Kevin Liles Launch Petition Against Prosecutors Using Rap Lyrics as Evidence
Kevin Liles Launch Petition Against Prosecutors Using Rap Lyrics as Evidence
With the recent federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) case against Hip-Hop artists Young Thug, Gunna and their associates, the government will be using lyrics stated in their songs to try to convict them on charges brought against them. 300 Entertainment’s Kevin Liles and Atlantic Records’ COO Julie Greenwald have recently launched a petition that will prevent prosecutors from utilizing lyrics rappers say in their songs against them in court.
The change.org petition titled “Rap Music on Trial: Protect Black Art” was launched by the former Def Jam executives. It highlights the injustices that are presented when prosecutors use the lyrics and creative expressions by artists against them as proof of whatever crimes they are accused of. They want it stopped.
As Liles points out in the petition, “hip-hop artists create entire worlds populated with complex characters who often play both hero and villain.”
YOUNG STONER LIFE RECORDS IS A MUSIC LABEL. Share this post in an effort to spread the message that using lyrics on trial is both unfair and unjust. #ProtectBlackArt #RapOnTrial pic.twitter.com/ohD3QJ0FHR
— Kevin Liles (@KevinLiles1) May 24, 2022
The petition states that “Today in courtrooms across America, Black creativity and artistry is being criminalized. With increasing and troubling frequency, prosecutors are attempting to use rap lyrics as confessions. This practice isn’t just a violation of First Amendment protections for speech and creative expression. It punishes already marginalized communities and silences their stories of family, struggle, survival, and triumph.”
As his artists are looking at possible life sentences, he uses them as the perfect example of why this tactic must end.
He writes that multiple artists who are signed to Young Stoner Life Records are currently facing more than 50 allegations, as they have been hit with RICO charges which claim “the record label is a criminal gang.” The allegations rely on the lyrics the artists state in their recordings as prosecutors claim are proof of “overt evidence of conspiracy.” Fulton County prosecutors are saying that lyrics like “ready for war like I’m Russia” are a confession of criminal intent.
As Liles praised New York lawmakers for their passage of Senate Bill S7527, which is also referred to as “Rap Music on Trial” he hopes that “similar Bills will become law across America to end this attack on our First Amendment freedoms that disproportionately harms Black and other minority artists.”
Last month, Senate Bill S7527 was passed by a 38-23 vote. This bill “limits the admissibility of evidence of a defendant’s creative or artistic expression against such defendant in a criminal proceeding.”
