Killer Mike tells why ghostwriting isnt a big deal

[King Lance]

DX: How do you feel about that? Would you look at an artist differently if you knew his music was ghostwritten?

Killer Mike: It depends on the song. There are some records that are for people that, even though I wrote the record, they needed to say the words. I wrote the record for them…from their perspective. To me, that makes sense, and that’s more than appropriate. When it comes to pop hits or radio records, it really doesn’t matter who is writing it, ‘cause it’s almost like a commercial or a jingle—so you can take it however. I’m usually writing a record that’s not a radio record, so for me, it’s heartfelt and is based upon some type of emotion. When I write that record, I want to make sure I’m best representing that artist. Now if I just bring that person that record, and that’s not who they are, I don’t like those records as much. I don’t appreciate them as much, because I feel like a person undeserving got a great song. I feel like a person who really doesn’t live or convey those words has a song that has been wasted. And that’s where I take contention. But if you got a Top 40 hit, and I wrote or someone else wrote it, I’m not mad at that, ‘cause I understand we’re in an age where, “This is rapping and Hip Hop,” and there is songwriting for commercially driven artists. Even though I’m not in that field, I understand the game.



DX: So why do you think that Rap is the only form of music where it reportedly matters if you’re writing your own lyrics? Why is that?

Killer Mike: Well Rap is poetry, and you expect the poet to be the writer of it. And it matters, but don’t think it holds the same way it did. Rap is predicated upon [the concept of], “I am telling the truth about my life and my environment.” So as long as rappers are presenting Rap in that way, you are going to be expected to be a writer of your life and your environment. It’s that simple. It’s not hard or overly complex. As long as we take the stance, “nikka, I’m real,” we really expect you to really write your shyt.

___
On Scarface


Killer Mike: The greatest rapper alive is Scarface, and no one else can have that because no one else has a 27, 26-year career of no wack albums. If you read the preface of The Art Of War, it tells the story of three brothers. One brother can see sickness and disease before it ever forms, he can tell you what to do to change that, and his name is not known outside that house. Another brothe can see disease when it’s first starting to form. If you start to cough, he can give you some herbs and remedies and stuff—that brother is known around the village. He is a village doctor. And then there is another brother who doesn’t really know much. He knows a little about what his brothers taught him. He knows how to cut you, bleed, put leeches on you and operate. He’s the greatest doctor in the land, and he works for kings and queens



So when you’re talking about the greatest ever, you’re going to be talking about someone you don' know, but someone who inspired or inspires someone you currently worship. Let's go down the lis of artists that have collaborated with, rap like, or are influenced by Scarface. Killer Mike, Ice Cube, Tupac, Jay Z, Beanie Sigel, DMX, Das Efx. I can keep going. We ain’t even start naming Texas rappers yet. So when I say Scarface is the greatest rapper of all time, I am saying it from the stance that I am a rapper hoping to have a career that could potentially last as long as his. I’m hoping I could have a 30-year career of no wack albums. There’s just no argument with that for me. Y’all could argue who got bars and silly stuff, but no one has given you the truth, the validity, for as long as Brad Jordan. Nobody’s done it, and nobody ever will. So we should value him. We should treasure him. And I know he likes white people too(laughs)


DX: So why do you think he isn’t as heralded even though he has platinum records?

Killer Mike: He has had multiple platinum records, and he has had more than two classic records. Why isn’t he as heralded? But the fable goes, the brother who knows it before it even forms is in the house. The house is Hip Hop, and a lot of times we are fans of Hip Hop, and we debate Hip Hop. But a lot of times we in the yard but not in the house. I’m in the house. I hear what the rappers that you worship talk about when the cameras aren’t on. We talk about Scarface

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/interviews/id.2178/killer-mike-talks-ghostwriting-corporate-rap-why-scarface-is-the-g-o-a-t-/

[Kill You]

I do have a problem with 50 ghost writing for Em though.

[Elision]

It's the secretiveness that I have a problem with.

Also dat scarface dickriding

[King Lance]

It's the secretiveness that I have a problem with.

Also dat scarface dickriding

scarface deserves it, he is slept on

[Kill You]

Scarface is top 20 without a doubt. He's never put out a wack album, that's true. But to me, he's just put out consistently good albums. The only GREAT album he's really put out is the Diary, and it still can't touch albums like Illmatic, Ready to Die, Reasonable Doubt, Marshall Mathers LP, Enter the 36 Chambers, All Eyez On Me, Aquemini, etc. etc.

That's the problem, I feel. Consistently good albums, but no truly great ones except The Dairy.

[King Lance]

The Fix is a classic yo

[King Lance]

The Fix is a classic yo

My Block is a classic hip-hop song, but that doesn't mean the entire album is classic. The Diary is his only true classic imo. The Fix is a great album, but classic? I don't know....

The fix is a personal classic for me but in my opinion, The Diary deserved its status of "hip hop classic"

The Diary was already considered as one of the best albums from the South back in the days, some people probably don't listen to it anymore but his storytelling on this album influenced a lot of rappers in the 90's (Tupac, Andre 3000, Biggie,..).

If you listen to the self introspective lyrics, especially regarding death (Notorious Big), you can definitely hear Scarface's influence... He pioneered alot