Dozens of music stars, including Megan Thee Stallion and Canada’s Drake, are calling on U.S. legislators to “Protect Black Art” by limiting how rap lyrics are used “to criminalize Black creativity and artistry.”
They say using rap lyrics against artists is “un-American and simply wrong.”
An open letter published in The New York Times and Atlanta Journal-Constitution reads: “In courtrooms across America, the trend of prosecutors using artists’ creative expression against them is happening with troubling frequency.
“Regardless of the medium – music, the visual arts, writing, television, film – fans implicitly understand that creative expression is rooted in what artists see and hear; it’s a reflection of the time we live in. The final work is a product of the artists’s vision and imagination.”
The letter described rappers as storytellers creating worlds populated with “characters who can play both hero and villain.”
In addition to dozens of rap artists, the letter is “signed” by artists like Camila Cabello, Coldplay, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige, Michelle Branch, Morgan Wallen, Brothers Osborne, Robin Thicke and Normani.
Researchers have found more than 500 cases where rap lyrics were used as evidence, compared to only four cases of lyrics from other genres of music. New York is currently considering a bill to ban the use of lyrics.
In Georgia, where rappers Young Thug and Gunna are awaiting trial on a slew of serious gang-related charges, prosecutors have cited lyrics as “overt evidence of conspiracy.”