Actually, most people who come up learn from older local heads they may meet around the way that can show them ish in the studio. It's not just about rhyming "cat" and "hat". It's about counting bars. It's about structuring songs. It's about writing hooks, bridges, learning how to transition in a song or along the way in your album, it's about learning to craft a sound and learning how to start branding your art.
There is a lot of intricacies that go into making music (any genre) that people on the outside just don't understand. If you've never wrote an entire project, recorded it, mixed and mastered it, put it out, promoted it, done shows for it, etc. etc. etc. then you have no clue what goes into making an album or mixtape. That kinda process takes yeeeaaarrrssss to truly learn.
Most of these rappers in the mainstream got family members that were successful musicians to teach them all that ish, including the person you used in your smiley's. Alotta us don't have that luxury, to sit with those who are already successful to learn the craft.
