Phife Dawg recently hosted Red Bull BC One’s North American Finals for breaking and among being a part of promoting a thinning element of Hip Hop, he spoke about a few more recent topics.
Recently sitting down with with HipHopDX Senior Features Writer Ural Garrett, the Tribe Called Quest member says a rapper cannot claim to be the greatest if they use a ghostwriter.
“If you have a ghostwriter, you can’t claim king,” Phife Dawg said via a segment of today’s (September 8) DX Daily. “You’re just an extra spitting verses if you have a ghostwriter and there’s nothing wrong with that. But keep it 100, own your truth.”
The discussion was sparked from general Hip Hop’s back-and-fourth over the use of ghostwriters after it was discovered that Drake used a ghostwriter for numerous songs he recently released.
Red Bull BC One held it’s breaking competition North American Finals a few weeks ago in Orlando. The event is one of the biggest in B-boying/B-girling culture that remains.
Watch the full DX Daily segment below:
“drake uses a ghostwriter”…please..credited collaborator who put down a couple verses? respect phife dawg but the article assumes drake has a ghostwriter. aint no proof of that. all we have is reference tracks with a couple bars and hooks…that would put jay-z, ghostface and nas out of contention…
So where are the Jay-Z, Ghost and Nas reference tracks at?
Dont compare jayz, nas etc to someone that has used a ghostwriter to write lines for him but if you are from the other era would of known that already…
I agree with madeness
Yeah it ain’t no proof but you told us the truth. The truth is the reference track. Ain’t no proof tho!!
Ok, I’ll go with the Ghostface having a ghostwriter. But your reaching with that Nas and Jay shit, and I’m not a Jay fan at all but he does not have a ghostwriter. Jay Electronica did a reference track for Nas’ Queens Get The Money and Nas didn’t use not one, not one of Jay Electronica’s bars on his version. Now, Drake used dudes 10-12 bars, flow and hook, etc… That’s not cool
Also, Drake used Quentin Millers flows and bars on multiple songs, so stop man. You sound crazy.
GTFO Ghostface ain’t never used no Ghost writer. Dudes be running with any rumor they read now a days. Cats will be in the studio with an artist and swear the wrote something. Drake actually got fully finished reference tracks. That dude is a fraud.
yall is crazy…10-12 bars in the reference track? where? the most damning is 10 bands and thats part of the hook and a verse..big deal. “Used To” was a hook – thats it. RICO was 4 bars and a hook …big deal. “Know Yourself” is a hook and singing. The reference tracks were far from complete songs. Nas had collaborators for Untitled. Its well-documented and dead prez said they wrote bars. Also, Large P edited his raps on Illmatic. Also, well-documented. saying Drake has a ghostwriter is an exagerration. Collaborators, sure. everyone does in hiphop – all through history. Jay-z’ s 99 Problems is a cover Of an Ice-t song. so what? taking a bar here and there is not a big deal. Im confident Drake writes 80-90% of his shit. The reference tracks (even if u believe those are “references” written by Quentin) is only 20% of the track at MOST. quentin miller himself denies he is ghostwriter while Meek Mill has multiple credited cats claiming to have written for him.
Drake is definitely a king. He’s set to perform the theme song for the new james bond film, spectre
Drake will never be a king. And he’s not gonna perform the theme song for Spectre, Sam Smith is. Get your info right.
Sam is writing a track inspired by spectre but unlike drakes ,won’t appear in the film itself.
Are you brain dead? Sam Smith is doing the theme song for Spectre. Drake has nothing to do with the film at all.
Drake is not a king.. He’s wack. He definitely doesn’t write a lot of his bars. But honestly even if he did write his shit, he’d still be wack. Hes a star in hiphops weakest era. I mean technically Iggy is a big star. That’s how wack the talent pool is. Just my opinion tho
Lmfaoooooo Drake fans STILL in denial over this shit LMFAOOOOOOOOOO.
He is correct if someone wrote a rap for you it not yours the most of the money the makes goes to wrote it a small percentage goes to who performed it different genre but the reference ill use is whitney ill always love you she got broke off but dolly gets most of that jay z has had people write raps for his albums but he claimed to be king sorry not so sid puff sorry stop lil greasy ( weasy) is wack he claims king really everybody wants to be king stop playing hop scotch and jumping to 10 .
One thing for sure is, drake and kanye can never ever be mentioned in any TOP TEN MC/rapper list since they dont write their songs. I always wondered why that white boy from Canada sounds like a southern blkdude from Houston. Well, I went too far south, its bc of Quentin Miller, from Atlanta. Now it all makes sense
This isn’t a debate people, if someone writes your shit your not king. True fans don’t accept ghostwriters. What would people say if we found out Stephen King didn’t write those books or that Leonardo da Vinci did paint shit, they would be stripped of their status. That’s what should happen to an MC.
I claim king in my tracks (THAT I WRITE) but I’m unknown so really it’s not about being a real king it’s about how you perceive what a king is. If you love hip hop you write it all of the time. IF you just want money from it you’ll use a ghost. Drake and other rappers that use ghost writers aren’t committed to their craft. A label will provide tours but that is a machine. no emotion no genuine connection. Just getting on a bus and plane to gather money for preforming. It’s a job not meant for everyone but it’s not hard. Being a rapper should be for the person that has the talent to control every aspect of their career. Never relying on another man to eat. hip hop is a selfish love.
This new generation has watered down the game so much that anything goes now along with dudes wearing dresses , dudes calling dudes boo , and rappers piggybacking off of other rappers styles then got the nerve to say they do it better than them !!
I love all these rap stars!
Eazy-E was an extra?
Eazy-E was more of a character than a rapper
Yes, Easy E was an extra on his own album (written by ice cube, The DOC, and Mc Ren)
all he’s saying is you can’t be in the barber shop conversation of who’s the illest but your music can still be dope. he’s a 100% right
That’s all i know , you can’t claim king wit a GHOSTWRITER !!!