The Canadian National Newspaper: Does Ghostwriting Hurt Hip-Hop?

“Don’t worry if I write rhymes, I write checks!” P. Diddy, Bad Boy for Life (2002)

I was kinda bugged when I recently found out that Rhymefest wrote most (if not all) of Kayne’s banger, “Jesus Walks”… But not as bugged as when I found out that everyone’s favourite street disciple ghostwrote a couple joints on Mr. Smith’s Big Willie Style a while back. To me, there’s something almost Milli Vanilli-ish about an emcee using a ghostwriter. It’s sorta like a chef hiring a cook or a porn star using a body-double and lying about it. But the more I look back, the more I have to accept the fact that ghostwriting’s really nothing new.

Big Daddy wrote for the diabolical one, among others. You could probably field a West Coast all-star squad with the folks who’ve written the Good Doctor’s rhymes. Run-DMC wrote most of License to Ill. Kriss Kross and L’il Bow Wow came live and direct from Jermaine Dupri’s pen, which probably means Da Brat’s filled up a notebook (or two) for hire. Every rhyme slinger from DOC to Eminem to Scarface to MC Ren to Ice Cube to B.I.G. and Melle Mel have put their share of words in many an emcee’s mouth. Most heads know about V.A.’s prolific gun-for-hire Skillz. And of course, back on Vol. 2, Mr. (S dot) Cater himself, told y’all what he’d do for the right price. Come to think of it, T.O.N.E. ghostwrote half of his older brother (the legendary T-La-Rock)’s album, while most of Rapper’s Delight came straight outta Grandmaster Caz’s notebook. (Okay, so that last one was more of a jack-move, but you get my point.) But track records and tradition aside, the question remains:

Consider: For all its realness and down-to-earthiness, no one’s ever really expected the typical country singer to write all their own songs. I mean, it’s just understood that some folks can sing, some can write and while it’s nice to be good at both, you don’t have to do both in order to be accepted as authentically “country.” No one expects the pop singer to write all their own lyrics. (God knows Britney Spears, Lindsey Lohan, Ashlee Simpson, Blink 182, Madonna, etc. didn’t get signed for their lyrical gifts.) And to be fair, no one ever accused Whitney Houston, Anita Baker, Luther Vandross, even Mary J. Blige of writing all their own songs. Elvis didn’t write much of anything he sang. And if you’ve ever sat thru a symphony or an opera, you know that most classical music comes courtesy of long-dead and gone composers. In the end ghostwriters of one kind or another have been part of every genre from jump. And no matter who supplies the words, we love the voice and the genre, just so long as the music is good.

For as long as I can remember there was always an unwritten rule that hip-hop was our chance to finally speak for ourselves. We were going to finally answer Marvin Gaye’s classic question knowing good ‘n’ well that what was really going on wasn’t always gon’ be pretty or PC. We weren’t going to hide behind the often self-indulgent bougie intellectualism of Jazz; we weren’t going to settle for the white-guilt sponsored pity party that Blues had become. We weren’t going wade thru the whitewashed machismo-over-talent that rock ‘n’ roll had been beaten into. And we weren’t gonna accept the commoditized blaxploitative-lovaman/sistah-girl BS that so much of R&B and Soul had been reduced to. Nope. We were going to speak the unspeakable, say the unsayable. We were going to give it to you raw and uncut; and most importantly, in our own words.

But what happens when those words are from a crew of hired writers? What happens when the blood you’re bleeding is from someone else’s vein? How “real” can you be when you’re a slave to pages from someone else’s rhyme book? How can you be a 5 mic emcee when your own words aren’t even good enough for you? My gut tells me that you can’t and ghostwriting will be a huge part of hip-hop’s undoing one day.

But then again, how many classic hip-hop albums and songs would we have to go back and throw out if we “banned” ghostwriting? How many dope lyricists would be out of work if they weren’t allowed to write for others? Conversely, how many Frankenstein-ish label creations would we have been spared if lyrical ability outweighed the pop-friendly imagery and marketing schemes that make industry tricknology like ghostwriting necessary? And what does this say about the future of the craft if emcees have to outsource their lyrical duties just to rise to the top of the charts? Yep, this liquid sword is definitely double-edged.

And maybe I’m the wrong person to be asking these questions. (After all, for us non-writers and authors, the question is moot—you either write your own stuff or it’s plagiarism and your career’s a wrap.) Maybe this is a question best left to label execs, artists, Deejays and such. This all reminds me of an old business saying: “You never want to know how sausage is made.” Hiphop’s becoming the same way… Industry Politricks, A & R schemes, ghostwriting, ProTools over musicianship, over-dubbing over real singing… it’s all become one big fastfood chain. And all these McArtists care about is how many plaques and spins they can get.

But like the other genres, maybe BDS, TRL rankings and Billboard/TicketMaster tallies are all that really matter. And as long as the end product tastes good, maybe we should all just keep quiet and buy what we like, no matter who makes it or how it gets made. Maybe the customer really is always right and we should just let the marketplace decide what’s good for hip-hop/urban music and what isn’t. But then again…

Editor's Note: Hadji Williams is author of the new book, KNOCK THE HUSTLE: HOW TO SAVE YOUR JOB AND YOUR LIFE FROM CORPORATE AMERICA, hip-hop’s first success guide for business, culture and life. Email him: LINK. Get free excerpts, order info, etc. LINK.

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