in all seriousness, setting aside “Countess Boochie Flagrante” jokes and the poor example of one awful white guy's miserable body of work—
that rap lyrics must be literal admissions of action and intent, that a rapper is necessarily speaking as themself and not from the perspective of a fictional[ized] narrator or artistic persona—unlike for any other genre of music or creative writing—is a legal tool to criminalize and prosecute Black artists
Lyrics are art.
Art is not evidence.
Mapping Rap On Trial
Our research has identified nearly 700 cases, from the late 1980s to present, where rap lyrics have been used as evidence, usually in a criminal context. In some cases the lyrics were presented as evidence at trial; in many others, the lyrics were used to justify charging a suspect, to secure an indictment, to compel a plea bargain, and/or to justify sentencing recommendations.
As you zoom in, the map shows the following case information:
-- State
-- Jurisdiction
-- Individual case name (where available)*
Note: We have also made a CSV file of this data available here.
(*The locations of the pins are approximations and do not indicate the precise location of the case.)
you don't see the countless (often wildly popular!) white rock/pop/indie/country/metal/etc. artists' lyrics about implied sexual violence toward women and girls getting introduced into “proceedings”
prguitarman
stormborns
annaxmalina
andulkaphoto
2087
vaporwave
turnnoffyourmind
