Rapper Young Thug was arrested a few days ago for reported criminal activity as part of the artist group and alleged street gang Young Slime Life, or YSL.
I'm not really that interested in the charges against YSL, as I know literally nothing about crime law as it pertains to street gangs. What I am interested in is the fact that the prosecution is attempting to use some of Young Thug's lyrics as part of the evidence against him, a practice that should absolutely be banned.
Look, I can't stand rappers who fill every bar they have with references to how much weed they just smoked and how hard they're gonna bang your girl tonight and how much money they got in their pockets because they keep working on that grind 24/7 all night. I just want to take that fat stack of cash they speak of and shove it down their throat until they decide to have at least one interesting thing to say. That being said, all of these lyrics are still an artistic expression. Song lyrics are always meant to be open to interpretation to at least some degree. Do I think most rappers are serious when they talk about how much weed they just smoked and how hard they're gonna bang my girl tonight? Probably. But at the end of the day, we need to allow artists to express themselves and their ideas however they see fit, safe in the knowledge that what they create will be viewed as a work of art in itself, not an indictment of the creator. If Young Thug wants to rap about theoretically murdering someone, then great. That's his prerogative. It's grotesque and offensive and downright stupid, but I want him and any other artist to have the ability to do that without worry for their safety.
Because at the end of the day, Johnny Cash did not shoot a man in Reno. And Foster the People did not shoot up a school. I am all for convicting people of crimes they committed, but we are going to enter into extremely dangerous territory when we start letting law enforcement begin to make the judgement on which artistic expressions were imagined and which weren't. Because we know how this game will work: we will automatically assume that the crimes white people sing about were theoretical, and the crimes black people sing about must be prosecuted. The circumstances are almost begging for that outcome.
To law enforcement agencies: if someone really committed a crime — and it's very possible that Young Thug did — then find some actual evidence that they committed it. No credible evidence lives on Genius.com. Leave the song lyrics out of this.
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