Description
Book SynopsisA groundbreaking exposé about the alarming use of rap lyrics as criminal evidence to convict and incarcerate young men of color
Should Johnny Cash have been charged with murder after he sang, I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die? Few would seriously subscribe to this notion of justice. Yet in 2001, a rapper named Mac whose music had gained national recognition was convicted of manslaughter after the prosecutor quoted liberally from his album Shell Shocked. Mac was sentenced to thirty years in prison, where he remains. And his case is just one of many nationwide.
Over the last three decades, as rap became increasingly popular, prosecutors saw an opportunity: they could present the sometimes violent, crime-laden lyrics of amateur rappers as confessions to crimes, threats of violence, evidence of gang affiliation, or revelations of criminal motiveand judges and juries would go along with it. Detectives have reopened cold cases on account of r
