Ghostwriting has been on the minds of Hip Hop fans all year. After Meek Mill called out Drake for not writing the entirety of his "R.I.C.O" verse, the issue has become extremely salient. While ghostwriting is a somewhat common occurrence in hip-hop these days, noted lyricists like Drake are expected to write their own material by fans. Meek Mill's accusation sparked a vicious war of words between the two, and has ignited a fierce debate in the Hip Hop community. It appears Rick Ross, who was just released from house arrest, has some strong opinions about the ghostwriting phenomenon as well. Ross, whose album Black Market will hit stores December 4th, even claimed that he was one of Hip Hop's most prolific ghostwriters.
Speaking of a track off his new album, "Ghostwriter," Ross told TIME, "I finally wrote a record telling the way it feels for me to be a ghostwriter, and not only a ghostwriter, but one of the biggest in the rap game. Because of my own personal success I've always been able to keep that in the shadows. On this record, I just felt it was so current. It was needed."
Although Ross's ghostwriting for Diddy was a known phenomenon, Ross's other ghostwriting work has largely gone unnoticed and unreported. Ross does not look at the employment of a ghostwriter as a deficit however, emphasizing the differences between rappers, styles, and the importance of lyrics.
Ross said, "It depends on really the point you're looking at. If you're a battle rapper on the block, the emcee battle challenger, not writing your rhymes could really hurt you. When you're an artist where maybe the focus is really the talent and the different things you bring to the game, I believe it's more understandable. Someone who may have another vision or just ideas that are priceless versus someone who's like, 'I'm basing my entire career off the words I'm finna tell you right now over this 30-second period.' I'm not speaking to anybody in particular, but let's say for instance if you was DMX and had a ghostwriter, it'd maybe change the [perception] versus if you was will.i.am. I think that's more about the music, the records."
