Arachnophonia: Rap On Trial

Editor’s note: Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student worker William (class of 2021) and features a new book by UR faculty member Erik Nielson and Andrea L. Dennis of the University of Georgia School of Law entitled Rap On Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America. Thanks, William!

(Please note that this piece was concurrently published in UR’s student newspaper The Collegian as well!)

Rap On Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America
by Erik Nielson and Andrea L. Dennis

Rap On Trial

Five Deeply Concerning Takeaways from UR professor Erik Nielson’s new book Rap On Trial: Race, Lyrics and Guilt in America

In their new book, Rap On Trial: Race, Lyrics and Guilt in America, University of Richmond professor Erik Nielson and Chair of Law at the University of Georgia School of Law, Andrea Dennis, rebuke prosecutors’ use of rap lyrics as evidence of a defendant’s guilt in U.S. criminal trials.

In doing so, they document how the U.S. criminal justice system’s policing of hip hop and rap music has evolved, and elucidate the dire consequences and First-Amendment concerns of using rap lyrics to convict and incarcerate young men of color.

Here are five deeply concerning takeaways:

1. Rap lyrics are almost always permitted as evidence to prosecute serious crimes like murder, robbery and drug trafficking

Throughout their research, Nielson and Dennis have identified more than 500 cases across the U.S. in which rap lyrics were used as evidence in a criminal trial. In some cases, the prosecution introduced a defendant’s lyrics as substantiating evidence of the defendant’s guilt in some crime. Other times, the lyrics were the crime.

According to the New Jersey ACLU, rap lyrics were permitted as evidence in 80 percent of cases that considered their admissibility. But Nielson and Dennis say the number, according to their research, is significantly higher.

2. Police and prosecutors target young, black and Latino amateur rappers

In roughly 95 percent of cases involving rap lyrics, the defendant is a young, black or Latino man with a local fan base, if any fan base at all. Because of their social status, amateur rappers, in the eyes of police and prosecutors, are not real artists.

3. Rap lyrics are used to convince jurors of the defendant’s “true character”

By Dennis and Nielson’s analysis, police and prosecutors nationwide interpret and present to jurors rap music as autobiographical. A training manual written by a California prosecutor says that, through music lyrics, prosecutors “can invade and exploit the defendant’s true personality.” The manual tells prosecutors not to be fooled by the defendant’s nice court attire.

“The real defendant is a criminal wearing a do-rag and throwing a gang sign,” according to the manual.

In the hands of prosecutors, rap lyrics are taken out of context and construed as accurate depictions of the defendant’s real life, despite the art form’s well-known tradition of hyperbole. Because of this, defendant’s will often plead guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence, knowing their lyrics, presented by prosecutors, might significantly bias the jurors.

To introduce lyrics as evidence, prosecutors often argue that the lyrics they wish to introduce are evidence of the defendant’s motive, knowledge or ability to commit the crime in question. If a defendant is being accused of murder, for instance, prosecutors will cherry-pick from the defendant’s rap lyrics the lyrics most evocative of murder, and argue before the jury that the rap lyrics at least prove the defendant is capable of murder.

Prosecutors have used rap lyrics to argue for harsher sentences. Dennis and Nielson have identified thirty cases in which prosecutors used a defendant’s lyrics to argue that the defendant’s “true character,” as exposed in his lyrics, was so beyond any hope of rehabilitation that he should be sentenced to death.

In at least one case, prosecutors used a defendant’s lyrical abilities to argue that he was mentally stable and intelligent enough to be executed.

4. Rap lyrics and videos are used to warrant “gang enhancements”

If prosecutors can show that the crime the defendant is standing trial for was committed on behalf of or in association with a gang, prosecutors can request a “gang enhancement,” which can double a defendant’s sentence. In some states, gang enhancements allow for juveniles to be charged as adults.

Prosecutors regularly use rap lyrics to seek gang enhancements. If a defendant references gang themes in his lyrics, or even just mentions certain neighborhoods, prosecutors will use those rap lyrics to connect the defendant’s crime to gang activity.

Increasingly common is the use of rap music videos to justify gang enhancements. Dennis and Nielson have identified cases in which prosecutors used rap music videos to justify a gang enhancement for defendants who were seen in the background of a music video.

5. “Gang experts” routinely use rap music and videos to surveil entire communities

Nielson and Dennis make clear that, although “Rap On Trial” is focused on the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials, police and so-called “gang experts” nationwide use hip hop, rap music and videos to surveil communities, to identify suspects and to justify arrests, all before rap enters the courtroom.

Michael Render, also known as “Killer Mike” from the Atlanta, Georgia, hip hop duo “Run The Jewels,” is a close friend of Nielson’s and wrote the foreword to Rap On Trial.

“Right now, aspiring rap artists need to know they are being targeted by the authorities,” Render wrote, “and they need to balance their right to free speech–and their desire to push the envelope of free speech–with the reality that police are watching.”

Spider Sounds: Holiday Music Special Edition – Part 2

Editor’s Note: Our Spider Sounds holiday music extravaganza continues today (you can check out part 1 here). We asked folks who work in the Parsons Music Library, Boatwright Memorial Library, and the Music Department to share some of their favorite music to listen to during the holiday season. Any holiday and all genres of music were fair game and we got quite a fun selection — so much so that we split everyone’s picks across two posts! Links will take you to either the library catalog or to other relevant information. Do you see any of your favorites on this list? If there are favorites or overlooked classics you’d like to add, please share them in the comments to this post! We at the Parsons Music Library wish you all a peaceful and enjoyable Winter Break.

reindeer

A list of holiday favorites (familiar and otherwise) — part the second:

Cate Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2019

The Waitresses“Christmas Wrapping”

The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping (1982 single cover)

Barenaked LadiesBarenaked For the Holidays

Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked for the Holidays

Malorie Olivier Administrative Coordinator, Boatwright Memorial Library

Eartha Kitt“Santa Baby”

Eartha Kitt - "Santa Baby"

Kasey Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2017

Paul McCartney“Wonderful Christmastime”

Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime

Elvis Presley“Blue Christmas”

Elvis Presley - Blue Christmas

James Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2017

“Pie Jesu” from Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s Requiem

Joanna Love Adjunct Professor of Music

Mariah Carey“All I Want For Christmas Is You”

mariah_carey-574

Gayla Peevey“I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas”

Gayla Peevey - I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas

Susie Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2019
Bernice Johnson Reagon“Seven Principles”

Sweet Honey In the Rock

Wesley Whatley – “Habari Gani (What’s The News?)”

cover-large_file

Sally Albrecht – “Light the Kinara for Kwanzaa”

Kinara

Iria Jones Operations Manager, Boatwright Memorial Library

“Carol of the Bells”

Holiday Bells

Samantha Guss Social Sciences Librarian, Boatwright Memorial Library

Evie“Come On Ring Those Bells”

Evie - Come On Ring Those Bells

Ray Charles“That Spirit of Christmas”

Ray Charles - That Spirit of Christmas

Alexandra Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2017

Band Aid“Do They Know It’s Christmas?”

Band Aid -  Do They Know It's Christmas?

Colette Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2017

Vince GuaraldiA Charlie Brown Christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Jennifer Cable Professor of Music & Coordinator of Voice Studies, Music Department

Leroy Anderson“Sleigh Ride”

Currier & Ives - Sleigh Ride

We’ve shared lots of holiday music in the past couple of posts. What are some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments on this post (or the first post in the series). Some of the selections shared stream on UR’s audio subscription services and some are available as CDs. Stop by the Parsons Music Library to pick up some holiday tunes for listening — or even some scores and do some music making of your own this season!

Spider Sounds

Spider Sounds: Holiday Music Special Edition — Part 1

Editor’s Note: Spider Sounds presents a special holiday edition today (it’s so special we’ve broken it into two parts!). We asked various folks who work in the Parsons Music Library, Boatwright Library and the Music Department to share some of their favorite music to listen to during the holiday season. Any holiday and all genres of music were fair game and we got quite a fun selection. Links will take you to either the library catalog or to other relevant information. Do you see any of your favorites on this list? If there are favorites or overlooked classics you’d like to add, please share them in the comments to this post! Tune in this Friday for part 2 of our Holiday Music Special!

Lights and piano

A list holiday favorites (familiar and otherwise):

Emily Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2017:

James Taylor at Christmas

James Taylor at Christmas

Handel’s Messiah

Handel's Messiah

Claire Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2020

“Silent Night”

Silent Night Chapel

Mary Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2018

Stevie Wonder “I Just Called To Say I Love You”

Stevie Wonder single

Linda Fairtile Head, Parsons Music Library

John Rutter“What Sweeter Music”

John Rutter Christmas Album

Any arrangement of “In The Bleak Midwinter”
“The Little Drummer Boy”
“O Holy Night”

Little Drummer Boy

Gabriela Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2020

Julian Casablancas“I Wish It Was Christmas Today”

Julian Casablancas - I Wish It Was Christmas Today

Liza Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2017

The soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Kim Wolfe Resource Sharing Specialist, Boatwright Memorial Library

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings“Big Bulbs” from their It’s A Holiday Soul Party album.

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

Also “8 Days (Of Hanukah)” from the same album!

Menorah

Zach Music Library Student Worker, Class of 2017

Samuel BarberAgnus Dei (Adagio for Strings) (the choral version)

Barber - Agnus Dei

Melanie Armstrong Music Library Associate (and blog editor!)

Duke Ellington‘s version of The Nutcracker Suite

Duke Ellington - The Nutcracker Suite

Benjamin Britten‘s A Ceremony of Carols

Britten's "A Ceremony of Carols"

Darlene Love“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”

For the 17th year on the broadcast, singer Darlene Love, who was recently chosen for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's class of 2011, perform her classic, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," on the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Thursday, Dec. 23 on the CBS Television Network.  Photo: John Paul Filo/CBS ©2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved

Singer Darlene Love performs her classic, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” on the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Thursday, Dec. 23 2010 on the CBS Television Network.
Photo: John Paul Filo/CBS
©2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved

All of the music (written by Paul Williams) from the Muppets special Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas

Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas

Don’t forget the second part of this holiday music extravaganza will be out on Friday and feel free to share your own holiday favorites in the comments!

Spider Sounds