Hip Hop in 2015 is a smorgasbord of options and a shortening of attention spans. Is Lupe Fiasco correct and the pressure to pump out hits almost necessitates the hive-mind song formula? Or are Hip Hop purists closer to the culture in terms of claiming that the emcee must be a lone gunman, six-shooter at the hip and nothing but their genius to carry them. This, in fact, may not be just a Hip Hop problem, but a “black” art problem in general. If we’d found out that Basquiat was getting help from Fab Five Freddy or Andy Warhol, would his legacy be as airtight as it is? Or would we relegate him to the pile of mediocrity for simply bouncing ideas? The list goes on and on in the world of “black” art. Coltrane, Davis, Coleman, Jay Z, Biggie, Tupac, Nas, Eminem and more, so much more. The idea of the singular genius may just be too much for us to bear.
But this thing is a business. And in a business you collaborate. You take the best idea, not just the individual one. There are so many people involved in the creative process that wasn’t it all the while absurd to believe that folks were spinning tales gleaned from their minds and their minds alone. I mean, wasn’t it? Isn’t it more reasonable to believe that the people in the room sharing their creative spaces had something to do with the end product in some way? Yet we hold on to the Dream of the kid in their room somewhere cobbling away. It resembles most acutely the lonely writer tap-tap-tapping at their keyboard with all their thoughts coming from some deep wellspring of creativity within them.
And consider the current state of things. We are all a hive mind. How many of our thoughts are truly our own in the age of Facebook and Twitter and Instagram and Tumblr? How much of our wit, of the things that make us shiny to others, are lifted expressions we catch wriggling out of the zeitgeist? In this collectivist age of viral videos and expressions, of ghastly shootings being shared endlessly, of everyone voyeuristically peering out from behind the virtual curtain why should it surprise us that a Hip Hop and pop star like Drake has “reference” tracks that are so detailed it makes you say, “Aubrey, really?” Everyone loves to take shots at the throne, and how many verses have Drake written for others? How many whole songs has he constructed for other people and you and I will never know? It is the state of things.
I had a conversation with a friend of mine and I asked her, glibly, fat with the glee of controversy, “So he’s a pop star now, right?” The phone lay there for a while without an answer as I was, again, on the scroll, jumping between Insta and Twitter when the thing buzzed. I looked down and she answered, “He’s Aubrey.” I didn’t answer. We’re so close to them (artists) now that the days of Lester Bangs saying, “artists are not your friends” are just so far gone. We obsessively follow them on everything, and anything they do is insanely fascinating. Though not fascinating for too long.
To be honest, how many of amazing albums this year have come and gone? Here we are, on to the next, and where is Kendrick’s masterpiece or Lupe’s or A$AP’s great commercial record or Joey Bada$$’s independent win or Oddisee’s grown-up brilliance or Future’s hazy purple glow? All of these albums have come and gone, somehow. And just like the light they give off in the acerbic, sarcastic dark of the Internet dims almost immediately, so will this. And I’m not saying that not writing your own rhymes is cool. But, look at yourself in the mirror and ask if you wouldn’t switch places with him right this second. And ask yourself why we aren’t so deafened by what could arguably be the best Hip Hop year of the decade so far to really throw rocks at Drake’s glass house. Again, I, too, am part of the contingency that believes in the lone genius, and I won’t stop believing. But this is not plagiarism, not exactly. And that’s something we need to all just accept.
Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
Would people be really that devastated if Drake had a ghost writer? I mean Lil Wayne is lauded as the GOAT for this new generation, and Gillie wrote a lot of his stuff back in the early-mid 2000s. So what’s the problem with Drake having a ghost writer if Wayne can?
Truer were have never been spoken… I remember Gillie
lil wayne got roasted for that gillie shit tho
If it’s good enough for Jay Z then it should be good enough for Drake
quit comparing aubrey to jay…”s.carter ghostwriter and for the right price I’ll make your shit tighter, I’ll roast niggas like u” jay is alot of writers ghostwriter and singers. facts only
All you need to do is pull a liner note and read the credits to any of Jay Z’s albums to see that he uses the same credited “ghostwriters” like Drake.
FACTS ONLY, though
Rico cat crazy I got all his cds, foh. jay one of the “realest” to ever do it. one of the few who writes about facts and the lifestyle he really lived. drake actually raps like a singer, who by the way have most of their songs written. jay don’t even write rhymes homes. “one take hov”. if jay haf ghostwriters his legacy would be tarnished fool. smh. jay even ghostwriters for singers and for the right price he’d make Aubrey shit tighter. lol
I’m not a biter, I’m a writer for myself and others,” aubrey soft ass paying dude 5k per week to write. facts only. #dropsmic
It’s 5k a month, which is pretty much nothing, if you wrote something on a hit song.
You can’t even get Lil’ Jon on a track to say “Yeah” on a track for that kind of money
the article is fine but the whole arguement is absurd, becuase dude had a writer for a couple tracks doesnt mean he doesnt write his own lyrics. even the 10 bands joint that flex is playing has similarity but its not the whole song. people need to chill,
meek is hating….cuz he knows that everyone knows that without Drake & Nicki = no career
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Anyone who is truly a Hip-Hop already knew Drake was a gimmick. No one but the softest of individuals or youngest of fans are surprised by this revelation. This site and others will try and put a spin on it but it wont work or maybe it will. Regardless they wont be able to ever say he is this generations Best. If you do, it would water down the music even more. LoL I’m glade this shit came out.
That he has credited writers on his tracks like Jay Z?
The scandal!
If you’re going to walk around claiming you’re the best and how you run shit, how are you gonna have lyrics that are not your own? Bouncing ideas is one thing. Nothing wrong with brainstorming and coming up with ideas. But, as a Hip-Hop artist whose main focus is lyrics, you take those ideas and –>you
(Continued comment) …write lyrics from them. If you are considered dope, or even one of the best, before its found out that other people write for you, because of your lyrics, you lose credibility when its found out that you didn’t even write them yourself. Again, ideas are one thing. Song format, concept, etc., those things are fine to get from other people. When it comes to the actual words though, if you rap and are trying to be that dude because of the lyrics, they should be coming from your own brain. If that means that you end up not being considered one of the best, then that’s just what it is. Don’t fabricate it though. If you gone talk that shit, be about it too.
How many times have Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg referred to themselves as the best and talked about how they run shit, on songs they didn’t write at all?
I don’t know why don’t you just Jay Z about it and his credited writers.
What a shitty era of hip hop/ rap where it’s accepted that you don’t write your own lyrics.
Huh? Puffy, Dre and Snoop have been doing this since the early 90’s.
This is nothin new brotha…
Meek said “Drake don’t write his own rhymes” he didn’t say that Drake got the concept of a song from someone else. Honestly, the creative process is one thing entirely isolated from the rhymes. Someone can give me a concept, but I run with it. “Im not a biter, Im a writer for myself and others, I say a Big verse, Im Only Bigging up my Brother” …..
every other genre does it. its about time rap comes along. please for the love of god dont tell me authenticity as you bump your rick ross cd.
Rap is not like every other genre. Yes, other legendary rappers have had ghostwriters (e.g., Snoop Dogg), but, they all let the listeners know beforehand.
Shit, Chuck D let Paris write a whole album for him. But, guess what? We all knew before the albums release.
Jay-Z had ghostwriters lmao and He is one of the GOATS of Rap. Many Rap Gods have had a ghostwriter or have recreated old hits to make newer ones. How is running with a concept of another song or a reference any different? This does not hinder Drakes success at all. Meek like countless of other rappers that unreasonably dislike Drake; fail to understand that hes only doing what many rappers before him.
Who ghostwrote for Jay? What song? What verse? Please let us know.
Bleek wrote some of his shit, that’s why he said he’d take care of Bleek for life.
You mean what songs that Jay had credited writers on it like Drake?
Encore, 99 problems, Can’t knock the Hustle….
Where the fuck did it come from that Jay-Z had ghost writers, nobody ever said no shit like that, all of you young Aubry fans trying to justify that bull, but it’d never been said that J has ghost writers, in fact he use to ghost write for others, he wrote Dre’s song Still Dre off the Chronic 2001
Jay Z has credited writers just like Drake. Look up his liner notes on all his albums and all his songs.
So it’s okay to be a ghostwriter but it’s a sin to have a ghostwriter? Lol. Am I the only one who sees a flaw with this argument? Anyway, I still maintain it’s not ghostwriting if a nigga’s credited. A ghost is something we cannot see.
Nobody had ever said J used a ghost writer little stupid Aubry fans, in fact J use to ghost write for others
See, the thing is you can’t be a ghostwriter, if you’re credited on the song. Jay Z uses a ton of credited writers like Drake.
As another person of colour I understand what some are saying about rap is an art form from the rapper. Is this not the same as just another writer? 90% of all music artists don’t write their own material Just as a rapper who thinks up his rhythm from personal experience when the writer of a love song writes his heartache, the words coming out are from him his inner most being. Now, ijf he lets someone else sing it does it make the song a fake? Does it mean the singer is a fake because those aren’t his real emotions…or could they be, but he just think of them first or maybe he doesn’t know how to formulate sentences…we do not know what the reasoning is. I find this argument of a rapper has to write his own stuff a little far fetched…if we followed that logic…as I said….90% of the industry would be known as fake and that wuoldn’t be good for anyone.
This is the problem today and why music is watered down trash these days… You lames making excuses and giving passes to people that have no talent. He’s called himself the best and as thrown shots at rappers….. The standards are already low and now you want to give passes to dudes that openly call themselves the best and throw shots at other rappers but don’t have to the skill to write their own songs…
There is a lot more talent that goes into singing than rapping + Rap traditionally is the art of self-expression. Ghostwriting is a sin when it comes to Hip-Hop.
I don’t mind if Drake didn’t write Find your love or Hold on, we’re going home. But when he raps, it’s the whole different story.
Now we all know who Kendrick is talking about on King Kunta…..Most of y’all sharin bars like you got the bottom bunk in a two man cell!!!
Hip Hop is being watered the fuck down. Sites like this and dumb ass fans comparing this art to singing and acting are contributing in a major way.
Hip Hop ain’t like RnB for starters. Some writers can write but they can’t sing like the best of them. They don’t have the powerful voice or vocal range for it. In a singing competitions, an unknown artists usually sings a cover off a well known song and can signed off the back off that. With Hip Hop, no aspiring rapper is getting signed trying to do a cover of Juicy or Big Pimping. Imagine that shit! Has this what it’s come to? Are we really pushing ‘swag’ ahead the actual writing process?
y’all actin like drake aint never written anything in life -__- haha stop trippin.
I really don’t motherfuckeing care if drake has a ghost writter, officer Ricky ghost wrote for a Legend DR Dre. There were rumor saying Lloyd banks wrote In Da Club. detail ghost Wrote Drunk in Love + Ty $ ghost wrote Loyal. yung Berh Ghost wrote many in this fuckin industry. But i don’t give a coin fuck, as long as they sound good and the music is great.. meek is fuckin Jealous.and he’l never win a fuckin Grammy. Drake got grammies. + meek will never sell like drake did. Get over it.. iT DOESN’T MATTER WHO WROTE, IT MATTERS WHO MADE THE LIRYC SOUND GREAT….
First of all dre has never been considered a rapper..producer always who jumped out and rapped to have his face out there while he produced the tracks..jay wrote his verse on still dre don’t know if he got songwriting credit or he just paid him and left him off the songwriting credit publishing which I doubt. Beyoncé is a singer many have written songs for her.. In the art of rap an emcee is defined by his pen game..it ain’t like singing where you have a beautiful voice an can hit a range of octaves but don’t have the writing creativity to make a tune..emcees need to write their verses..hooks ok u can use assistance but if you’re straight rapping someone else’s verse? You cannot claim to be an emcee or even say your the best now lol
It’s people out there thaybwrotr all theybown shit and are authentic. Could all this fakery be why sales are at an all time low? An emcee is defined by his pen game. that’s how you claim to be the best. If you not writing you not an emcee, you’re an entertainer. Youre entertaining, bit you will never be respected by the culture or your peers. Like taking roids in sports. Its a penalty and black mark on your record.