Is Writing Really That Important
Originally posted 6/15/09 on Gyantunplugged.com
Ever since the beginning of hip-hop there has been this big issue with artists writing their rhymes. I personally don’t think it’s such a big deal whether someone writes their rhymes or not but some people take it real personal, in fact they feel some type of way FOR REAL!!
To me the problem is when someone lies and says they write their own rhymes when they have ghostwriters, etc. What is widely considered the 1st hip hop song ever, “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang was in fact written by a friend of mines Grandmaster Caz and he’s not on the song, nor in the group. “Rapper’s Delight” went on to sell a reported 8 millions copies, now that’s some shit, unfortunately Caz never received any royalties for writing the song. I don’t know who wrote the songs after that but i do know that the Sugarhill Gang never topped the charts again, maybe they should’ve paid Caz to write some more songs…
I’ve overheard heated arguments about someone being wack or not official because they ain’t writing their rhymes, maybe everybody can’t write? I know for a fact everybody can’t rhyme ‘cus my pen game is ridiculous but I have absolutely no flow. I can’t even count bars. I wrote rhymes that Rakim was like, “who wrote that for you?” and when I told him me he couldn’t believe it, so what’s wrong with a person knowing and playing their position?
In rap it’s common practice to assume female rappers aren’t writing their rhymes and aside from Mia X, Brat, Shawnna, Gangsta Boo and maybe Foxy (there’s been wide speculation about Jay-Z writing her stuff) they probably aren’t. But honestly who cares? I know that back in the day Kim and Foxy had that shit on lock. One of the best verses I’ve ever heard to this day from a female was Foxy on the “I Shot You Remix” (who can forget, “I’m sexn raw dog disease infested” WTF!!!!, she murdered that shit with all them dudes on it!) And even though Big laid all the reference tracks for Kim’s songs then she re-recorded them did that make her any less of a good performer at that time? Hell no, that’s the Queen Bee, I wish she’d find another ghostwriter and bring Kim Jones back, cus’ this barbie shit is killing me (she was such a cute girl).
I think it takes a confident artist to be able to ask for, accept and record another person’s lyrics. Singers do it all the time and they aren’t criticized for it. As far as I know Whitney hasn’t written any of her songs and she’s one of the best and biggest that’s ever done it; and who’s going to be dumb enough to call Whitney wack or say she can’t sing (BC of course, get it before crack)? And if that’s the case then how can you say so and so is wack cus’ he/she didn’t write their rap but they delivered that mothaf*cka so crazy?
How about Snoop, we all know he can write but then he had writers on The Blue Carpet Treatment album, who gonna’ say Snoop is wack? Do writers ever run out of material or topics? Ever heard of writers block? After seven albums in Snoop’s case I think it shows growth, maturity as an artist and a conscious feeling of responsibility to his fans to provide good music to enlist others to help with his album and some say that album was one of his best. I love him for that shit.
D.O.C has been ghostwriting for people at Death Row since before his accident, he wrote most of The Chronic which is hailed as one of the top 10 hip-hop albums ever. Is Dr. Dre wack cus’ he didn’t write the verses, he delivered them proper, cadence and everything was on point. Wyclef, Tip and plenty of others have ghostwritten for people and continue to do so…
Moral of this story…it’s not that serious, this is entertainment and these people are entertainers. If you can write, write, if you can’t find someone who can, only thing I ask is for good music.
K.I.M
