Justin Bieber's aspirations of developing his hip-hop alter ego Shawty Mane have just hit a major stumbling block. According to the legendary DJ Premier, Bieber wanted Ludacris to write a rap verse for the teen idol to perform on last week's BET Hip Hop Awards.
While performing songs written by others is acceptable and encouraged in various music genres, in hip-hop, rapping lyrics written by someone else is considered a detriment to one's credibility.
During a radio interview posted on DJPremierBlog.com, the Gang Starr member said he was initially open to Bieber's request to join the hip-hop awards's popular, pre-taped roundtable rap segments. During the chypers, the MCs form a circle and take turns rapping. This year, there were seven groups of chypers that played before commercial breaks and featured dozens of artists including superstars Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, and Chris Brown.
Said DJ Premier: "Justin Bieber even asked if he could do the cypher. Everyone was worried that that might mess up the integrity of BET. I was like, 'As long as he got a dope rhyme, let him spit.' But then we heard, 'Oh, he wants Luda to write his rhyme...' And I was like, 'Oh, no, no, no, no, no. If you ain't writing your own rhyme, you can't do it. So, Justin you got to take a back seat. Write your own rhyme, Honey. You got to call him honey on that one.'"
Well, Justin Bieber still has a few other hip-hop career highlights to boast about. Last year, he teamed with Kanye West and Wu-Tang Clan member Raekwon for the "Runaway Love" remix. And in August, Shawty Mane rapped alongside Chris Brown on the song "Ladies Love Me" on Brown's "Boy In Detention" mixtape.
A representative for Bieber has not yet replied to Yahoo! Music's request for comment.
T-I-P: Bossip
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Ludacris and Justin Bieber photo credit: Moses Robinson, Getty Images
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