Recently, I stood on a raised court podium being cross-examined by a roomful of barristers. I was there as an “expert witness” to the case in hand – a group of young Black men from a small English city charged with conspiracy to possess a firearm – which mostly involved commenting on the extensive use of rap lyrics as evidence.
Local police officers had transcribed, translated and interpreted songs and YouTube music videos, many of which had been recorded and released more than five years before the alleged crime, to make their case. I’d maintained that the vast number of lyrics under consideration were not proof of any wrongdoing. They were violent and perhaps not to everyone’s taste, full of bravado and threats, for sure. But they were also outdated, clearly performative and not to be taken literally.
