by Paul David Henderson
On May 9 of this year, Jeffery Lamar Williams, aka Young Thug, was arrested in Atlanta and charged with an indictment spanning over 80 pages regarding alleged gang activity. He was one of the twenty-eight individuals affiliated with YSL Records (his record label) charged with 56 total RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) counts.
This is a very serious problem for Young Thug. RICO, made famous by formerly feared United States Attorney Rudy Giuliani’s takedown of the heads of the Five Families in New York City in the 1980’s, essentially empowers prosecutors to target an entire enterprise for the actions of its lone members if those members commit a crime in furtherance of the enterprise’s interests. Originally developed to combat the Mafia, prosecutors have applied RICO over the decades to target gangs, theft rings, groups of con men, and many other criminal enterprises involving more than one member.
Prosecutors submitted lyrics from several of Young Thug’s songs, which often reference criminal and violent behavior, as evidence. The courts have ruled that such evidence is admissible. It is here that I want to note that American courts have a very long history of singling out Black artists, particularly Black rappers, for their music and lyrics, allowing submission of such things as evidence in criminal cases, and developing laws and policies to combat Black influence on music and American society in general.
For example, Harry Anslinger, former Commissioner of the Federal Narcotics Bureau, did not care about cannabis until Black jazz musicians, who often smoked it, became popular. Anslinger led a crusade that resulted in the criminalization of cannabis in 1937 and ruthlessly pursued Black musicians, notably Billie Holiday, for their alleged cannabis use. It should also be noted that the term “marijuana” was first popularized by Anslinger in hopes that it would elicit anti-Hispanic sentiment.
Critics of rap music say that it turns Black Americans into criminals because the lyrics are violent and promote the sale of illegal narcotics. Yet, I am willing to bet that many of these critics enjoy listening to white artists like Johnny Cash, John Lennon, or Hank Williams, Jr. What is your favorite Johnny Cash song? It could be the one where he takes a bump of cocaine and murders his wife (“I can’t forget the day I shot that bad bitch down”). Maybe it’s the one where he “shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.” Or perhaps it’s the song where he tries to murder his own father in a bar. If you aren’t into those ones, you might enjoy the one where he commits grand theft auto by stealing a Cadillac from a General Motors factory.
John Lennon sings in the Beatles’ “Happiness is a Warm Gun,” “I need a fix ‘cause I’m going down.” And Hank Williams, Jr. revived his career by going from singing about simple country life to singing about his rampant drug use. Johnny Cash, John Lennon, and Hank Williams, Jr. are venerated musical legends; nobody questions that their lyrics were for artistic purposes. Yet, in Young Thug’s case, the prosecution stated: “We believe that Mr. Williams doesn’t sing about random theoretical acts–he sings about acts that his gang participates in.”
There is an unquestionable double standard in the application of laws against Black artists for their lyrics in rap music. When laws such as RICO are used this way, they produce racially disparate outcomes that result in further prejudice against Black artists. Whenever we hear about such rappers as Young Thug, Bobby Shmurda, Tekashi69, or YFN Lucci being prosecuted under the RICO Act, there is always discussion about whether their song lyrics should be used as evidence against them. Erik Nielson, a University of Richmond professor and co-author of the book “Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America,” found over 500 cases from 1990 through 2017 where a defendant’s rap lyrics or videos were introduced as evidence of guilt in an underlying crime, especially when the cases were weak. Actions such as this are not only an attack on Black artists but also on protected speech as enumerated in First Amendment and interpreted by the Supreme Court.
So how do we address this double standard? We need to meet it head on and fight for the rights of Black artists. The New York Senate passed a law just this past May restricting the use of rap lyrics in criminal cases. California lawmakers are considering similar legislation, and federal lawmakers like Georgia’s Hank Johnson are leading the charge to get something done at the national level.
As the music industry continues to sign, encourage and profit off of rappers and their experiences (whether exaggerated or true), it needs to be willing to recognize its complacency in the system and do more to protect the artists they sign. Lobbying for similar bills to New York’s in states that are hotbeds of rap talent, such as Georgia, California, Ohio, Texas, etc., would go some way towards remedying this long history of disparate treatment of Black artists. We cannot change what happened in the past, but we can make a promise to be better. Black artists should not continue to be defined by historically deep-rooted prejudice against African-Americans in this country. Positive change here can be a small step in striving toward realizing the American ideal that all persons are indeed created equal.
Harry Anslinger’s crusade against marijuana and its racial motivations
Harry Anslinger and Billie Holiday
Erik Nielsen research into rap lyrics as evidence
New York Senate restricts use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases
Paul David Henderson is the Executive Director of the Department of Police Accountability in San Francisco
