>Plus collaborate with as many people as possible
>freestyle as much as possible
>and on the flipside spend time silent

To continue off of what he said above ^

See, I hear some people sometimes, and they say, "Oh, she can rhyme AND sing, She gon' be the next Lauryn Hill." Pisses me off! Just cos she's a she, she can rhyme and sing, all o' a sudden, she's the next Lauryn Hill? Fuck naw!!!

See, what makes Lauryn Hill, Lauryn Hill is not cos she can sing and rap. What makes L. Hill, L. Hill IS L. Hill, ya dig? It's who she is that makes her Lauryn Hill. She could be an architect and she will still be Lauryn Hill. She could be a stripper (LOL - why I gotta take it there?) and she will still be Lauryn Hill. Lauryn Hill is Lauryn Hill cos's she's the shit. Full stop.

What's this got to do with you? Well, basically, the more you experience, the better and more deeper you can write.

In other words, you gotta be observant. And analytical, as a person. That means that the books you read, help make you a deeper writer.

Then at the end of the day, you gotta give YOUR voice to YOUR thoughts. Like, the way that you say A will be different from the way that Biggie would say the same A.

Like, cat's might be saying "eat a dick, eat a dick," and you roll up into the joint and scream, "eat a ... fuck!" And silence follows.

Point is, "spend time silent" and find your thoughts. Doesn't particularly matter what the thoughts are per se. I mean it matters what your thoughts are, but you can make approximately anything sound good. Deep (i.e. thoughtful) lyrics don't have to be serious.

Then study any writers, whose writings you enjoy. These writers could be published, unpublished authors, bloggers, songwriters, people who don't write down their words, what-the-fuck-ever. The point is NOT to become these people, the point is just to try to figure out what makes them all that. Don't like the writer just cos other people like the writer. On that note, I just wanna say, fuck shakespeare anyday, gimmie Biggie always.

Be true to yourself.

That depth you want takes years to get to. Even 2Pac took a while. As in, even though he was being deep at 19, it was cos he was thinking those thoughts and observing his environment for a while (like since he was 11) -- there was an interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgA95WN7tX8&feature=related . But even as deep as Tupac was being at 19, on his first record, you can still tell he was 19.

Point is, open your mind, be analytical, etcetera.