Womble 45,499
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You absolutely can learn to rap, look at artists like Childish Gambino, guy started as an actor and a comedian. ‘Ye started as a producer (along with countless other rappers). You can be born with musical talent, you can be born with the talent to rap, but it’s absolutely a learnable skill. Technicality is really where “skill” comes in, anybody can hop on a beat and spit, where talent really shows, and where skill really shows is your ability to manipulate words and make them flow together, twist the way words sound in order to make them flow or rhyme, multi-syllabic rhymes, assononance, etc. All of that is learnable, but it takes dedication, it takes practice, it takes passion. Some people are just born talented in that area, some people pick it up easier than others, same with any other thing really.

I’ve written raps/lyrics/poetry for years and sometimes recorded myself for the heck of it. I wouldn’t call myself the GOAT rapper, but I know I could spit, sure I’d probably get bodied when put up against a real MC, but then again, I’m not an MC, I just like to spit, and if I wanted to be an MC, I’d have to really work at it. Even these sixteen, seventeen year old kids, it’s not like they just picked up a mic one day and spit a track like “Earl” (using Earl as an example.) Earl said in a tweet that he’d been writing since he was like 14, so obviously he’d been practicing and developing already for years before most of us had heard him.

Look at Eminem’s “Foolish Pride” tape from way back when he was a kid, listen to how bad that is compared to himself now. If you can take a phenom like Eminem and scale him down to the amateur that he was, you see that rapping is a skill, a learned skill, not just something someone is born talented at.

Never forget this: Every person on this planet has at least one good song in them.
November 1st, 2012
Griffe¥ Jr. 5,810
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Kanye was actually a rapper before producer, and the stay on topic, I think you can learn anything, ANYTHING

No, absolutely not. It’s gotta be in your genes. When Nas poppped out, first thing he did was accidentally ether the attending nurse. When Biggie was 5 he spat his way out of a fist fight. After he flunked his first grade, AZ penned “Life’s a Bitch”. So yeah, it’s gotta be in your blood son. You can’t just hone these skills! It’s exactly like the X-Men. You gotta be born with it.