The Atlanta City Council is working toward restricting the use of lyrics in criminal cases, which has been a recurring practice in court proceedings involving rappers.
The ongoing YSL RICO trial once again brought attention to prosecutors leveraging Hip Hop songs to incriminate artists. To that point, District 12 council member Antonio Lewis has passed a resolution to “ensure fair and just legal proceedings.”
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Regarding the initiative, Lewis said: “Our resolution is a significant step toward rectifying an issue that has disproportionately affected individuals within marginalized communities. We must protect the freedom of artistic expression while ensuring that evidence used in criminal trials is relevant, reliable, and does not perpetuate bias.
“By urging the Georgia General Assembly to address this matter, we are fostering a more equitable and just criminal justice system for all.”
The legislation aims to have the Georgia General Assembly revise its statutes, namely Title 17, Chapter 7 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. Lewis and his supporters have pointed out that rap lyrics are often misrepresented in court, proposing that they shouldn’t be used as evidence.
🗞️ According to Council member Lewis, other jurisdictions across the country have been proactive in limiting the use of rap lyrics in criminal trials.
"…we are fostering a more equitable and just criminal justice system for all." – @councilmanlewishttps://t.co/ohHUNJTacppic.twitter.com/jMdNj8lufY
— Atlanta City Council (@atlcouncil) July 11, 2023
Last year, Warner wrote and published a letter titled Art on Trial: Protect Black Art, with The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution assisting in its circulation. It calls for prosecutors to stop using rap as evidence in trials and for legislators at the state and federal level to limit how much of that work can be used against defendants.
The petition was signed by A-listers such as 50 Cent, J. Cole, Travis Scott, Post Malone, Alicia Keys, Megan Thee Stallion and several others. Additionally, the three major record labels —Warner, Sony and Universal — as well as companies such as Spotify, TikTok and YouTube Music backed the proposition.
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“In courtrooms across America, the trend of prosecutors using artists’ creative expression against them is happening with troubling frequency,” the letter read. “Rappers are storytellers, creating entire worlds populated with complex characters who can play both hero and villain. But more than any other art form, rap lyrics are essentially being used as confessions in an attempt to criminalise Black creativity and artistry.”
In September 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed The Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act, which aims to restrict the use of rap lyrics as evidence in court. AB 2799 was signed into action after the bill was unanimously approved by California’s State Senate in August.
The Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act received strong support from artists such as Meek Mill, Killer Mike, Too $hort, Ty Dolla $ign, E-40, YG and more, who were present at a virtual signing for the bill.
“The second time I witnessed the Governor of California sign bills that help our people … probation caps & bans on using rap lyrics in court ‘I RESPECT YOU’ Thankyou I understand the magnitude of the moves you make we need help in the system,” Meek wrote on Twitter.
A few months prior to that, The Restoring Artistic Protection Act (RAP Act) was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressmen Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).
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Aimed at amending Federal Rules of Evidence laws, the first-of-its-kind bill sought to “limit the admissibility of evidence of a defendant’s creative or artistic expression against such defendant in a criminal proceeding, and for other purposes.”
