Website Design Inspiration: Best Rapper Websites

Your verses are lit, the hook is fire, but where can fans get more of your music? This is a common problem you’ll face as a rap artist if you only use social media. Instead of depending on likes and follows, get fans to your own website so you can engage with them directly.

A website is your personal home on the internet. It gets your fans away from all the distractions and focusing on you. There are a lot of rapper website templates, but with our theme editor you can create something that fits your style.

[How to design a great rapper website]

If you’re still a bit shaky don’t worry. In this post we’ll take a look at some awesome rapper websites and show you what you need to make yours just as nice.

Home

With a rapper website you want to make a grand entrance, so think of your homepage as a spotlight. A visitor hits your page and you wanna hit ‘em with your best stuff right away. This means having a large, clear header image for starters. Let them see who you are and what you’re about.

Missouri rapper Kamau shows us how it’s done with his in-your-face header image.

This type of photo conveys confidence and grit. This is the type of content you want in your rapper website design. It puts you as the focus so fans associate your face with your music.

If you wanna take it to the next level, consider adding a video header. You’ll see a great example here from NYST spittin on the mic.

Headers are a very important part of a homepage, but don’t forget to add great content as well. A nice homepage should have a call-to-action, a few tour dates and some latest news.

[How to Build the Perfect Homepage for Your Website]

Bio

Now that your fans have seen your face on the homepage, they want to know more about you. They want a behind the scenes look into the life of a rapper, so let them in.

East coast rapper, Poet Deep, has the right idea here by adding his story to the Bio page.

To make it easy for media professionals to use parts of your story in print, you’ll want to write your bio in 3rd person. Your about section will cover how you got started, what you’ve done, and your future goals.

[How to Write an Effective Musician Bio (with examples!)]

Music

Getting to know you is awesome but the big question is ...can you flow? Fans want to hear what you got, so put your best songs out front. The homepage should give ‘em a taste with one or two bangers. You’ll also want a dedicated music page to show off the rest of your tracks and albums.

Let’s take a look at how Oakland rapper, Rich Tycoon, sells stuff from his site. He starts with a main page called The Shop. This is the hub that displays the categories of albums, singles, and merch. From there he’s created sub-pages for each category to help fans get what they want fast.

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The albums page shows off his discography so fans can see he’s created a lot of material over the years. This shows he’s dedicated to his craft and has a lot to offer.

[The Complete Guide to Selling Your Music Online]

Shows

Performing on stage is the best feeling. Just you spittin bars on the mic, there’s nothing like it. The energy can make you feel invincible, but first you gotta get folks to attend. This is where a good events page can help.

Hip-hop/soul artist, Dynasty does a nice job with this.

Her gig description is detailed and enticing. She’s also added pictures of previous shows so fans can see what they’ll get if they come to the next event. Fans love a good hip-hop show, so make sure to share the events on Facebook and Twitter as well. This is easy to do with our built-in social media share tool.

Store

Hip-hop is not only about music, but style as well. Get your fan army to represent you with some of your own swag. Imagine doing a show and seeing your audience rockin’ your own hoodies, hats, and t-shirts.

You can get even more creative like KJ52 did by offering a ‘stuff a pizza box’ deal. What a cool idea!

This is a great way to provide value while also having fans receive a bunch of your merch. To make it even better, you can put items on sale or provide discount codes. Both of those features are built into our commission-free Store.

[The Ultimate Guide to Selling Band Merch Online]

Photos

In a selfie generation it’s important to show your face whenever you can. People remember what they see often so keep snappin’ those photos. As you post to social media you can also add them to your site with our Instagram feature. This grid layout shows your fun side and brings you closer to your fans.

In addition to your candid shots, it’s important to have professional photos taken as well. You can use these for things like your header image, promo photos and media articles.

Ohio rapper, Shawn Bandz, has a great gallery of images on his photos page. Adding a variety of photos keeps fans interested in seeing what he’s gonna upload next.

You can display your photos in a gridview, tiled view, or even a slideshow. Your followers love to see performance shots, promo pics and even candids taken with fans.

Video

Photos are nice but videos are twice as nice. This is a great way for long distance fans to see you in action when they’re unable to see you in concert.

Eva Rhymes has some awesome videos on her site.

Not only does she stream music videos, but also a web series as well. Video is a great medium because it makes you come to life for the viewer. It’s a great way for them to relate to you on a more personal level.

[How to Create a Great Videos Page on your Band Website]

EPK

To bring it all together it’s a good idea to add an electronic press kit (EPK) page. As you know, industry professionals are inundated with musicians wanting to be ‘checked out’. They have such a limited amount of time, so make it easy for them to check you out quickly.

To get an idea of an EPK layout let’s take a look at a nice one from Noetic J.

Here you’ll see he starts with a short but detailed biography. From there he adds some hi-resolution images, a song, a video, press links, and a contact form. This is the right amount of information so industry pros can learn about him and his music. It’s also great for media pros who can use the content to feature him in articles or blog posts.

[The 8 things that should be in every band's digital press kit]

So there you have it. A good look into the stylings of successful rapper websites. Now it’s your turn to create your own! Need just a little more design inspiration? Check out our website examples page and the beautiful website templates category of our blog. We’ve got you covered!

But if you need a bit more guidance, check out our free online guide How to make a website for your music.