SALEM — Should music, specifically rap lyrics, be considered evidence in a court of law? This is a question jurors nationally and in the Salem Superior Court are grappling with. Unique evidence in the ...

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA) speaking alongside Rep. Hank Johnson (GA) and Willie "Prophet" Stiggers of BMAC. - Credit: Courtesy of Philip Walotsky The nonprofit organization Free Our Art is ...

"The portrayal of rap lyrics as literal expressions of criminal intent ignores the longstanding tradition of adopting personas, exaggeration, and hyperbole for artistic effect," writes the NJLJ Young ...

READ ALOUD in court, the words sounded like a confession: “Fuck the judge…this that mob life…cookin’ white brick.” Not long ago the defendant, Jeffery Williams, was rapping these lines on stage. Now ...

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On the afternoon of March 16th, 2017, aspiring rapper Anthony Murillo stood to hear the jury’s verdict – the culmination of a weeklong trial in which prosecutors argued that he had used a rap song to ...

The Restoring Artistic Protection ACT — or RAP Act — would place legal guidelines on when, and how, lyrics can be introduced to a jury as evidence. But is it enough? In 2019, the Maryland Court of ...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (KDKA) -- They call themselves "gangsta rappers," but Jamal Knox and Rashee Beasley may have crossed the line between protected free speech, and terroristic threats and intimidation ...

Hip-hop, a genre born from the struggles and realities of inner-city communities, has long been a powerful platform for social commentary. Its raw lyricism, often depicting violence, drug dealing, and ...

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A dispute over rap lyrics dropped Tuesday before Pennsylvania's highest court, where justices will have to decide whether they constitute a criminal threat to police or amount to ...