Young Thug’s Lyrics Used Against Him in Court Is ‘Unprecedented Racism,’ Legal Experts Say
Ethan Shanfeld Hip-hop, like any art form, is a means of creative expression. And while rap music is often semi-autobiographical, when Kanye West recorded in 2018, “I thought about killing you / Premeditated murder,” or when, 18 years earlier, Eminem boasted of putting his dead wife in the trunk of a car, surely those words weren’t meant to be taken literally.But what happens when lyrics are used as evidence in a criminal trial?Grammy-nominated artist Young Thug was arrested this week on charges of gang activity and conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).