SALEM — Should music, specifically rap lyrics, be considered evidence in a court of law? This is a question jurors nationally and in the Salem Superior Court are grappling with. Unique evidence in the ...

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If song lyrics could be used as evidence in criminal trials, many of the most famous artists in history would be in serious trouble. Bob Marley sings “I Shot the Sheriff.” The Talking Heads’ biggest ...

California recording artists are celebrating the institution of The Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act. Under the act, courts will be restricted in their use of artists’ lyrics as evidence ...

The Restoring Artists Protection Act, the RAP Act, is a proposal to limit the use of lyrics in federal criminal proceedings, lyrics from songs like this one called "Anybody" by Young Thug and Nicki ...

California has become the first state to restrict the use of creative expression in a criminal proceeding, and artists and free speech advocates are hoping that more states and the federal government ...

Atlanta rapper Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffery Lamar Williams, is seen on a monitor as he waits for a virtual appearance before a Fulton County magistrate judge on May 10, 2022. (Arvin ...

In 2001, St. Tammany Parish prosecutors turned to rap lyrics as part of their attempt to paint McKinley “Mac” Phipps Jr. as capable of first-degree murder. Their reasoning: Phipps writes music with ...

“Rap, hip-hop and every lyrical musical piece is a beautiful form of art and expression that must be protected," said Representative Bowman of the proposed bill. The movement to prohibit the usage of ...

READ ALOUD in court, the words sounded like a confession: “Fuck the judge…this that mob life…cookin’ white brick.” Not long ago the defendant, Jeffery Williams, was rapping these lines on stage. Now ...

On the afternoon of March 16th, 2017, aspiring rapper Anthony Murillo stood to hear the jury’s verdict – the culmination of a weeklong trial in which prosecutors argued that he had used a rap song to ...

The decision was of particular interest because Gov. Gavin Newsom of California expanded a law last week to specifically restrict the use of rap lyrics in criminal proceedings. By Michael Levenson A ...