The New York State Senate has passed a bill that will prevent rap lyrics
from being put on trial by prosecutors. The bill passed the NY Senate with
a 38-23 vote in favour of Senate Bill S7527, known as ‘Rap Music on Trial.’
The bill would protect artists and content creators from having their lyrics
used against them by prosecutors.
University of Richmond Professor Erik Nielson has found a minimum of
28 cases of NY criminal prosecutors citing rap lyrics as evidence since 2017.
To emphasise the problem in the courts, recently, the Fulton
Country District Attorney in Atlanta allowed prosecutors use submit rap
lyrics as evidence from Young Thug in an attempt to prove the rapper’s
involvement in a criminal operation.
This bill would seek to protect the freedom of creative expression and the
First Amendment in New York by prohibiting prosecutors from using rap
lyrics as criminal evidence without clear and convincing proof that there
is a factual connection between the creative expression and the facts of the
case.
The use of rap lyrics in court has come under scrutiny in the past for its
unfair treatment of rap artists, who are often predominantly black, citing
systemic racism. The bill must pass the state assembly before it can be
inked into law.
With the senate proposing a law to prevent lyrics being used as evidence,
this could see an influence in the UK regarding Drill music. Drill music is
often criminalised and accused of inciting gang violence by the MET police
for its lyrics and videos, with two artists being jailed in 2019 for nine
months for performing a song with lyrics that listed various individuals
who had been the victims of stabbings.
