What They Did To The Cold Crush Pt. 2
Pt. 2 of a long form examining of what ghostwriting and biting is, where it began, why hip-hop hates it so much, and who has most severely broken the Cardinal Rule.
Listed below from in ascending order is a large chunk of rappers who have either confirmed reports of using writers or people who have had so many rumors attached to their name that it seems assured.
Ice Cube
Writer: Del The Funky Homosapien
A heartbreaker out the gate. Despite Cube himself having a laundry list of people he’s written for (Dre, Eazy-E, Yo-Yo, Da Lench Mob) his cousin and Hieroglyphics member Del has admitted that Cube let him write some rhymes for him to get his foot in the door. The reason he doesn’t get an asterisk to his name? Because Del himself admitted Cube didn’t need it, but was doing him a solid writing a few hooks and verses. The catalog is too strong for me to let helping family in the door destroy his legacy, especially when his best work (for himself and others) was done before Del was old enough to leave the house alone.
Big Sean
Writer: Earlly Mac, SayItAintTone, Starrah
I, along with many people with ears, have suspected Big Sean penned a large chunk of Kanye’s Graduation, some of the groaners that lie at the end of punchlines can only come from one other man during that era, and Ludacris was off making “serious” music instead. Ye may have inspired Sean to tap his friends for help, because with a closer look longtime pal Earlly Mac can be seen in writing credits on Detroit 2. With his exact contributions being unknown and with Sean’s pen being unserious enough to break my heart, the idea of someone else in the mix doesn’t move me one bit.
Eve
Writer: Cassidy
The Philly connection runs strong, but the Dr. Dre school of writing camps runs stronger. Eve was known as The Pitbull In A Skirt for her cut throat rhyme style, one that she sharpened writing for Dre before she released her own solo album. Cassidy has admitted to writing “Got It All” by Eve, but little else has ever come out against Eve’s pen.
Nas
Writers: stic.man, Jay Electronica
Nas himself has written for the likes of Fat Joe, and Will Smith (not Fresh Prince) and has a Hall Of Fame solo catalog, but for one of the most adored rappers ever to commit the Cardinal Sin of cheating on verses should be common knowledge by now, right? The reason you don’t know about any of this is because it’s believed to be not true. “Queens Get The Money” is the crux of this whole idea, which is produced by Jay Elec and definitely has some cues from Jay’s own rhyme style. The content of the Untitled album as a whole aligns heavily with stic.man’s work in Dead Prez, but much like the Jay Elec rap style, is just a continuation of the groundwork Nas laid a decade prior. Nas said all this was fake, Jay Elec has said all this was fake, but Nas has pulled enough strange stunts in his career to which even something as heinous as this can’t be ruled out.
Future
Writer: Bobby Raps
The reigning King Of Atlanta had a reference track resurface recently showing fan favorite “Xanax Damage” was a song that was fully finished and recorded by the undergrounds chosen white boy Bobby Raps. The reference track frankly is as amazing as the version we know today, and further digging shows him hiding in plain sight on other Future songs such as “Lullaby” with Lil Uzi Vert, and “Astronauts” with Juice WRLD. Outside of “Xanax Damage” the proof of writing is nowhere to be seen on the other songs. The fact Bobby is a talented producer separate from being a songwriter casts doubt on whether it's his pen or musical composition that earned him credits here.
Nicki Minaj
Writers: Safaree, Lunch Money Lewis, Ester Dean, Madame Buttons, Max Martin, Starrah, Pop & Oak, SZA
As is commonplace with rappers reaching for Billboard success, pop songwriters eventually came into the fold for hooks, bridges and melodic influence on songs. Pop & Oak are backbones of Kehlani and Alessia Cara’s career, Max Martin is pop’s European cheat code, and Ester Dean can be found in credits across the last 20 years of R&B music. When it comes to ex-boyfriend and noted freestyle legend Safaree and LunchMoneyLewis showing up in albums credits without having features it makes you wonder where they helped. Coming to her defense was producer Hitmaka who spoken out for Minaj after Latto claimed Nicki used writers and reference tracks to build her songs.
Megan Thee Stallion
Writers: Pardison Fontaine, London Jae, Derrick Milano
London, Pardi and Derrick are some of the hardest working writers in mainstream R&B and hip-hop today. Each act has a keen skill for writing verses and hooks, for women rappers in particular all finding credits on Cardi B, BIA and Latto records though it’s not murky where they stepped in to help. With Megan’s career being built off the buzz of pre-industry parking lot freestyles and co-writers appearing mainly on her more pop sentric records it’s safe to assume hooks and at worst spare bars are the extent of content infused by outside sources.
Jay-Z
Writers/Styles: Kanye West, Consequence, The Notorious B.I.G., Young Chris, Ja Rule, The Bay by way of Snoop
Oh yeah, time for some big dogs. Ye, Consequence and Ja Rule have for years been confirmed as writing the hooks for “Lucifer” and “Encore”, respectively with reference tracks and direct quotes acting as proof. Sure, fine. Big time rapper doesn’t write some hooks, nothing crazy. The real sketchy stuff comes when you recognize the style shift post-Biggie murder. Getting Vol. 1 executive produced by Diddy could have just been Jay taking a big swing to enter the mainstream after Reasonable Doubt got him more critical than commercial success. But with Bad Boy’s history of writing camps, maybe Jay taking a pre-written record (or at least some flows and hooks) isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Only the most trained ears and Hov-ologists would know enough to recognize these subtle shifts that kept him fresh over his 30+ year career. Lets not forget his slight style shift that came after the State Property invasion of Roc-A-Fella that can be traced to Young Chris directly. On a more personal note, wether he gave props in private or not, repurposing Snoop Dogg’s -izzle pig latin (which by his own account was originally a Northern California slang) on his songs will never sit right with me.
Wu-Tang Clan
Writers: Each other
Ghost and Rae have both spoken out about sharing bars early in their career. They aren’t the only culprits though, with nearly everyone in Wu-Tang borrowing lines from one another through their decades of freestyling with one another. Rumors from within the Wu have floated around for years about Ol Dirty Bastard not writing a majority of his opus Return To The 36 Chambers, with RZA and GZA as the main architects.
Beastie Boys
Writers: Run-DMC
Check the credits and you’ll see Run-DMC all in attendance on the credits of early Beastie’s hit “Paul Revere”. It gets deeper reading rumors of the crew's involvement in the entire classic debut record, though unproven.
Lil Wayne
Writers/Styles: The Diplomats, Gillie The Kid, Drake, Gudda Gudda
This is the tipping point. Sitting on the fine line of getting an asterisk by his name in the imaginary Hip-Hop Hall Of Fame due to a sea of allegations and shifts in style (fashion, slang and flow wise) is one of the greatest rappers to ever live. As the Hot Boys fell apart and Wayne’s solo career was beginning to go creatively stale, Tha Carter (for my money the best Wayne project with a UPC code) was billed as the final collaboration with Mannie Fresh. Philly’s Gillie The Kid for years beefed with Cash Money as a whole and broke his silence about ghostwriting for the label thanks to Birdman's shady business practices. Not only was Birdman a main abuser of Gillie’s verses, but allegedly Carter I was stained with his pen. Come Carter II Wayne was running heavy with Juelz Santana and Cam’ron, switching his style to more playful punchlines and colorful lifestyle raps that could fit on any Dipset or DJ Clue mixtape. Drake’s syrupy simp anthems leaked into Wayne’s next few projects with songs like “I’m Single” (confirmed to have been a full on Drake track repurposed by Wayne for his own album) and forever earned side eyes from rap purists. The influx of Drake and Nicki influence into his own style seems minimal when you recognize Wayne literally has thousands of verses floating around in the ether, but in the moment it casted doubt on the man once viewed as the “best rapper alive”. What stops him from fully getting the asterisk is multifaceted; how often would a man who chooses to freestyle nearly every record choose to sit down and spend time reading lyrics from someone else? How much do the handful of Gillie/Juelz/Drake/Nicki-ish songs weigh when placed side-by-side with enough songs for 3 lifetimes? I’ll argue to my death C1 isn’t as tainted as Gillie fans love to make it seem (someone disgruntled with a boss taking shots at a coworker who’s getting all the shine he wants is a hater move more than a whistleblowing) while the real issues come with the Young Money era. All the groaner punchlines from Rebirth until he became reinvigorated for Carter V fit hand in hand with Gudda Gudda and Jae Millz songs of the same time. With Drake, Nicki and Tyga creating their own success, the idea of Wayne calling for the bench players to carry their weight in some way can’t be ruled out.
Jay Rock
Writer: Kendrick Lamar
A reference track on the two-for-one single “King’s Dead” (released to promote The Black Panther Soundtrack and Rock’s solo album Redemption) showed TDE’s founding MC doing karaoke with Kendrick’s words. So what, one really big single was gifted to Rock from his mentee. Real Del-Ice Cube vibes here, nothing too big. But the defining Jay Rock moment comes in the form of “Money Trees”. A verse so potent it stands out as arguably the best single verse on the single best album of its generation, living in history as one of the greatest guest verses of all time. Another reference track leaked years ago and was (nearly) scrubbed from the internet soon after, revealing Kendrick wrote and created the flow pattern for the classic record. 90059 and the rest of Redemption are immaculate records that were seemingly written in full by Rock, but how can two cataclysmic moments that helped shape how the world views you being written by someone else not break your heart as a fan?
Memphis Bleek
Writer: Jay-Z
The plan was to release Reasonable Doubt, sit back, and build a roster under Roc-A-Fella that could keep the cash flowing in for the next few decades while Dame, Jay and Biggs expanded their empire. That never happened, and a small part was because their first hope just couldn’t cut it himself. Bleek and Jay’s relationships ties back to their childhood in Marcy Projects, and to help his little homie out, Jay gifted him features and a deal that would set him for life. Deeper even were the songs Jay fleshed out and handed to Bleek his debut movement, “Coming Of Age” (confirmed by Bleek himself), and spent the rest of his career sounding like a Hova Jr. How much else was gifted to Bleek we’ll never know.
Cardi B
Writers: Pardison Fontaine, London Jae, Nija
Cardi claims it’s only on some hooks, BIA (an acclaimed songwriter herself) claims Cardi’s lyrics are workshopped with others, but where is the truth? The people who have spoken to Cardi’s defense are herself and the name attached to her lyrics most, Pardison Fontaine. With so many women using writers across time, and with Cardi’s quality of music jumping through the roof the second Atalntic got involved (home of many famed contemporary rap ghostwriters and users of said writers), it’s a safe bet that these “rumors” are closer to fact than we all choose to get behind.
Foxy Brown
Writers: Jay-Z, Mad Skillz
Just read the credits to Ill Nana. Sean Carter is credited on nearly half the album, while Mad Skillz has hinted at his involvement with Foxy’s parts for The Firm’s lone album.
Fat Joe
Writers: Big Pun, Cuban Linx, Triple Seis
Cuban Linx has spoken out about frustrations in the lack of credits and royalties for himself and Pun from Joe many times over the years. Cuban also said Joe’s most famous work Don Cartengena, was roughly “written 90% by Pun”. After Pun's death there’s a noticeable dropoff not only in quality, but even the rhyming style of Joe. Losing a close friend is painful enough, and could alone be the reason for such a sea change, but losing a head writer can do the same.
Travi$ Scott
Writers: CyHi The Prynce, Tory Lanez, Starrah, Kanye West
Everyone from here out is confirmed time and again to be thiefs, biters, of heavy users of writers so much it’s impossible to ignore. Travi$ not only has accusations of just being a shitty guy in general, but also stealing beats from young producers claiming them as his own. While his mentor Kanye may have broken the door down for proudly giving credits to 10+ producers on songs, Travi$ at first wanted you to believe he was the mastermind of his productions. WondaGurl, Metro Boomin, Mike Dean and J Gramm were the real backbones of the final version of Owl Pharaoh, Days Before Rodeo and Rodeo. When it comes to songs Tory Lanez and CyHi have both spoken out about their involvement in projects like Days Before and Astroworld while also appearing openly in the credits. A NoBells article from last year also exposed that most of the tracks from Utopia had been leaked across the years with Kanye vocals attached, which as we know could have been written by a dozen different artists. Starrah, an elusive background vocalist and witer with credits on songs from Nicki, The Weeknd, Drake and Big Sean also shows up in the official liner notes for “Pick Up The Phone”, “Way Back” and “Lose” from Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight.
Game
Writers: 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole
Anyone beefing with 50 is an idiot, and this is a premier example. When Game and G-Unit had a proper relationship 50 was the King Of The Universe. The best hook writer of his era, 50 was gifting songs to everyone on his label, Game included. The Dr. Dre school of making the best song by any means was indebted into Game as a fan and a mentee, leading to him using multiple full finished 50 Cent songs to craft his classic debut The Documentary. That alone is enough to earn ire from the world but his chameleonic style thieving along with rumors of Cole and Kendrick in their early years gifting game verses and hooks put it over the top.
Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Salt-N-Pepa, Roxanne Shante
Writers: Kool G Rap, Apache, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J
We take for granted today the amount of women that earn opportunities to be stars in today's music landscape, but in the 80’s and 90’s you were lucky to hear a new one every 3 years. The industry was male dominant, the fanbase was male dominant (not counting Kane) and the art form was a machismo drenched dick swinging contest. Latifah, Lyte, Salt-N-Pepa and Roxanne Shante broke down those barriers and added more branches to the tree of what rap could sound like. Behind their own stories though were the best writers of the modern era helping put records together. Some of their most iconic work (Lyte As A Rock, Black Reign, All Hail The Queen, nearly every SNP song) were crafted as group efforts. It doesn’t take away from the trails they blazed, but the idea of them being standalone disruptors to the genre is a false argument.
Drake
Writers: Nickelus F, Quentin Miller, Kanye West, 21 Savage, Vory, Lil Yachty, Cash Cobain, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Majid Jordan, Kenza Samir, OVO Hush
From Day 1 the well was tainted. Early on his battle rap sensei and collaborator Nickelus F was exposed as the real writer to Drake’s verse on “I’m Goin’ In”, creating questions to those chronically online as to how far his pen has tatted up Drake’s pages considering they’d be affiliated since Comeback Season days. Over the years proof of reference tracks from Lil Yachty, Vory, Cash Cobain, Majid Jordan and Quentin Miller have popped up online and even played on live radio broadcasts. The hard proof is out there, along with a decades-long frustration with Drake’s Kirby-like ability to absorb whatever style he wants and tailor it towards his own goals. He’s rapped like a Jamaican, a grime artist, and a Bay Area native countless times, stealing slang and flows shamelessly. The man even dressed head-to-toe in Smino cosplay to a basketball game. Everything from Take Care to For All The Dogs has credits riddled with unknown writers who he himself has admitted either toss him bars or flows when writers block kicks in.