Is rap lyrics a call to be prosecuted with a death sentence?
Written by HipHopRX on December 30th, 2006 in I Smell BS, Hip-Hop Justice.
Should rappers feel emasculated due to more and more prosecutors are using the lyrics rappers write against them? Recently a 23 year-old young man named Ronell Wilson “Rated R” in New York was arrested on suspected murder of two undercover police officers. During the initial arrest police found his pockets stuffed with lyrics with rhymes telling his counterparts to wear bullet-proof vests if they dare wanted to challenge him as well a line that said that he would leave .45-caliber slugs in their heads.
Prosecutors feel they have struck gold with his lyrics and if the jury convicts Ronell Wilson on Wednesday he would face a possible death sentence.
According to CNN prosecutors have used rap lyrics to help establish motives and shed light on defendants’ characters. Some have brought up the lyrics only during sentencing. Does being a rapper and writer suspense raps reflect who you are as a person? Are rappers the characters that they portray when they rap or is it just as if he was an author of a thriller book or a movie director? Will prosecutors begin to prosecute movie directors. Movies, television, dvd’s and cable promote and profit off of drug, sex and violence daily, yet if an actor was to be arrested he’s not judge over the movie role that he plays. What is it such a trend to judge a music entertainer this way? Some consider this as a prejudice and discrimination.
Reports go on to state that a Philadelphia defense attorney Michael Coard, who also teaches a class on hip hop at Temple University, stated that attempting to use rap as a window into a defendant’s mind is especially problematic, given rap’s tradition of overtly ridiculous braggadocio.
“It’s about boasting. It’s about exaggerating. … It’s about acting,” he said. “If Robert De Niro, or Al Pacino or Marlon Brando are charged with shooting somebody, are they going to be playing clips from `The Godfather’ in court?”
When rapper Project Pat was convicted on carrying a concealed weapon in his car, his lyrics where thrown at him. Rapper Beanie Sigel was also sentenced on gun charges in Philadelphia when a federal prosecutor used his lyrics against him.
Some defense attorneys fear that prosecutors will begin to use lyrics against rappers making a trend that could grow in order to make a defendant look bad in front of a middle-class jury and prosecutors could introduce role-playing violent, curse-filled verses against any entertainer. This could lead to unfairness against any who play a role in the music/entertainment business thereby affecting the Industry.
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August 3rd, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Thats right. The director of the saw movies is not getting arrested… why? Did he not portray sick and dimented images? shouldnt he be sentenced to death for that shit???