His grandmother would always say when she something, ‘My mind playin’ tricks on me.’ So he took that. Willie D: First of all, Brad brought the song to the table. Not only did the Houston OG produce the track, he penned three of the four verses on the song. Geto Boys – “Mind Playing Tricks on Me”įor real? The Geto Boys’ best-known song was originally supposed to be a Scarface solo joint. They’re also officially credited as writers on the album notes.

penned the majority of the lyrics for N.W.A.’s debut album. Ghostwriters: Ice Cube, MC Ren, The D.O.C.įor real? It’s a well-known fact that Ice Cube, MC Ren and The D.O.C. Big Daddy Kane: Rap Like No Equal | HipHopDX N.W.A – various tracks on Straight Outta Compton For example, writing for Biz, it wasn’t really about having hot rhymes, it was about having something funny, Biz just wanted something funny to say. He worked hard, hard, and actually became a pretty good rapper.” Biz Markie – “Pickin’ Boogers” / “Albee Square Mall” / “Biz is Goin’ Off” / “Return of the Biz Dance” / “Vapors”įor real? Over the decades Big Daddy Kane has spoken in lengths about being a ghostwriter for Biz Markie an assertion that was never been denied by the late, great Clown Prince of Hip Hop.īig Daddy Kane: For me, ghost-writing for someone else wasn’t hard, because if I did it in my style that’s pretty much something good for you, and doing it in someone else’s style, if they have a more simpler style then it makes my job easier, because now I ain’t got to think too complicated. Write a song for my group.’ So I wrote “Boyz-n-the-Hood” and they turned it down. So I wrote some songs and he was like, ‘I like the stuff you write, I like what you’re talking about. Home Boys Only,” Cube said in a Billboard interview. “Well, I actually wrote “Boyz-n-the-Hood” for a group of his - it wasn’t for him. Dre suggested to Eazy that he should rap it instead. But after the group passed on the song due to its heavy West Coast themes, Dr. Before I was with Juice Crew, before all of that.” This was backed up In a recent interview, Cheryl James aka Salt talked about the legendary Queens rapper penning the words for the record.įor real? Ice Cube actually wrote “Boyz-n-the-Hood” for Home Boys Only, a New York rap group that were the first rap act to be signed to Ruthless Records. Salt-n-Pepa – “Chick On The Side”įor real? “I wrote the song ‘Chick On The Side’ on the B-side of ‘Push It’,” Kool Rap remembered in an interview with Platform8470. to assist with the group’s second album, King of Rock. Around that same time LL was getting ready to drop his debut album and was called on by Russell Simmons and Run-D.M.C. – “Can You Rock It Like This”įor real? LL Cool J is credited on the song as J.T. I threw a bunch of rhymes on the table and said, ‘Say this, say this and say that.’ They took Grandmaster Caz’s rhymes without giving him credit. Come over my house.’ He came to my house. He said, ‘I need you to write me some rhymes because we going in the studio.’ I’m not thinking nothing of it. Didn’t you tell them about me?’ He’s like, ‘The lady heard my tapes and she likes my voice.’ So anyway. Grandmaster Caz: So when he came to me like, ‘Yo, these people want me to make a rap,’ I said: ‘For what? You don’t rap. As the story goes, Big Bank Hank was going to record the song but he didn’t have any rhymes ready so he asked Grandmaster Caz to write some for him. The Sugarhill Gang – “Rapper’s Delight”įor real? The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” is the earliest, notable case of ghostwriting in the hip hop industry. We take that journalism shit seriously here.Īlright, so let’s get into it – here are 56 hip hop songs since 1979 that have verifiably been written by ghostwriters. Unlike a lot of websites out there who operate off rumours, gossip and word of mouth, every single song listed below have been verified either by the artists themselves or on the album liner notes. Also, for all intents and purposes, we’re going to use “ghostwriter” as an umbrella term to include: credited writer, uncredited writer and co-writer. As long as it contributed to the overall song, it’s part of the writing process. While other music genres generally don’t make a big deal about who writes what, rap’s particular focus on penmanship and personal accounts has made ghostwriting a touch topic.īefore we get into the list, let’s clear a few things up: ghostwriting isn’t necessarily writing whole verses it could have just been a melody, a hook, an idea. Hip hop has a long and controversial history with ghostwriters.

Quentin miller ghost writer