Editor's note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
The genre that’s harbored millennial rappers such as Young Thug, DaBaby, J-Cole, Kendrick Lamar and Nicki Minaj to name a few, hip-hop is undoubtedly one of the most prominent and influential genres today.
Generating a career path that strays away from the depiction of violence and despair so frequently documented in rap lyrics today, the genre has evidently become the blueprint for many to vocally maximize their past experiences, but at a lawful cost.
Gripping onto a 55-year prison sentence, vile lyrics launched the career of Texas rapper Tay-K, yet, it also most notably became his downfall.
Within his 2017 hit single, “The Race," the 19-year-old rapper boastfully recounts his criminal activity, in which he admits his involvement in a 2016 robbery and fleeing, all while on beat. However, avid listeners of his music were not the only ones in tune, but so was the criminal justice system.
Unknowingly connecting the dots for the opposition, ironically the outcome of “The Race” is exactly what Tay-K was running away from.
This past year, Tay-K was found guilty due to his alleged involvement in the 2016 fatal home invasion and robbery, which led to the death of 21-year-old Ethan Walker. However, furthering that decision, while in the courtroom, was the use of lyrics and video footage from the controversial single, yet, this is not a new dehumanizing adaptation of our court system.
That’s correct, the use of lyrics as supporting evidence in the courtroom has become heavily prominent for the past two decades and will, unfortunately, continue to do so. Posed under the illusion as a musical gateway to elicit past and current experiences, lyrics are now being used to incriminate individuals, but black men in particular.
From the lyrics of rapper Snoop Dogg’s “Murder Was the Case” used in his 1996 murder trial, to today’s millennial rapper YNW Melly’s 2017 single “Murder on My Mind," lyrics are targeted as evidence, even for events that have not occurred as of yet.
Therefore, Melly’s debacle is most interesting as he is currently facing the death penalty for his alleged involvement in the deaths of two of his friends back in October of 2018, with the song, used as evidence, that was released nearly a year and a half before the murders occurring.
Furthermore, using a song as evidence to a crime that’s foreshadowed to be connected and committed by this individual a year later is the epitome of the criminal justice system jumping to conclusions.
Now, although the alleged actions of these individuals are not being justified, the abundant use of lyrics used to incriminate individuals is not ethical.
Like every other genre, the root of hip-hop is meant to express the black experience whether that’s in an exaggerated fiction and/or non-fiction form, there needs to be a defined line between the art and the artist. Criminalizing lyrics in efforts to have them perceived as an incriminating diary entry is completely demeaning to the artist and, in a way, silences their voices and minimizes their experience that they publicly shared as an escape.
Coinciding, as a fan of an artist I’m pretty sure we expect nothing but transparency and authenticity being conveyed throughout their music, so forcefully relinquishing their craft is not justice, it’s exploitative.
