This Exists uncovers and explores the musical peculiarities that exist in the dark corners of the internet, sometimes just outside the mainstream. Today we take a closer look at ghostwriting in hip-hop and decide whether or not it’s an issue worth caring about.

The distinction between songwriting and ghostwriting needs to be made, even if for many they’re one in the same. For the sake of the argument, a dividing line has to be drawn not with chalk, but perceptions.

Clarifying which is which often boils down to the argument of authenticity, and there’s no genre more guilty of this than hip-hop.

It’s one thing if Avril Lavigne has her songs written for her and another entirely when Dr. Dre does. But Dre’s probably just as guilty as Lavigne, if not moreso. His regales of gangsta life are rarely (if ever) his own, and upon realizing just how many pens he’s got scribbling in his rhyme book, it’s harder than ever to figure out why Detox is taking so long.

The rumours are endless as to who had a hand in helping write Dr. Dre’s solo debut, The Chronic. Some say MF Grimm wrote the lyrics. Others suggest Snoop Dog or D.O.C. We can’t explicitly confirm these, but indications given later in Dr. Dre’s career lead us to believe that someone not born Andre Young had a hand in scripting those songs, and scripting is what it eventually boils down to, especially with Dre.

It’d be asinine to try and discredit his work as a producer, even as his efforts turn steadily away from the studio and towards shitty sounding headphones. But as a rapper, Dr. Dre is all delivery. He plays a role, one that’s finely tuned by his collaborators. “Still D.R.E” was one of the biggest songs of the pre-Y2K hip-hop boom, but Jay-Z’s the one behind the words. Snoop Dogg is the alleged scribe behind Dr. Dre’s “The Next Episode,” and Eminem apparently helped write Dre’s verses in “Forgot About Dre.” Call it reciprocal: write his rhymes and he’ll produce your track. Of course Dr. Dre’s never denied that he uses ghostwriters, but he’s also never gone out of his way to admit it. Rumours of songs written by Ludacris, Common and T.I. and more have brewed in the lead up to Detox, but since it’ll probably never come out, who cares, right?

So who are these ghostwriters? They’re rappers, as you might’ve guessed, and sometimes it’s all pretty innocent. Producers and executives like Puff Daddy can’t claim to be anything but, which is why they enlist the help of word smiths like Pharaohe Monch to give them a hand. A great rapper is always writing, but not everything suits their style. Conversely, not all great performers are great writers. Dr. Dre’s got an incredible delivery, but history shows that he’s not much for lyrics. Diddy transitioned from producer and hype man to the front of the stage, but simply didn’t have the talent to carry himself. Monch helped make Diddy passable as an emcee, which is enough for a figurehead who’s just trying to keep his name in the public’s ear. Even his biggest hit, the Sting-inspired tribute to his fallen friend “I’ll Be Missing You” was written by someone else. The whole thing ended up in a scandal, with none of the behind the scenes writers getting paid (mostly because Sting was granted 100% of the song’s royalties, which seems crazy until you realize how many album sales the single eventually peddled).

Jay-Z’s another one big into ghostwriting. We’ve already talked about his work for Dr. Dre, but over the past decade-plus he’s written for plenty of others. The famous quote from Jay is that he’s made a lot of money to not talk about who he writes for, but trust that the list is long. For rivalry’s sake, Nas is another famous ghostwriter. This goes back to the idea that great writers are always writing. Pharaohe Monch, Jay-Z, Nas are joined by the likes of Royce Da 5’9, Rakim and more as some of the more prominent ghostwriters in hip-hop, and they’ve all got strong lyricism as the common denominator. Rappers that employ ghostwriters are smart about it. They’re hiring people who know their way around words, MCs who can adapt their style to fit without underselling. Royce Da 5’9 has said that Diddy lets him run wild with words, if anything encouraging that he gets super lyrical on the cuts.

The other factor is money. Weigh the amount of people who’ve heard of Diddy with the amount who’ve heard of Pharaohe Monch and the intentions become a little clearer. If Puffy hires you to help write a song that’ll put him back in the spotlight, he’s likely offering a fair bit of coin to do it. You’re not delivering the rhymes on record, so where’s the harm? Not all rappers fulfil the mystique of yacht riding billionaires and everyone’s got bills to pay.

Here’s what it boils down to, ultimately. Some rappers tell it like it is. Others tell it like they want it to be. Sometimes they meet in the middle. As listeners, it’s up to you to make the distinction, and also to realize it. Is Dr. Dre pretending to be some gang banger any more reprehensible than Tyler, the Creator acting like he’s a serial rapist? The argument’s there that one writes his own stuff, but is it one you’d really like to make? What matters is if it sounds good, and in the end it either does or it doesn’t.