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When he was 19, James Broadnax jotted down\u00a0rap lyrics, thoughts and even job leads in a notebook that would become evidence at his capital murder trial.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors selected lyrics with alleged references to gang affiliation and shootings to convince jurors that instead of life in prison, Broadnax, who is Black, should be put to death after his conviction \u2014 a move his lawyers argue biased the almost all-white jury.<\/p>\n
Broadnax isn\u2019t the only defendant or even the only person on Texas\u2019 death row whose rap lyrics have been introduced to a jury. Rap lyrics have featured in hundreds of court cases in more than 40 states\u00a0over the past 50 years,\u00a0though judges often exclude other forms of creative expression from being used as evidence, researchers have found. Treating rap lyrics as diary entries minimizes their artistic value while playing on negative racial stereotypes to influence jurors, experts say.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt denies rap music the status of art. It is characterized as autobiography,\u201d said Erik Nielson, co-author of the book \u201cRap on Trial.\u201d \u201cIt really does speak to underlying assumptions that some people have about young men of color \u2014 and that\u2019s almost exclusively who this practice targets \u2014 that they aren\u2019t sophisticated enough to engage in various literary devices. That there isn\u2019t metaphor here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rap lyrics are commonly used in racketeering or gang-related cases. Prosecutors try to establish the defendant\u2019s involvement in an underlying crime by introducing lyrics as evidence, Nielson said. If someone is charged with a shooting, for example, prosecutors look for lyrics that mention a shooting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the lyrics were written before the alleged crime, the prosecutors will say this is evidence of motive,\u201d Nielson said. \u201cIf they\u2019re written afterward, they\u2019re characterized as a straight-up confession.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rap lyrics introduced in court as autobiographical<\/p>\n
Broadnax and his cousin were charged with murder for the 2008 shooting deaths of two men outside a suburban Dallas music studio. After more than a decade on death row, he is scheduled to be executed April 30.<\/p>\n
In their pending appeal asking\u00a0the U.S. Supreme Court\u00a0to halt Broadnax\u2019s execution, his attorneys argue that a judge should have considered the potential for racial bias and instructed the jury that his lyrics should not be viewed as autobiographical.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe emphasis on the rap lyrics was a key element in this racially charged narrative,\u201d Broadnax\u2019s attorneys wrote. \u201cWorse, the record in this case confirms that the jury delivered a death sentence based on the racial stereotypes invoked by the rap lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kemba, a rapper featured in the documentary \u201cAs We Speak: Rap Music on Trial,\u201d told The Associated Press that introducing rap lyrics is particularly effective with juries because of innate prejudices \u2014 and because prosecutors want convictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that don\u2019t see rap or Black music as artistic expression,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd when you\u2019re in a court case, there\u2019s already an assumption that you\u2019ve done something (wrong).\u201d<\/p>\n
The defendants in these cases are \u201calmost exclusively young men of color, often with very limited resources,\u201d and many can\u2019t afford a private attorney, Nielson said.<\/p>\n
But some high-profile rappers have had their songs introduced in court, like Young Thug, whose lyrics were used as evidence at his trial on gang and racketeering charges. He\u00a0pleaded guilty\u00a0to those charges and was released from custody in 2024.<\/p>\n
Stereotypes about rap emerge<\/p>\n
\u201cThe criminalization and the targeting of hip-hop has been going on for all 50 years of the culture,\u201d said Nielson, who noted the use of rap lyrics in court ramped up in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n
The monitoring of Black artistic expression dates back to the antebellum South, he said, though that intensified as rap music became more critical of power structures, like\u00a0N.W.A.\u2019s 1989 song \u201cF\u2014 the Police,\u201d\u00a0which condemns police brutality.<\/p>\n
In 2022,\u00a0The New York Times\u2019 Jaeah Lee\u00a0looked for non-rap examples of lyrics used at trial from 1950 onward and found only four. Three cases were thrown out and one led to a conviction that was overturned. In that same time period, Nielson found roughly 700 examples of rap lyrics used in court cases, including lyrics that someone rapped but didn\u2019t even write.<\/p>\n
Another study conducted by University of Nevada assistant professor Adam Dunbar examined stereotypes of rap. He presented people with lyrics, saying they were from rap, country or metal music. When it came to rap, respondents overwhelmingly considered the lyrics to be autobiographical.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut if they\u2019re given the same lyrics and told that those are country or heavy metal lyrics, they say, \u2018No, it\u2019s just art,\u2019\u201d said J.M. Harper, director of \u201cAs We Speak.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some rappers have begun directly attesting to the fictional nature of their music. The year before he was fatally stabbed in 2021,\u00a0Drakeo the Ruler\u00a0released the song \u201cFictional\u201d from behind bars because his lyrics were being treated as nonfiction. In 2023, 21 Savage\u00a0described his raps\u00a0as \u201cfiction as hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt in my mind that they are doing this for fear of prosecution,\u201d Nielson said.<\/p>\n
Rules of evidence can be open to judge\u2019s interpretation<\/p>\n
A number of A-list rappers, including\u00a0Travis Scott,\u00a0T.I. and Killer Mike, have filed briefs at the Supreme Court in support of Broadnax, cautioning against considering rap lyrics autobiographical.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors in the case said Texas law allows evidence relevant to a defendant\u2019s reputation at sentencing and contend the court shouldn\u2019t consider the argument against the lyrics because Broadnax failed to raise concerns in previous appeals. State courts have ruled against other appeals by Broadnax\u2019s attorneys.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, the most important thing is not the prosecutors,\u201d\u00a0rapper LL Cool J\u00a0told the AP in 2024, adding that judges should better block rap lyrics from trials. \u201cThe question is: Why is it even admissible?\u201d<\/p>\n
Lucius T. Outlaw III, a professor at Howard University School of Law who filed the amicus brief on behalf of Nielson and Killer Mike, said judges enforce rules of evidence specific to each state.<\/p>\n
One judge might view rap lyrics as relevant; another may disagree. One might worry about triggering \u201canti-rap, which is anti-Black, bias,\u201d he said, \u201cwhere another judge will say, \u2018I don\u2019t see that prejudice.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGuidelines about what is relevant when it comes to artistic expression and what is overly prejudicial is so needed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jeff Bellin, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School, said current rules tell judges to exclude evidence if it has low value as proof and a danger of creating bias.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe safeguard should be judges, but they are often not aware of the social issues, or the context, when it comes to rap lyrics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
New legislation seeks protection for lyrics<\/p>\n
Bellin said legislating around the issue is difficult because lawmakers don\u2019t want to create rules that would exclude evidence truly relevant to any case.<\/p>\n
In the past five years, at least 27 bills have been introduced federally and in a half-dozen states to limit the use of a defendant\u2019s creative expressions, including rap lyrics, in criminal proceedings, according to an AP analysis using the bill-tracking software Plural.<\/p>\n
On April 9, Maryland became the third state to pass legislation, creating \u201cguardrails and a test for judges to impose anytime prosecutors want to use artistic expression, not just rap,\u201d Outlaw said, noting it requires a factual connection between the potential evidence and the charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the cure-all, but it\u2019s a huge, important step,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
#Prosecutors #rap #lyrics #sentence #man #death #Texas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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