When author and professor Andrew Cotto approached me about doing this interview for Salon related to my work on rap lyrics in criminal trials, I was both flattered and grateful for the continued attention to this issue. I am pleased with how it came out and hope it continues to put the spotlight on this disturbing use of art to put people in prison.
I’d also like to acknowledge the central role of Charis Kubrin in this research–we’ve been working together for almost a year now to make this part of a national conversation.
I guess it varies, i can see why they want to use that info. At the same time half these guys are just making these things up to portray an image of the so called ” streets”. You can look at it different ways but i guess just be careful what you preach.
This is really not the way to go about music in general this not only affects rap music but also many other genres like Country, Rock and others. Id say its an artform but i can see people just asking for it.