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Let’s be frank. Did Tay-K commit murder with a couple sides of aggravated robbery and run off (from the police) to the studio to literally rap about his capers? Probably. Did YNW Melly commit a double murder and have the nerve to perform Murder On My Mind… and do that weird eye thing at the “b*tch I’m a murderer” line? Two for two. But the prosecution had other things linking the accused to the crimes alleged. Tay-K admitted to the robbery and there was testimony linking him to the shooting of Ethan Walker. The prosecution was able to restore Snapchat messages that seem to place Melly (or Melvin, depending on his persona) at the scene of the crime. Even if lyrics from songs were used as evidence at trial, they were supplementary at best. On the other hand, lyrics are going to be used as key evidence in Young Thug’s RICO trial. From Law360:
Rapper Young Thug’s songs are the key to understanding that he and five others carried out a racketeering operation under the Young Slime Life name, a Georgia prosecutor told a jury in long-awaited opening arguments Monday.
Fulton County prosecutor Adriane Love kicked off the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations trial of Young Thug — or Jeffery Williams — and five friends who prosecutors say committed violent acts to prop up their gang YSL, or Young Slime Life. The six say Young Slime Life was simply a record label…Love said Williams’ words “aren’t random. He tells you, as the evidence will show, ‘Take this shit to motherfucking trial … for Slimes you know I kill.’”
Does the evidence determine the significance of the lyrics, or do the lyrics dictate the significance of the evidence? Because I’d think that an investigative team alleging that a music label was actually a group of mafiosos hiding in daylight for damn near a decade would have found a private message, recording, or testimony showing YSL for what it truly is and not just a YouTube video. How sparse is the prosecution’s evidence that song lyrics are their key evidence? Is there no paper trail over the last seven years that wouldn’t do a better job of cementing gang activity?
Even if Sean Diddy Combs is allegedly a bad boy, founding Bad Boy records shouldn’t count as an admission of guilt. If they get Young Thug on these lyrics, are they going after Havoc next because he was in Mobb Deep? Are they going after Soulja Boy for gang activity because he yelled out SODMG a little too fervently? I really do hope that the prosecution’s legal strategy consists of more than reciting Young Thug lyrics and making wide eyes at the jury — instead of destroying the defense, they’ll just be making themselves look like Drax.
Young Thug Lyrics Will Prove Up RICO Case, Ga. Jury Hears [Law360]
Earlier: Desperate For Evidence, Prosecutors Will Use Young Thug Lyrics In Trial
I Don’t Think People Understand How Silly It Is To Use Song Lyrics As Evidence
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
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