Beyonce
Beyonce is no stranger to outright accusations of theft as it relates to her music. From dance moves to album artwork, the 32-year-old pop star was once forced to eliminate a dance routine from her “Countdown” video after the threat of a lawsuit. For some time however, Beyonce has managed to avoid direct evidence to a long-running rumor that she’s not the prolific songwriter she may have led her fans and critics to believe. Since the days of Destiny’s Child, Beyonce has received songwriting credits on nearly every song she’s recorded. Although several songs were already written and sometimes even recorded by the original songwriter, Beyonce still manages to wrangle songwriting credits. In 2010, “Diva” producer Bangladesh was bold enough to shed light on Bey’s songwriting credits:
“People from the outside looking in want to know whether or not she writes her own songs, she’s on a level where things are handed to her,” he said. “People want to be a part of what she’s doing. She either wrote it or can put her name on it…because that’s the boss she is.”
Rick Ross
Rapper Rick Ross, whose real name is William Leonard Roberts II, borrowed his stage name from a former Los Angeles drug kingpin, “Freeway” Rick Ross. In keeping with his gangsta image, the Miami-based rapper’s debut album “Port of Miami” told stories of a life that resembled the real Rick Ross. In 2008, the website The Smoking Gun took away a bit of Ross’ street cred with a report alleging that he was once a corrections officer. Ross initially denied the report, accusing the site of photoshopping his image. Ross finally came to terms with the evidence and admitted to this past employment as a correction officer. To this day however, Ross maintains that his drug-dealing lyrics represents his real past.
