The GhostWriting Controversy in Hip-Hop

I'ts crazy how artists can come up with the catchiest lyrics or the most mind boggling wordplay to the point where when you hear it, you just sit there and think to yourself "How did they come up with that?" Well, there is a chance they didn't. It's called ghostwriting, being payed to write a song, book, paper, or other text that is credited to someone else. Ghostwriting is highly criticized in the Hip-Hop/Rap world. A lot of popular singers. such as Justin Bieber, Beyonce, and even Michael Jackson, have actually written very little or even none of the lyrics in some of their songs. So the question is, why is it criticized in Hip-Hop? MC Guru shared his thought on the topic saying, “It’s mostly the voice. Vocal tone and flow are all part of the thrill that a great hip-hop song delivers. For some reason, rap carries an extra burden. The unspoken promise that what the artist said really happened to them is what separates the genre from any other."

Dr. Dre has used ghostwriters for classic songs such as 'Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang', and 'Still D.R.E.'. I think that it's widely believed that a lot of rap songs talk about street life, hardships, and stories that the artist has been through. The use of a ghost writer completely discredits that and tells everyone that the lyrics aren't real. And once a ghostwriter's aid is proven then it's the 'boy who cried wolf' effect and now the listeners can't be sure that the artist really wrote what they say they do. For some artist's this is a bad image for them and they decline any accusations. It's often taken to offense when an artist is pointed at for using a ghostwriter, leading to twitter fights and diss tracks. A very well known and recent example of this is the fight between artists Meek Mill and Drake. Meek Mill went to twitter to say "Stop comparing drake to me too.... He don't write his own raps! That's why he ain't tweet my album because we found out!", Claiming Drake didn't write his verse on Meek Mill's song 'R.I.C.O.'
This lead to chaos on social media and pop culture news in general. Drake responded with two songs aimed at the Philadelphia rapper and picked up a lot praise. Meek Mill did come back with a response of his own, but Drake seemed to win the internet as Meek Mill quickly became face of many memes and jokes on social media. Not all, however, have declined accusations; but instead admitted to it shamelessly. Highly successful artist P. Diddy said, “I guess I’m blessed with the opportunity, like a singer, that can work with other songwriters. In rap it hasn’t necessarily been cool, but I think that's my own allegiance to the song. If somebody could help me make the song better, I don’t really care what other people think. I know I co-wrote more than half of my album, which is the most I’ve ever written in my life.”
He even goes on song to say "Don't worry if I write rhymes, I write checks,"
P. Diddy makes a good point, saying he doesn't care how, as long as the product is good. Maybe artist's should see P. Diddy's side and just strive to make the best content possible no matter what anyone says. After all, if the song is good enough people will listen to it no matter how much said artist wrote of it. At the end of the day they're getting paid. Maybe the artist doesn't care about a reputation for lyricism and song writing and just wants to produce great sounding music. As long as they properly pay the co-writers is there really a problem after all?

Sources

http://www.complex.com/music/2012/08/the-nas-controversy-and-why-rappers-are-afraid-of-ghostwriters

https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2015/09/22/phantom-rappers-inside-the-business-of-ghostwriting/

http://www.factmag.com/2014/01/20/ghostwritten-hip-hop-tracks-ghostwriters-behind-them/