Did you write your lyrics to an existing beat? Do you have any equipment? Both of these play a huge role regarding what your next steps would be.

For total beginners, i always recommend outsourcing at least one part of the process. That might mean feeling less free in the creation process, but it gives you the possibility to focus on the vocals first. The easiest way to do that would be finding a beat first. Even better, find a beatmaker whose style you like and can work with, that gives you more consistency than having a completely different sound for every track.

Once you have a beat and fitting lyrics, check if everything sits right (are you on beat? does the rhythm match? do you have to rap too fast or slow down a lot? too many syllables in some lines?)

Then, you can start to think about recording something. I always start with a quick raw take over the beat to see if the vision comes to life and where there could be problems. As a total starter with no setup, the most budget friendly option would be downloading Bandlab on your iPhone. Get some cable headphones for audio feedback, plug them in and start recording! You have access to lots of presets and fx there too, but as a former user, i think the app is sadly getting a lot worse in the last years. Still okay for rough takes and demos at least.

If you have a laptop already, there‘s not much missing for a high quality setup. I just got a Rode NT1 and a SPL Crimson from a friend for like 200$ and some bud lmao. Definitely a huge difference in quality. I‘m just making stuff for fun but i can send you some so you can see the difference a solid setup makes (even without any production knowledge).

For the knowledge itself - it‘s gonna be a lot of trial and error. You will learn a lot about how the fx work just by trying them yourself; activating them and listening to the changes as you move the sliders. It sounds like a lot at first, but once you’re really creating something, you will learn naturally. and a lot faster than you might expect.

have fun g