Bun B Warns Against Finding Crimes in Rap Lyrics

By Lora Neng
WWW.STREETGANGS.COM STAFF WRITER
January 22, 2014

Just how much weight rap lyrics should be given in court is currently under review in New Jersey. During the trial of Vonte Skinner, 13 pages of the man’s lyrics were read aloud, pulling from violent passages to implicate him in an attempted murder. Even though testimonial evidence was inconsistent, reported The New York Times, the jury still found him guilty and sentenced him to 30 years. But four years later in 2012, an appellate court overturned that conviction.

“We have a significant doubt about whether the jurors would have found defendant guilty if they had not been required to listen to the extended reading of these disturbing and highly prejudicial lyrics,” stated the Supreme Court. In 2013, the ACLU found that 80 percent of cases where rap was introduced had considered it admissible evidence.

“If a person chooses to incriminate themselves [in lyrics] then that’s their own thing,” quoted HipHopDX from Bun. “The problem is once we open this door to start going through everyone’s Rap lyrics to try to find crimes in there. That’s when we have a problem.”

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