Rap Music On Trial Analysis

Art has undoubtedly become a decisive aspect of our culture; embedded in the way we learn and grow on a daily basis. Art forms such as music, television and dance dominate our society as an outlet of freedom of speech for humanity. The evolution of music has rapidly exceeded its original classifications, developing new genres with greater appeal to an audience, hence its influence on society has expedited. In recent times, lyrics (specifically rap lyrics) have been introduced into the court room as a form of documented confessional evidence, evidently challenging law’s authoritative nature. This essay will closely follow the genre of rap and its relationship with law, through cases based in the United States of America (USA). In addition, the trial of Simon Bikindi in Rwanda and Smith v The Queen will be used to form an acute analysis on the influencing factors of relevance, identity, freedom of speech and current constitutional law.

The importance of show-trials is proving what you are doing looks good, and that is law-abiding. It is important to make everyone happy. (Bach pg.193) A show-trial is a judicial trial held in public with the intention of influencing or satisfying public opinion, rather than of ensuring justice. These show trials resonate deeply with the citizenry. The media world is outrageously popular for captivating the public audience’s attention for court room related cases. An example would be TV. We’ve all came across episodes of “Law and Order.” It appears out to be “how” people think American Justice is. (Bach pg.195) The public attention of media is ranked highly and known as best.

Rap music has become one of the most distinctive and controversial music genres of the past few decades. A major part of hip hop culture, rap, discusses the experiences and standards of living of people in different situations ranging from racial stereotyping to struggle for survival in poor, violent conditions. Rap music is a vocal protest for the people oppressed by these things. Most people know that rap is not only music to dance and party to, but a significant form of expression. It is a source of information that describes the rage of people facing growing oppression, declining opportunities for advancement, changing moods on the streets, and everyday survival. Its distinct sound, images, and attitude are notorious to people of all

In the past 2 years alone, more than 3 dozen criminal prosecutions have had rap lyrics be presented by the prosecutor as a vital piece of evidence in the case. [Manly] In many of these cases the prosecutor will use violent lyrics created by the defendant to prove that that person is inherently dangerous and in other cases, will use the lyrics as a direct confession to having committed the crime in question. If you read into these cases you will notice a common theme between them; the defense will claim that the lyrics are freedom of speech and should be considered artistic expression, while the prosecutors will claim that the song is either a criminal threat or has too many similarities to the actual crime that it should be considered a confession. The primary basis for this debate is that hip-hop music is a misunderstood cultural practice because of the racial divide between the defendant and the criminal justice system.

The legal elements of this book, is the lack of justice for the defendants, lack of resources in the courtroom, and the bias that the people within the courtroom had. This related to our law and society class because society looks

J. Simpson. In addition to his numerous law review articles and books about criminal and constitutional law, he has written, taught and lectured about history, philosophy, psychology, literature, mathematics, theology, music, sports – and even delicatessens. [1]

The Framers of the Sixth Amendment looked to reinforce this overwhelming antagonistic process. Mainland Europe had since quite a while ago utilized an inquisitorial framework, in which officers research wrongdoings and judges take driving parts in surrounding the issues, uncovering confirmation, and addressing witnesses. The Anglo-American framework that the Sixth Amendment systematized, by differentiating, abandons it to each side to lead its own particular examination, introduce its own proof, and contend one side of the story in open

“Common people” means the jury can be made of people rich or poor, educated or ignorant, wise or not. Regardless of economical, religious, or social stature, people trust the news—But, should they? The jury may come to court with their vote already subconsciously, or not, instilled in their minds. Hengstler states that, as of now, “with respect to balancing First and Sixth Amendment rights and values under our system, the answer is not readily apparent.” He closes the article by presenting a challenge for others to find an answer that is suitable to conform to the new millennium’s ever growing technological advancements.

Thesis:Rap music does not promote violent actions by teens because rap music is a very diverse genre, it is mainly for entertainment purposes only, and part of the music is involved in anti-violence efforts.

Therefore, we will take a look at one of the U.S. Supreme Court case (Gerald “Jerry” Gault) in regards to a juvenile right to consul. Then this learner will briefly discuss the case, the decision, and impact on today 's criminal justice system. After which, the discussion will state if source for this case is primary or secondary and what implications that may have for that case.

Throughout American history the United States Supreme Court has seen a multitude Civil Rights cases. Criminal Rights is the branch of Civil Rights cases that will be evaluated in this paper. Criminal Rights cases date back to the early twentieth century, and the majority of Criminal Rights cases are over 5th, 6th and 14th Amendment rights. These cases are important to the public because anyone could commit a crime. The people of the U.S deserve rights under any circumstances even if they are criminals. Regarding the issue of Criminal Rights, the US Supreme Court remained mostly conservative as to how criminals in trial should be treated. The continuing issue is examined through Powell v. Alabama (1932), Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), and Miranda

In society today, it is highly noticed that the role of rap music messages and video images of violence causes an increase in negative emotions, thoughts and behaviors which could lead to violence amongst youth. Rap music has been at the center of concern in regards to the potential harmful effect of violent media on social behavior amongst youth. This potential behavior could be seen in the music video titled “Kim” by Eminem. In this music video, the storyline, language and sound encourages hostile thoughts and feelings amongst its audience. In the music video, Kim husband catches her cheating on him in their home with another man, while he is away. However, when Marshall gets home and finds out that his wife is cheating on him, he gets upset, angry, and abusive and becomes violent towards his wife Kim. He screams at her saying that, if she moves again, he will “beat the shit out of her” (Line 11). Violence in rap music has increased in response to the complex interplay of changing social conditions such as the elevated levels of youth violence in the changing commercial practices within the music industry. Hence, the media influences violence in four negative ways, which contributes immensely to anger amongst youth which leads to aggressive behavior such as social violence, substance abuse, domestic violence, and negative perceptions of women.

However, the polarity of the two models is not absolute. Although it would be possible to construct models that exist in an institutional vacuum, it would not serve our purposes to do so. We are postulating, not a criminal process that operates in any kind of society at all, but rather one that operates within the framework of contemporary American society. This leaves plenty of room for polarization, but it does require the observance of some limits. A model of the criminal process that left out of account relatively stable and enduring features of the American legal system would not have much relevance to our central inquiry. For convenience, these elements of stability and continuity can be roughly equated with minimal agreed limits expressed in the Constitution of the United States and, more importantly, with unarticulated assumptions that can be perceived to underlie those limits. Of course, it is true that the Constitution is constantly appealed to by proponents and opponents of many measures that affect the criminal process. And only the naive would deny that there are few conclusive positions that can be reached by appeal to the Constitution. Yet there are assumptions about the criminal process that are widely shared and that may be viewed as common ground for the operation of any model of the criminal process. Our first task is to clarify these assumptions.

     Imagine an inner city kid having grown u in an environment where real life street violence is a way of life. His body, having survived personal experiences of violence, endured barely life sustained conditions, and many sleepless nights caused by the constant yet unpredictable call of death. His mind doubtful over where his next meal will come from, lost in search of some higher guidance, struggling through a world, not of innocent childish fantasies, but trapped in a forced reality. His only outlet is the loud blaring music coddling his already pent-up rage, an escape from these harsh realities, seducing him to a life of violence. In him is created a “me against the world” mentality that is manifested in

I changed my mind about rap music. Growing up, I never really liked it, the quick beats, the vast usage of inappropriate words not equipped for my adolescent ears disgusted me. I associated rap music as being "dirty," only discussing explicit topics and having no real meaning. While everyone else in high school was blaring Drake and Lil Wayne in the parking lots, I was perfectly okay with listening to Demi Lovato or John Legend. During my sophomore year of high school, my friend kept pestering me to listen to the Hamilton soundtrack, and even though the songs were raps, I realized I loved it. Eventually, I started to not associate all rap music as detrimental and discovered that some rappers rapped about important messages of adversity, conflict, and pain. This lead me to listen to Chance the Rapper's "Coloring Book, " Childish Gambino's "Red Bone and J Cole's "4 Your Eyez Only." I realized that rap is just poetry with accompaniment, poetry that has the rhythm and style to bring generations of people together.