Andre 3000 is a legend, and when legends speak we listen. This summer Andre took to Frank Ocean’s Blonde album to air out how he felt about ghostwriting. Many listeners thought his comments were directed at Drake, who has been accused of using a ghostwriter. I guess the older rap gets, the harder it is to come up with original engaging material, or the age is left wide open and trash rappers are running in without decent material to back them up.
On a recent episode of The Grey Area, Soren Baker and Slink Johnson talk Andre 3000 going at Drake and ghostwriting as a whole.
Slink Johnson holds no punches when it comes to ghostwriting, claiming that he doesn’t believe in it. However, after an opportunity to ghostwrite for Ant Banks, his idea of it changed.
“Rap is a business,” Slink says. “Actors that you see acting don’t write the script. It all goes back to the rapper and how they portray themselves. Are you going to come out and say such and such wrote my song and I appreciate it? They wrote a great song. Or are you going to come out and try to portray that song or that image that that song brings as your own life?”
Because rap is based off an authenticity and understanding that whatever the rapper speaks is based off their experiences and when you find out that MC isn’t writing their material, it questions the artist’s authenticity as a whole. Hip hop and rap is a lifestyle, leaving little-to-no error for false narratives. Many artists outside of hip-hop do not write their own material, including the late Michael Jackson.
“Michael Jackson sang about a variety of different subjects, but he was the world’s greatest entertainer,” Slink adds. “We have a lot of these rappers claiming to be ‘real niggas,’ and everybody knows that ‘real niggas’ do real things. Some of these dudes are rapping about some prefabricated lifestyles that they will never live.”
With so much competition to be the best rapper out, can someone be considered a Top 5 rapper if they have a ghostwriter?
“Yes you can be considered a top 5 rapper,” Slink says. “Now, are you a Top 5 lyricist? When you talk aout rap music and the business of it, it’s more than just the song. It’s an entire package, looks, aesthetic, what he’s saying, and style. Hip-hop now is swag driven.”
Soren adds, “I have very mixed emotions about ghostwriting. If we are presenting this to be who you are and what you represent and find out you didn’t write it, that’s a challenge and a problem. But I also understand from being in the studio a thousand times now, even if somebody is not ghostwriting they may give you an idea, a punch line, a theme, or something to do.”
Both Slink and Soren share the thought that it is acceptable for someone to chime in and give you ideas or contribute certain lines, but the idea of crafting an entire song for someone is excessive.
“I don’t think every rapper always wrote every word of their songs,” Slink states. “Of course you are going to draw inspiration from your friends. You might even get a line or two from somebody around you. But your whole song, like, ‘Here, I wrote this for you.’ Ok, you can get a song written for you, but how much is the person that wrote it for you really paying attention to you? Is he just giving you a song because he thinks you are going to sound good?”