(CN) - The New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday affirmed a new trial for a man whose gangster rap lyrics were used as evidence to convict him of attempted murder. Vonte Skinner was charged in 2006 with ...

(CN) — This may have been the last music that Texas Trooper Bill Davidson heard before he was shot alongside a highway in 1992: “I got a nine-millimeter Glock pistol/I'm ready to get with you at the ...

No one believes that country music legend Johnny Cash shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die. When Cash in 1968 released “Folsom Prison Blues,” a ballad about shooting and killing a man for no ...

"The portrayal of rap lyrics as literal expressions of criminal intent ignores the longstanding tradition of adopting personas, exaggeration, and hyperbole for artistic effect," writes the NJLJ Young ...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In his viral video “Who I Smoke,” Jacksonville rapper Spinabenz claims credit for no fewer than six murders. The crimes are real. But are his lyrics just violent fiction -- or an ...

Rap is a lyrical expression of social, cultural, and political issues in present society. Unsurprisingly, rap music is the most popular genre of music and features predominantly Black artists ...

The running joke surrounding Lil Pump’s breakout hit, “Gucci Gang,” is that the 17-year-old rapper has to repeat the title 53 times just to reach the two-minute mark. There’s a version that gets ...

The trial of Grammy Award-winning rapper Young Thug, real name Jeffery Lamar Williams, began on Monday in Atlanta, Ga. The trial is expected to take months and will be pivotal in shaping how the ...

Musicians including Jay-Z, Kelly Rowland and Killer Mike are backing a bid by two US senators to ban the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials. What is in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and ...

In Florida, rapper YNW Melly’s double murder retrial looms in 2024. Meanwhile, in Georgia, Young Thug is the latest high-profile hip hop artist to have his lyrics dissected in court. Prior to Melly’s ...

Ms. Lee is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and a 2021-22 Knight-Wallace reporting fellow. March 30, 2022 Tommy Munsdwell Canady was in middle school when he wrote his first rap ...