‘…For the right price, I can even make yo’ shit tighter…’ – An article by SVNTY6

The first time ghostwriting came to my consciousness, the first time it really dawned on me that the lyrics I heard were not from the mind of the performer but from another artist, was in 1993. ‘Mecca and The Soul Brother’, by Pete Rock and CL Smooth had been banging around in my Walkman for a year (My super thin Sony Walkman, with C90 tape, holding a massive 22 songs – More on this in a future article). Pete’s beats and CL’s conscious stream of words mesmerised me. Moved me. What amazed me though, was the revelation that Pete’s rhymes were written by Grand Puba (Do your homework, yo). My first thoughts? – ‘How fucking clever to write somebody else’s rhymes!!’

Fast forward to last month – My Twitter feed, my Facebook timeline – all brimming with outrage and sneering that Drake/Meek Mill may not have written their own songs… And Meek had Tweeted about Drake, and Drake had performed live dissing Meek, and Meek had made the ‘worst diss track in history’ (Nothing will beat Tim Dog’s ‘Fuck Compton’)… All this in a world where 90% of the songs you hear on the radio are not written by the artist who you hear singing them (Where my Rihanna’s at!?). There were many perspectives, from fans of different ages and tastes – ‘Younger’ fans who relished the bombshell of Drake not writing his songs, and ‘older’ fans, who maintained their weathered indifference to this ‘shocking’ news. Personally, I don’t care who wrote the song. I care if it makes my head nod and makes me think – We do listen to the most creative and diverse music genre after all…

The songs we do love, the ones that are ingrained in our very being, you can bet they were ‘ghostwritten’… Prince wrote for the Bangles, Stevie Wonder wrote for Michael Jackson, Jesse J wrote for Miley Cyrus (Ahem)… And this includes Hip Hop. From way back. Rapper’s Delight was written by Grand Master Caz, Run DMC wrote for the Beastie Boys, Jay Z wrote for Dr. Dre (And Bugs Bunny) and Nas wrote for Will Smith. Twice.

Chuck D (of Public Enemy) quotes “We hold rappers to a different standard than pop singers, With hip-hop we want to have that personal connection. We want them to tell us how they feel.”  This I both do and don’t agree with. I’m from an era where ‘keeping it real’ was sacred. When all emcees would deliver stories and tales of their upbringing, the streets, relationships, violence, drug-running, parties. And I would believe every word. These tracks were like Hollywood movies for me – Some crazy dreamery that was happening 3000 miles away – And I could lose myself in the gritty realism and vivid imagery. Everybody from Ice Cube, to Cypress Hill, to BIG, to Redman, lived the life they spat on wax. And if they didn’t – They’d get called the fuck out.
But, like I said before, here is the disagree part – As Hip Hop is the most creative, diverse and lyrical genre, the talented wordsmiths out there can make a great living and a great impact by penning hits for others – We love Pharoahe Monch, right? But he will never be as big as Puff. But if he can ghostwrite for Puff, and make that difference, good! Nas… He can write for Will Smith. Good! (In fact, Puff didn’t even write his own eulogy hit ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ – Sauce Money did. Because Sauce could detail the emotion better – It’s fine – I’ve helped with Best Man wedding speeches before, and I’m not even marrying the Bride). It’s a clear talent to write your own lyrics. It’s a different value of talent to write for another emcee.

I don’t recall anybody mentioning that Drake had ghostwritten for many other artists – including number one singles – and I don’t recall anybody appreciating the skill of writing for another person’s style, persona or fanbase (I repeat, Nas wrote ‘Getting Jiggy With It’).
An extreme, cross-gender example, if you will, is the leaked version of Lil’ Kim’s ‘Queen Bitch’ reference track, which is written, and rapped by Biggie. (And I guarantee you can’t imagine BIG talking about getting his ‘pussy ate’? Well, he does).

As can be appreciated, the list of ghostwritten Hip Hop tracks is long. And like the art of sampling and keeping the sample secret, the ghostwriter prefers to remain anonymous. They respect the integrity of the main artist, the craft of writing and the value of good music (Until they don’t get paid and Skillz calls the rapper out on wax! – Do your homework again…).
Our favourite independent artist, they have the time and the scope to craft their words and express themselves creatively. Our favourite mainstream artist, they have deadlines, guidance, expectations and huge record label funded budgets to adhere to… Who would blame them for using a team of producers and songwriters to help support them, hit after hit, after hit, on the radio. I’m sure that if Drake, and Meek and A.N.Other Big Rapper were to practice the independent route, they would not be as big as they are.

We all like mixtapes, right? Good. The mixtape is the one thing that allows our favourite mainstream rapper to flex their own creativeness and provide music for ‘the streets’. They can use the beats they want, write the lyrics they want, create the beef and controversy they want, because they can’t on their big label releases. Well, they can on their Twitter accounts, but even then I’m sceptical – these social accounts are monitored and organised too…

Listen (read), back to the topic – Ghostwriting is fine. It is. Aesop Rock and B. Dolan are not going to be helping the boys and girls get wavy in the clubs. That’s fine. They don’t want to. The Hip Hop genre is broad and expansive enough for those lyrical guys to flex for their own audience. Drake, Dre, Nicki, Wiz, Fetty, Flo… they do their thing and people love it. It’s harmless. It’s fun. It’s something to dance to. (Except Iggy… She can fuck straight off).

Do TV comedians write their own jokes? Do film actors write their own lines? Who cares if it’s funny or heartbreaking and we’re entertained?

Enjoy what you enjoy. Hip Hop is here to stay and it’s universally, fantastically, eclectically available to all. I’m confident that there is more ghostwriting than you imagine, and it’s here to stay. In fact, I probably didn’t even write this.

 

– SVNTY6