The United States Supreme Court has declined to take the case of Mayhem Mal, a Pennsylvania-based rapper who was convicted of threatening police officers in a song. The Court dismissed his appeal on Monday (April 15), according to the Associated Press.
Mal, whose real name is Jamal Knox, and another rapper named Rashee Beasley were arrested on gun and drug charges in 2012. Following their arrest, they released a song titled “Fuck The Police” that referenced violence against Pittsburgh cops.
Knox was charged and convicted with terroristic threats and witness intimidation due to the track’s lyrics.
He attempted to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after Pennsylvania’s highest court upheld his conviction. Knox, who has already served his prison term for the crimes, claimed his song was protected by the First Amendment.
[This post has been updated. The following was originally published by Riley Wallace on August 22, 2018.]
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld its ruling following a free speech appeal on Tuesday (August 22) by rapper Jamal Knox a.k.a. Mayhem Mal. Knox was prosecuted along with Rashee Beasley a.k.a. Soulja Beaz for (among other charges) making terroristic threats towards law enforcement via a rap song titled “Fuck The Police” released on YouTube back in 2012.
As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Knox’s lawyer Patrick Nightingale noted that his client did not intend his verse to be perceived as a threat. Additionally, he stated that neither Knox nor Soulja Beaz had uploaded the song to YouTube themselves. “There was no proof they intended the two officers to hear it,” he says.
As “artistic” as Nightingale claimed the track to be, Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor, ultimately, wasn’t convinced that the contents of the song should be protected under the First Amendment. He cited that they not only named the arresting officers — but showed their images.
“As a rapper, you have to own an image,” said Knox back in 2014 after being sentenced to two to six years in prison and two years of probation for drug charges, fleeing police, and terroristic threats. “I’m sorry if any officers felt threatened. I apologize for putting the police in danger,” he told the court.
“Fuck The Police” is said to be aimed squarely at two officers that arrested Knox and his associates on various drug and weapons charges and were set to testify against them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ScQEiBgzBo
“Takin’ money from Beaz and all that shit away from me? / Well, your shift over at 3 and I’m gon’ fuck up where you sleep,” Knox raps.
Erik Nielson, a University of Richmond associate professor who studies rap lyrics and criminal proceedings, told The Washington Post that the decision could have adverse effects on the rap genre, as hyperbole-for-entertainment could be misconstrued as direct threats or admission to actual crimes.
“This is like what would happen if your grandfather tried to read rap music and understand it,” Nielson added. The song could easily be understood to be a remake of N.W.A’s iconic song of the same name, which Nielson noted is “one of the most famous political rap songs ever recorded.”
This is far from the sole example of rappers voicing their distaste for law enforcement, and also not the first time lyrics have been used against an artist in court. The prosecution famously brought up bars during the infamous 2001 trial that left former Bad Boy Records artist Shyne locked up for a decade.
The Chief Justice cited in his decision that he was sensitive to the deep-rooted political nature of the genre, but concluded: “they do not include political, social, or academic commentary, nor are they facially satirical or ironic.”
It likely did not help matters when Knox released a follow-up track shortly after titled “Prison Bound,” in which he noted, “It’s free speech, don’t need a threat — God gonna get you muthafucka.”
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Just like the ReThuglicans want it! They live to take away rights from black and brown people
I Hope you know that the Democrats are really the racist party
Unite the Right! What was that all about then?
to hold pitos.
Unite the Right was a fake event, numbskull. Ferguson on the other hand was blacks destroying their neighborhoods because Obozo said so. People like 100 Percent are too dumb to realize by supporting Democraps, they’re supporting the Jim Crow law makers and the party that brought us the KKK. Keep blaming the Republicans though, you know the party that freed the slaves.
So you just gonna talk like the parties didnt switch sides on almost every political issue after the assassination of JFK, like the Democrats didnt pass the civil rights bills and the Democrats of the south who WERE racist and opposed it didnt switch to the Republican party soon after. Fuck outta here with your misinformation and trolling ya ignorant bastard.
I’m sure they only arrest some dumb asses for breaking the law. If they stupid doing dump shit they probably won’t get arrested.
Completely fking ridiculous
I though Ice Cube dealt with this shit 30 years ago?
This ruling is Very bad for music.
You cant name the officers in the track and show their picture in the video. That’s not free speech, that’s intimidation and threatening the officers who had a case against these fools that broke the law. NWA are protesting police brutality against young black males, it’s a different circumstance.
Ain’t that how They got X-Raided back in the Day? From His Lyrics??
This is heavy duty. America is covertly becoming a no free speech zone. I mean like, you can speak your mind but the higher ups are gonna retaliate. It’s all a one way system with us against them. if we are done wrong it’s like we are just supposed to be sheep and accept it, be quiet and enjoy the brutality & injustice. Music is always taken more serious than film. rarely is a movie banded. But music is a horse of a different color. Say something on record positive or negative that reaches the masses…authorities get nervous.
Violent threats were never protected under the first amendment. I wanted to side with the rapper, but his dumb ass specifically threatened a cop, giving names and times, when police are a powerful lobby as it is. If he wanted artistic freedom, say he dreams about killing them one day (still stupid, but better case). Once he put his shift time in there, it’s now an imminent threat. It’s a wrap.