New York – Songs like smoking guns. Refusal as evidence of the indictment. rap singer thug youth And the jonah They ended up behind bars a AtlantaGeorgia, for a criminal gang story after prosecutors used a file Their songs as evidence to be presented to the judge. But the case could be the start of a long legal battle. Led by a group of recording companies Warner Music Groupthe third largest conglomerate in the industry, wrote an open letter to The New York Times and forAtlanta Journal-Constitution In it he publicly asked prosecutors and lawmakers to restrict the use of song lyrics as evidence in the indictment.
Corporate log on attack
Among the signatories are historically competing record companies such as Universal Music Group Sony Music Groupand giants playing like Live Nation Entertainment and Aeg . presentsin addition to the platforms spotify And the tik tok And artists like drake Which bad play. “We – accusing Kevin Lilpresident 300 Electra Entertainment – We are the only art form that is attacked on this basis.”
The Young Thug and Gunna affair began at school: the rapper was accused along with twenty-eight other people as being affiliated with Young Stoner LiveOne gang of criminals from the road. In the indictment, excerpts from their songs and social media posts were cited in which they talked about murders, armed robberies and drug delivery. In one song, Young Thug says, “I’m ready to take them down.” And in another message: “I killed this man in front of his mother, his damned brother, his sister, and his cousin, I killed them all so that they wouldn’t leave a trace.” Violating passages are included in the sections Take it to trial, my basket, antibody And the Ski. For the plaintiffs, these crude and frank statements are an admission, even if they are inserted in an artistic context.
Musicians deny the accusations
The suspicion that the rapper was not expected to talk about recycling waste and cleaning beaches did not touch the prosecutor’s office. The two musicians denied the charges, but were denied bail, as is the case with criminals considered a public danger. “The songs are used in investigations of specific crimes,” said Jeff DeSantis, a spokesman for the Fulton County District Attorney.
“If I decided – he added – to confess to a crime and did it in a song, I would use that phrase.” Thug and Gunna aren’t altar boys, but here’s the research on the weight a song can have in crafting an accusation. prosecutor Fanny WillisHe said in the summer, “The legal advice I feel I would give is not to admit crimes in rap songs if you don’t want them to be used against you. Or at least don’t do so in my jurisdiction.”
Cash, Marley and the others
According to this theory, they should have ended up in prison Johnny Cashsings about a man who was shot in Reno Bob Marley And the Eric Clapton Who talked in their songs about the shooting of the deans. In recent years, according to Eric Nelson, lecturer and co-author of a book on the topic, Rap on Trial: Race, Songs, and Guilt in AmericaFive hundred sentences taken from rap songs were used as investigative evidence. In the states of New York and New Jersey, they have adopted laws that make it difficult for prosecutors to use rap phrases to indict someone. Street poems are a musical genre, not confession, and make sense if they sound bleak and ruthless. “I shot it with a water gun” wouldn’t have the same artistic effect. Meanwhile, a great musician like Kanye West, Who spreads messages of hate towards Jews, not prosecutable. Rap yeah, that’s evil. Snoop DoggAnd the Mac Miller, Pussy Buddhas They were warned. And even the last drake could not sleep peacefully.
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