Rap & MCPathwayLyrics, bars, bass, education

Welcome to ACM

You already know how to rap.We’re here to help you do it better.

Write better • Record better • Perform better

Understand the music business, so you can build your brand and reputation and create a sustainable, long-term career.

You’re not a country singer. You’re not a metal band. We get it, and we’re not trying

to treat you like something you’re not.

We’ve got tutors who know what they’re on about; masterclasses from successful

rappers and MCs; and opportunities to learn beatmaking and engineering, to

network, and also to get attention from record labels.

We’re just trying to make you…

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Foreword ...................................................................................... 5

Study In A One-Of-A-Kind Environment ..................................... 6

Course Overview ......................................................................... 7

What Can You Expect To Learn ..................................................... 8

Learning Points ........................................................................... 9

Songwriting Camps .................................................................... 10

Benefits Of Collaboration .......................................................... 11

Leadership Team ....................................................................... 12

A Message From ShaoDow .......................................................... 13

Metropolis ............................................................................... 14

A Message From Metropolis CEO Richard Connell ..................... 15

Metropolis Blue / Metro Sound ................................................. 16

Collab .......................................................................................... 17

MC / Rapper Career Options ..................................................... 18

World-Class Facilities ................................................................ 19

Contents

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Kainne ClementsExecutive Chairman, ACM

As ACM has grown from a single campus to nine buildings across three cities, we have focussed really hard on listening to our students as well as working deep inside industry in real time. So I could not be more proud of the team at ACM that has put together this incredible programme for lyricists, rappers, MCs, and those of you who want to make beats. You know that you can really only get to where you want to be by collaborating – so that is what this is all about, and I cannot wait to see what happens next.

For you to be part of it, you have to get on board – and I hope that when you read about what we are putting together, it inspires you to come and see us, see what we can do for you, and be part of the next chapter of this journey, which will underpin your future as a professional in this incredible industry. Remember: whether you say you can or think you can’t, you are going to be right – so say you can, know that you are as incredible as anyone else, and let us help you build that platform for you to be the very best you could be. I am looking forward to meeting you. With Best Wishes,

Foreword

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Study in a one-of-a-kind environment.When you choose to study with us at ACM, you can look forward to an immersive, award-winning education that matches the highest quality of teaching with unparalleled student experiences. We work with the biggest names in creativity and technology, such as Ableton, Roland, and Pioneer, to provide state-of-the-art performance, recording, and learning environments designed to fulfil your creative ambitions and get you inspired. When we’re not using the facilities for our own teaching purposes, students are able to book them for their own performance and recording needs via our mobile app, myACM.

You’ll be surrounded by likeminded and supportive friends who are equally dedicated to pursuing a career in the creative industries. You’ll get to work together, learn by doing, and build lasting relationships with fellow students across a wide range of complementary study disciplines. Our courses represent every corner of the industry that you one day want to work in, making ACM the perfect environment in which to build a network that’ll have your back as you enter the creative industries, together.

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ACM’s Technical Studies for Rappers and MCs course investigates each strand of a rapper’s profession, including the study of the “4 Weapons of Rap” (lyricism, flow, delivery, and originality).

You’ll get to analyse music theory, study the ideologies behind skilful artistry, develop your analytical skills for long and lyric writing, and receive integral guidance on how to hold audiences through effective performance and how to captivate listeners with the art of freestyle.

Study at ACM and press play on your success story, master the art of dominating stages with flawless bars, and learn how to turn what you do for fun into a professional career.

Course Overview

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Songwriting

• Lyrics• Rhythm• Theory • DAWs• Arrangement• Collaboration

How to Navigate the Industry

• Entrepreneurship • Creating and developing

your brand • Networking• Merchandise

Artistry

• Performance skills• Stagecraft and

presentation

What you can expect to learn

Mastering Your Craft

• Being the best MC you can be

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Learning pointsLevel 4 to Level 6 journey

LEVEL 6

LEVEL 4

LEVEL 5

Craft your own pathway and

create your own professional portfolio for

industry

Find yourself as an artist

Developing your own

sound and artistry

Giving you the tools you need

to succeed

• Exit Specialism• Advanced Techniques• Entrepreurship and

Career Development

• Advanced Songwriting and Artistry

• Performance Skills

• Intro to DAWs• Songwriting• Business Skills• Vocal Studies

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Songwriting CampsSongwriting camps are held each term as standard across all campuses.

A typical ACM songwriting camp would be held over one or two days, often with a theme or specific genre focus. Sometimes we would be working to up-to-the-minute industry briefs for the world’s leading artists looking for new songs; on other days, we would encourage experimentation, mixing diverse genres and vocal styles.

For one-day camps, the order of the day would start with a welcome and introduction, setting out the parameters, etiquette, and schedule, and placing the students into small groups of artist (singer/rapper), producer, and songwriter (lyricist/topliner).

The groups will then move to their breakout spaces, set up by Technical Services students, which would include a Mac equipped with the latest versions of industry standard DAWs, a condenser

mic, stage piano, guitar and writing materials.

During the day and breaks, industry guests are invited to meet our students to give advice and critical feedback, and the day ends with a playback celebration, with final comments from the ACM team and industry panel to help the teams assess and reflect, and actions given to continue fine-tuning their work, some of which would hopefully be at a level high enough to actually pitch to industry opportunities.

Business students would be involved in the planning, links to industry, artist/producer/songwriter liaison, and following up the results and possible placement.

Musician students would help on the writing day as session musicians, or in other workshops connected to the camp, preparing live arrangements for additional studio recordings or live performances.

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InspirationCollaboration allows us to feed off others’ inspiration and creative energies, which act as catalysts for our own creativity.

LearningThere is no better way to develop your craft than actively learning from others in a practical and hands-on environment. People will give their tricks away during a session – and you can learn to master those tricks too.

Communication skillsThe ability to communicate with others in a non-aggressive way, and adapt your style of communication in order to connect with different personalities, is intensified in creative collaboration. Precious ideas and big egos can call for great diplomacy. Furthermore, the musical language of the extended collaboration group enhances communication skills across all disciplines, helping students internalise the 360-degree language of project development.

DiversityCollaboration increases your chances of creating completely new material, and can enable you to work in different musical genres. This allows you to expand your creative toolbox, while working with talented and interesting characters whose skillsets complement your own.

Time management skillsAs every project has a specific deadline, writing camps help instill the importance of time management in the creative mind. They also provide the perfect framework for students to develop a disciplined work ethic and crucial organizational skills.

CommitmentDependability and commitment to a shared creative endeavour can promote harmonious workflow, and create a sense of balance in terms of the distribution of input, making it more likely that an ongoing partnership will be formed in the process.

Decision-making skillsDuring collaborative sessions, decisions must be based on the bigger picture and not one’s personal preference. This is particularly important when working to a specific brief that requires a specific outcome. Decisiveness itself is equally vital; a group’s inability to make decisions can quickly lead to a lack of flow and a loss of collective confidence.

FlexibilityFlexibility and adaptability are not always inherent skills in the songwriter’s toolbox – but they are valuable when aiming to achieve a defined goal in a collaborative environment.

PoliticsSongwriting camps expand your industry network by helping you to meet new collaborators with their own networks – as well as labels, managers, publishers, etc. The chances of becoming a part of someone else’s journey to success are increased through this expanded network.

Benefits of Collaboration

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The leadership team are a diverse group of highly experienced individuals from across the creative industries, each specifically recruited to lead and ensure continuous development here at ACM. Every member of the team holds an influential position within the music industry, and uses a wide range of skills, experience, contacts and know-how to ensure that our learning experiences are progressive and immersively connected to the real-world creative industries.

We are a team of experts with high-status reputations that open doors, and have literally been there, done it, and are still constantly interacting with the music industry. We collaborate together to identify exciting opportunities and create student pathways that combine to form a multifaceted structure, ensuring innovative learning at a world-class level.

BBC Introducing, the BRITs, MIDEM, The Great Escape, Tileyard, the BMAs, and the UMAs are just some of the industry events that we support, attend, and collaborate with. Learning by doing is key at ACM, and earning by doing is also encouraged and facilitated while you study through our many platforms.

Working alongside an exceptional team of highly skilled tutors, we are collectively leading the way in music industry education here at the heart of ACM.

The Leadership Team

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I am ShaoDow, a professional rapper, manga author, occasional ninja and now ACM course leader. I’ve been making a living from my music for almost ten years. The journey hasn’t been easy, but it’s always been on my own terms. I’ve made mistakes (loads!), made progress, and made art – and through it all, I’ve had to learn so many skills and life lessons that I never would’ve thought would be applicable to a rapper. I’ve invested my own money into my career and learnt how to manage myself, book my own shows, and coordinate my own releases, all whilst trying to write lyrics and make music. I’ve largely been self-taught, but I WISH I’d had someone who understood what I was trying to achieve to help me along the way, and I wish there’d been a course like this when I needed it. Regardless, I persevered. I won the Hardest Working Artist Award at the AIM Independent Music Awards, I’ve had music on the Grime Shutdown playlist, and I’ve opened for Stormzy, Skepta, Wiley, Tech N9ne, KRS-ONE, and 6LACK. I also wrote and released a manga book, toured in Europe and Asia, spoke in The Houses of Parliament, built a fan base and had fun (I even appeared on Ninja Warrior UK!). At ACM, you’ll be given the tools you need to survive and succeed in today’s music industry. Of course, what you do with those tools is up to you. But you can at least be confident that whilst you’re here, there’ll be people who understand the passion, desire, and individual needs of an up and coming MC/rapper/lyricist/microphone champion. I look forward to meeting and working with you. ShaoDow AKA Shao Sensei

A messagefrom ShaoDow

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What do Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Stormzy, and Will.i.am all have in common? They are just some of the many global artists who have made music at Metropolis Studios. Established in 1989, Metropolis – located on London’s Chiswick High Road – is Europe’s largest studio complex, where over 50% of the UK Top 40 Chart is mixed, mastered, and/or recorded in an average year.

ACM students enjoy an access all areas pass to Metropolis for live performance events, industry conferences, and recording during downtime and masterclasses.Read more at www.thisismetropolis.com

metropolisstudios

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When I was about 18, I realised that music was the most important thing in my life, and I wanted it to be my job as

well. So I totally understand the sheer passion that drives this ambition. For me, it began a career in music that has spanned over three decades.

I have worked exclusively on the label side of the business, from small independents all the way up to major corporations. During this time, I was Vice President of Marketing for Columbia Records, General Manager for the Sony Commercial Music Group, CMO of Sony Music UK, and Managing Director of Epic and Associated Labels. I have worked with many acts from the Foo Fighters to Kings of Leon, Beyoncé, Pink, Bob Dylan, and One Direction, taking creative visions and broadcasting them to the widest possible global audience. My role within the leadership team at ACM is to bring all of this experience and network to the curriculum, and make sure that we not only remain relevant, but also support, enhance, and encourage our students’ passion – the same passion that drove me – every step of the way.

My experience of running hugely effective marketing teams, delivering global marketing campaigns on

multiple projects, means that I understand what creative businesses need: Creative problem-solvers and innovative thinkers who can operate in a highly volatile environment, equipped with the smarts required to evolve and adapt. At ACM, we prepare our students for this reality, thus future-proofing their careers.

The industry itself is deeply embedded into the ACM curriculum, creating a unique structure that facilitates extremely valuable educational experiences. Every week, the leadership team meets to discuss new developments in the industry and ways of reflecting those developments in our classrooms that very week. It’s real-world learning by doing, in real time – and this up-to-the-minute topicality reflects the quick, flexible, and incredibly innovative nature of the creative industries.

We need to keep pace with the creative industries in order to prepare our students for the speed at which they must operate in professional creative environments. ACM’s curriculum is different from other educational options. It’s creative, not conventional, and delivered by an institution that is itself geared for fast-paced changes.

Change by its very nature is the one thing you can count on when working in the creative industries, especially music production and artistry. I am proud that change is something an ACM student is encouraged not only to embrace, but also to lead. The one way to predict the future is to invent it.

Message from Metropolis CEO Richard Connell

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Metropolis and ACM have created an exclusive record label initiative called Metropolis Blue, which is designed to support all students who want to release music. Metropolis Blue is run entirely by the students, for the students, across all pathways, and is split into divisions and roles to reflect the workings of a real working label. From A&R to PR, design, promotion, booking, law and more, there is a role for everyone – ensuring that our students are learning by doing, in line with the ACM ethos.

Metro Sound is our new imprint label for producers, DJs, and rappers. A collective for the next generation of underground and commercial music.

Metropolis Blue

metropolis.blue

www.metropolis.blue www.metro-sound.co.uk

We hold bi-weekly label meetings alongside A&R workshops to discover new talent. Our acts appear at regular gigs and across industry events to showcase and support the roster.

We work hand in hand with all major labels and distributors, as well as platforms such as Spotify, enabling us to have a direct and consistent link into industry.

Each label division has a real-life industry mentor, and we hold regular Metropolis Blue / Metro Sound workshops and masterclasses for the team so they can receive expert guidance, knowledge, and experience from a plethora of real-life working professionals.

Our labels are a truly fantastic incubator for both creative and business talent.

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The app that joins talent together and brings ideas to life

…coming soon to AChhhM

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MC / RapperCareer Options

Here are just a few examples of the many career paths related to the songwriting role in industry.

• Artist• Songwriter

• Writing to a brief• Lyricist• Sync / TV / Ad music composer• Ghostwriter• Host / MC

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ACM is proud to have formed strong industry partnerships with leading manufacturers and key brands at all of our campuses. These partnerships and relationships extend further than the provision of great gear for students to work with in classrooms and studios. They also involve knowledge exchange, placements, masterclasses, employment, and the process of feeding each partner’s state-of-the-art technology directly into the curriculum through co-written modules and electives with our top industry-focussed educators.

World-Class Facilities

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acm.ac.uk | 01483 500 800enquiries@acm.ac.uk

T HE R O D B O R O B U IL D IN G S | BR ID G E S T | G U IL D F O R D | S U R R E Y | G U1 4 S B

creative. industries. education.

GUIL DFORD. LONDON. BIRMINGH A M. ME T ROP OL IS .

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