A judge has said lyrics will be admissible as evidence in the trial of star US rapper Young Thug, a controversial practice that has been decried by free speech groups and other stars such as Jay-Z and Coldplay.
Known for his distinctive vocal timbre, Young Thug, real name Jeffery Williams, is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed rappers in the US, whose albums So Much Fun and Punk both topped the charts there. He will shortly go on trial in his home city of Atlanta for racketeering, accused of running what prosecutors call “a criminal street gang” called YSL (Young Slime Life, also Young Stoner Life), members of which have been charged with murder, carjackings and other alleged crimes. Williams’s legal team maintain YSL is a record label and music collective, with lawyer Brian Steel saying the rapper has “committed no violation of law whatsoever”.
Twenty-eight people were initially charged, including another chart-topping rapper, Gunna (real name Sergio Kitchens), who took a plea deal that allowed him to maintain his innocence. Other defendants took plea deals, were not arrested, or saw their cases separated from the racketeering case, leaving Williams and five others still to face trial.
The judge for the case, Ural Glanville, has now permitted prosecutors to introduce some Young Thug song lyrics as evidence, saying: “I’m going to conditionally admit particularised lyrics.”
Addressing Williams’s legal team during the hearing, Glanville argued prosecutors were “not prosecuting your clients because of the songs they wrote. They’re using the songs to prove other things your clients may have been involved in … I don’t think it’s an attack on free speech.”
As reported by Fox 5 Atlanta, prosecutor Mike Carlson said: “The lyrics are being used to prove the nature of YSL as a racketeering enterprise, the expectations of YSL as a criminal street gang. We’ve got party admissions for even the offence of murder here; this is evidentiary use.”
Prosecutor Simone Hylton quoted lyrics in court: “‘I just beat a murder rap, I paid my lawyer 30 for that.’ There’s a few other lyrics in between that and then: ‘Me and my slimes are above the law.’”
Lawyers for the defence countered that lyrics were creative expression, and could not be used as evidence or admissions of criminality. “There’s a giant elephant in the room, which is that we’re ignoring art,” said Doug Weinstein, attorney for Deamonte Kendrick, the rapper known as Yak Gotti, who is on trial alongside Williams. “There is art here and the art has got to be separated from real life … What Mr Kendrick is singing about is what he grew up around. What else is he supposed to sing about? He’s not going to sing [the Monkees’] Daydream Believer. He’s not going to write about puppies and rainbows and unicorns.”
There is growing opposition to the practice of introducing lyrics as criminal evidence, which have been used in the trials against US rappers such as Tekashi 6ix9ine and Tay-K in recent years. The practice is increasingly widespread in the UK, with research published by the Guardian finding 240 such cases in the last three years.
In January 2022, Jay-Z and Meek Mill were among those supporting a proposed change in New York state law that would prevent the introduction of lyrics as evidence, with state senator Jamaal Bailey arguing: “The right to free speech is enshrined in our federal and state constitutions. The admission of art as criminal evidence only serves to erode this fundamental right, and the use of rap and hip-hop lyrics in particular is emblematic of the systemic racism that permeates our criminal justice system.”
Similar legislation has been proposed in Georgia, Atlanta’s state, with US congressman Hank Johnson saying: “You should not be able to just simply put in some lyrics and say this is the state of mind of the person who is accused.”
In September 2022, California outlawed the use of lyrics as evidence in state trials. Harvey Mason Jr, chief executive of the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammy awards, called it “an important victory … Silencing any genre or form of artistic expression is a violation against all music people.”
In an address to fans from jail after he was denied bail multiple times, Williams encouraged fans to sign a petition titled Protect Black Art, saying: “I always use my music as a form of artistic expression, and I see now that Black artists and rappers don’t have that freedom”. Kitchens stated on release from jail: “My art is not allowed to stand alone as entertainment, I’m not allowed that freedom as a Black man in America.”
In November 2022 the three major labels, streaming and social media companies, and a large number of artists including Megan Thee Stallion, Coldplay, Future and Post Malone, all backed the Protect Black Art movement with an open letter. It argued the use of lyrics in trials is “un-American and simply wrong”, adding: “Rappers are storytellers, creating entire worlds populated with complex characters who can play both hero and villain. But more than any other art form, rap lyrics are essentially being used as confessions in an attempt to criminalise Black creativity and artistry.”
After a jury selection process that has taken over 10 months, Williams’s trial will begin on 27 November and is expected to last six to nine months according to Glanville.
The rapper has released an album while in jail, Business Is Business, which reached No 2 in the US charts after its release in June.
