Rappers snitching on themselves through their music has been a widely known and parodied phenomenon since the year 2004 at least. Just last year there was an LA rapper "Nuke Bizzle" who hilariously rapped about his Covid-19 welfare scam and got caught. It has gotten so bad that rappers are trying to argue that confessing to a crime shouldnt count if you do it through a rap song.

These rich and successful rappers shouldn't be supporting the governor of California because this is only making them look bad. They should tell these new rappers "use the 5th ammendment"

If you read the article, you would understand that is nonsense.

The law simply says that to be evidence they have to be specific, be relevant, and/or include non-publicly known information.

Another commenter brought up cash, and they’re right. By the current rules, if the police in Reno had an unsolved murder in which the victim was shot, they could put Johnny Cash on trial and use “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” as being hard evidence and an admission of guilt. Obviously there are reasons that the Reno police are not going to arrest Johnny cash on murder charges, but the example is completely true.

I wonder if this would be allowed as per the new restrictions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14WE3A0PwVs

> Obviously there are reasons that the Reno police are not going to arrest Johnny cash on murder charges

Especially one big reason

Ssshhh :)

Next up, newly uncovered video evidence proves Johnny Depp is guilty of piracy on the high seas!

I’m disappointed by these comments.

Johnny Cash said he “shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” but never got in trouble. But when people of color do it, they can get sent to prison (Young Thug is right now).

> Johnny Cash said he “shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” but never got in trouble. But when people of color do it, they can get sent to prison (Young Thug is right now).

Of course instead of being hysterical you could do your own research. Rappers getting caught for committing crimes based on their rap as evidence is not new. In fact, there are several sub-genres of rap where this is more common than the relatively mainstream stuff you listen to (drill, for example). Johnny Cash, however, never killed a man Reno. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre had plenty of violent lyrics but they never rapped about crimes they've personally committed (at least in an obvious way).

Using Young Thug is particularly hilarious because the RICO case against him uses his rap lyrics as evidence to corroborate his involvement in gangs and violence. There's no problem with this. If Johnny Cash was a part of a roving band of murderers in Reno he would be given the same treatment.

I don't think you're going to gain any virtue points for defending Young Thug, for what it's worth. You've misunderstood the entire case by focusing on this made up world where the lyrics are what is on trial. Come on.

The issue isn't specificity though, it's general admittance into court. Young Thug doesn't say things like, "I shot Dequavious Butts on September 2nd" it's generalized criminality. "Pull up with the stick, hit a lick, now I'm rich" then they have an expert witness explain the meaning of that to the jury and call it evidence of a criminal conspiracy.

So are you saying this law is a formalisation of what (should?) Already be happening?

I'm not American so I don't really know the context but it seems to me general lyrics about illegality are just general lyrics whereas specific lyrics, with other evidence could form the basis of a case.

> general lyrics about illegality are just general lyrics whereas specific lyrics, with other evidence could form the basis of a case.

IANAL but that is the case. They aren't trying anyone for the lyrics. They're trying them for a crime, with lyrics that suggest an admission to a crime serving as evidence. As far as I know no one has been sent to jail simply for the lyrics. However, it is quite convincing to a jury when you are on trial for a crime, and you also rap about said crime brazenly. No different than people going on Facebook to brag about what they stole from the store.

I live in Atlanta occasionally.

How many times do you have to be caught with illegal weapons and drugs to go to prison in this country? Unfortunately for your example this guy should have been in prison 3x over.

This ia not because of his song lyrics. He's a menace.

As I understand it, this doesn’t mean rap lyrics can’t ever be used as evidence. It’s still up to a judge’s discretion, this law just provides guidance on how judges should make that call. Such that if the lyrics aren’t really relevant to the case and are only the sort of exaggerated bluster common to the genre then they will be deemed more likely to just prejudice the jury and can be excluded from evidence.

I'm reminded of the brilliant confessional opening song for the television series Patriot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZJbwkYa4pk

I didn't find the rest of the series to live up to the brilliance of that song, but the song is worth a listen. It's a hyper specific folk song confession of a US young government hit man explaining why he accidentally killed an Iranian hotel maid. It's good to know that things like this would no longer qualify as evidence!

I can’t help but post this relevant Key & Peele skit:

https://youtu.be/14WE3A0PwVs

I’m starting to realize this could have been why YouTube might have put it in my feed sometime within the last week.

Shouldn't Newsom be dealing with the rapid violent crime wave happening?

What makes art special to protect versus any other civil communication?

Art isn't supposed to be a communication, just an expression. Do not confuse using a communication medium to deliver a copy of art with the actual artistic work.

An expression in words is communication…

Great, so the mob can now switch to using lyrics for their communication :) ?