A documentary film explores the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases, highlighting the ongoing case of a Grammy-winning rapper charged with leading a street gang. The film shows how the criminal justice system has targeted hip-hop music for years.
While the film unspools in Park City, the biggest ever case concerning this phenomenon is still ongoing. It involves Grammy-winning, who has not only been charged with heading up a murderous Atlanta street gang that also doubles as a record label, but whose own song lyrics are being used in court by the prosecution. If the latter sounds a bit shocking,director J.M. Harper demonstrates that such a legal tactic, which mixes art and evidence to ascertain guilt, is actually nothing new.
Structured as a road movie, with Harper following Bronx-born rapper Kemba as he conducts interviews in cities across the U.S. and then over in London, the film offers its own array of proof to show that America’s criminal justice system has been homing in on hip-hop music for quite some time. “Before they had lyrics, they had witnesses,” one Chicago-based MC points out. But now in most U.S. states, public prosecutors are using lyrics as “character evidence” to prove that defendants are living the very same lives they rap abou
Rap Lyrics Evidence Court Criminal Justice System Documentary
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