Is hip-hop haunted by ghostwriters?
September 12, 2008 by T C
No talib would not spit someone else’s lyrics, he writes his the same night he spits…not too many who can do that out there and sound as dope as he does…. “Kanye West’s Jesus Walks was co-written with rapper Rhymefest and was inspired by the ARC Choir (Addicts Rehabilitation Center) track.
Undoubtedly inspired by Roland Barthes’ seminal paper The Death of the Author, Sean Diddy Combs’ reflects succinctly on the relationship of the rapper to his craft, on his 2001 hit Bad Boy 4 Life:
We still here, you rockin with the best / Don’t worry if I write rhymes, I write cheques
For Diddy, creating music is a straightforward process - pay the best writers and producers to collaborate, rap someone else’s words with mild competence, and before you know it you’ll have a hit record. But is it right for rappers to have their lyrics written for them?
