New York State Senators Brad Hoylman (D-Manhattan) and Jamaal Bailey (D-Bronx) plan to introduce legislation later this week that would severely limit the criminal prosecution of rap music and culture, Rolling Stone reports.
If passed, their "Rap Music on Trial" bill will set a high bar for prosecutors to demonstrate “clear and convincing evidence" that a defendant's lyrics, videos, or other "creative expression" is "literal, rather than figurative or fictional," before they can present it to a jury as evidence.
The practice of crimalizing hip-hop is rampant and unparallelled in any other musical genre or artform. In just the past five years, high profile rappers such as Drakeo the Ruler, YNW Melly, Maxo Kream, and Tay-K have been subject.
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