Are Rappers Becoming Their Own Star Witnesses?

Hip-hop is a genre known for grandiose, braggadocious storytelling. It's a genre that thrives on larger than life superstars with larger than life personalities to go with them. While being “relatable” is normally considered a positive trait, one of the most enjoyable things for some hip-hop fans is just how un-relatable a lot of rappers are. Some rappers carry themselves so proudly that they almost come off more as superheroes and comic book characters than they do as regular every day people, and I think that is their intent. This also invites some interesting tales in the lyrics that have been both appealing and questionable to listeners. Some rappers get so personal, vivid, and honest about their personal lives that they begin to admit to doing some rather dangerous and highly illegal things. The problem lies within whether you believe those lyrics and think that their art is an undoubted truth that reflects that rapper’s reality.

So one begins to ask: How far can rap lyrics go until they can be used as evidence for a crime?

Well, as it turns out, this tends to be dealt with on a state-by-state basis. In August of 2014, the Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled unanimously that an artist’s lyrics could not be used in a court of law to incriminate them. Other states have not yet passed a similar law. This arose after the case of Vonte Skinner, a rapper who was at one time convicted for murder due to the police finding a 13-page book of rhymes in the back seat of his car that mentioned amongst other things, killing. Even though the book was over four years older than the crime, it was claimed to be a proof of his “motive and intent.” This is an incredible presumption that creates a dangerous precedent. The line is so grey and blurred as to what is or isn’t incriminating when it comes to these cases, which is why some have used generic, over-arching, all-encompassing arguments such as imply determining something as diverse as Vonte Skinner’s potential intent. This story got the traction it deserved, and was even big enough to be featured on the NewsHour of PBS. This is a large problem that has a history of rearing it’s head. Southern rappers Lil’ Boosie and C-Murder have both had their rap lyrics read aloud during court cases. It’s worth mentioning just how selective this tactic has been used in court, with the overwhelmingly vast majority of these have been used by black hip-hop artists making urban music. This is not a problem that exists in the white metal community, despite the bands from that sub-genre making some of the most explicitly violent lyrics from any musician in all of music.

While this is clearly a problem, it isn’t unfair to question just how much some rappers put out there. As Mr. Fantastik said on the chorus of New York rapper MF DOOM’s song “Rapp Snitch Knishes:”

Rap snitches, telling all their business

Sit in the court and be their own star witness

Do you see the perpetrator? – Yeah, I’m right here

Fuck around, get the whole label sent up for years

Beyond being used in the court room, police officers have already started to scour through the Youtube-uploaded music videos of many underground rappers to find potential clues to learn more about gangs of the area as well as potential crime. Clearly there is still a ways to go, at least it seems as though rap lyrics have only been used once a rapper has already been charged for a potential crime, meaning that lyrics are not inherently incriminatory. If that were the case, then Eminem, Sticky Fingaz, Lil Bibby, Maxo Kream, and the like would constantly be facing court cases for as long as they could.

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Works Cited

Serwer, Adam. "Rap Lyrics: Art or Evidence?" Msnbc.com. NBC News Digital, 06 Aug. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2016

Goldstein, Joseph, and J. David Goodman. "Seeking Clues to Gangs and Crime, Detectives Monitor Internet Rap Videos." The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 Jan. 2014. Web. 22. Mar. 2016

Schwartzberg, Lauren. "Rap Lyrics Are Being Used to Incriminate Young People." VICE. VICE, 14 May 2014. Web. 22 Mar 2016.