Campaigners speak out against the criminalisation of rap lyrics: “If you’re Black, and you rap, then you’re in a gang”
Key members from the Art Not Evidence campaign have called for legislation restricting the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials.
The campaign, which started last year, aims to restrict the use of rap lyrics in trial. Defendants are often unfairly prosecuted from lyrics typically understood to be exaggeration or fiction, or even appearing in rap videos. As of June 2023, over 240 people in the UK have been jailed after a court decision that was in part based on their involvement with rap music.
So far, the campaign has been backed by figures such as IDLES, Annie Mac, and more. There are also plans for a bill to be tabled in the next parliamentary session by MP Nadia Whittome, where all forms of artistic expression will be held to a higher threshold to be used in court.
At the House of Commons yesterday (January 10), NME attended the panel chaired by Elli Brazzill. She is the founder of Art Not Evidence, has previously worked for Warner Music, and is currently the Music Editor at Napster Music.
Brazzill said that the criminalisation of drill music can impede up-and-coming rappers, starting with their music videos. It was recently revealed that from 2020-2022, the Met Police requested 654 drill/rap videos to be taken down – with 635 requests successful. Met Police requests to remove UK drill content from TikTok have increased by 366 per cent since 2020. Brazzill cites Abra Cadabra’s ‘On Deck’ video as an example: “It was about to hit the top ten. His digital manager approximated that was 70 per cent of the streams – that’s your momentum cut.”
Another way in which rappers can be harmed is through criminal behaviour orders (CBOs). These orders can prevent rappers from mentioning violent themes in their lyrics to restricting who they are able to meet with. The most famous example of this is Digga D, whose challenges navigating a CBO were presented in the BBC documentary Defending Digga D.
Brazzill said the CBO can extend deeper into the musical ecosystem, harming a musician’s career. “You’re not allowed to be in contact for a certain amount of time, and we’re not talking just physically – we’re talking texts and calls,” she said. “Often they will put your producers and your manager [on them], so you literally cannot continue doing your career when you’re out.”
Finally, Brazzill says that the criminalisation of drill music can affect artists’ chances of even being signed to a label. “A story that a lot of people don’t know is that when XL tried to sign Giggs, the police literally went to XL, called the label manager and said, ‘Don’t sign this guy’,” she said. “It’s not just pervasive, it’s targeted.”
Despite police warnings, XL went on to sign Giggs in 2009; by 2016, the rapper went independent.
Whilst young, up-and-coming Black rappers have usually been targets, the case of Young Thug demonstrates how this issue is escalating beyond the grassroots. He is currently on trial with rap lyrics currently being used as alleged evidence of his involvement in a gang.
Erik Nielson, who testified as an expert on Young Thug’s case, warned that the rapper’s case could signal more successful artists being targeted. Nielson is the co-author of Rap On Trial: Race, Lyrics and Guilt in America, and has appeared in over 100 cases in the US as a witness expert. He said that Young Thug’s fame will be a “double-edged sword” in his trial.
“On the one hand, I am certain that police have targeted him and are looking at other well-known rappers because they see them as major scores,” he remarked.
“With visibility comes this type of danger – as you start to go up the charts, it gets scarier. That’s different from the way it used to be. This used to be almost exclusively something that we saw with up-and-coming artists.”
He added: “On the other hand, his fame and success gives him the legal resources to mount a defence that most of these amateur artists couldn’t come near. I’ve worked on it since he was indicted, and I’ve not seen a more robust defence so far.”
There is no other genre like rap or drill that is used to prosecute defendants. Adèle Oliver, author of Deeping It: Colonialism, Culture & Criminalisation of UK Drill, said a country artist writing about someone “shot with a shotgun” would not be in the same place as a rapper writing about “cheffing someone with a knife”.
“Country is considered to be an art form,” she said. “There’s respect for the knowledge required to become a real country artist. I wouldn’t dare call myself a country music expert after listening for a couple of hours, but police can do that about rap because it’s just people talking over some drums.
“There’s a specific lack of artistic credit, understanding that Black people can do anything beyond the literal and rudimentary.”
Keir Monteith KC is a barrister who has defended numerous young men in trials where rap lyrics or videos are used as evidence. He said young Black men are often indicted due to joint enterprise laws; even if defendants don’t murder the victim themselves, they can still be convicted of murder if they are interpreted as part of a gang (aka ‘joint enterprise).
Rapping, appearing in a drill video or merely “taking an interest in drill” is enough to convince jury members that defendants are part of a gang. Monteith called it “a complete travesty of justice”.
“Often the legal system locks up for life numerous Black defendants on the back of this joint enterprise, and often just on the basis of the actions of a single individual – literally hundreds and hundreds of years of injustice,” he said. “That’s why we need this legislation.”
One notable case Monteith worked on was a 2022 trial where ten members of the alleged ‘M40’ gang in Manchester were jailed for a total of 131 years. They were convicted over a conspiracy to commit murder and grievous bodily harm to avenge the death of friend Alexander John Soyoye, who was stabbed to death in 2020. Monteith said: “This case hits me so hard.”
He highlighted Ademola Adedeji’s story in the case, who was 17-years-old at the time of Soyoye’s death. According to Monteith, Adedeji had plans for his own book, had an unconditional offer to study law at the University of Birmingham, and worked as a careperson for people with dementia. Adedeji had even spoken to MPs at the House of Commons about the challenges young Black men faced.
“Like many of his co-defendants, Ade was of good character – beyond good character,” he said. “He’d put us all to shame at that age. But he was alleged to be part of a violent street gang.
“According to the prosecution, Ade and the others got involved in violent street gangs because they have an interest in drill. He wasn’t even cross-examined by the prosecution on drill in that trial. The jury was still told to take it into account.
“What did he get? Eight years! It’s disgusting.”
Monteith finally warned that police officers will attend “rap courses” to become experts on drill, where they will inform juries about the meaning of rap lyrics to “hand gestures” and “colours” that may be displayed in the video.
“Rap and drill music is collected and presented by a police force that is institutionally racist,” he stated. “The legal system’s starting point with this fictional form of entertainment and creative expression is that if you’re Black, and you rap, you make gun fingers or even just appear in a rap video, then you’re in a gang.
“When so-called gang evidence in the form of music videos is not scrutinised, the adversarial system fails defendants in its charge.”
Art Not Evidence’s open letter can be signed here.
The post Campaigners speak out against the criminalisation of rap lyrics: “If you’re Black, and you rap, then you’re in a gang” appeared first on NME.
Alex Rigotti
NME
