Research Catalog

Rap on trial : race, lyrics, and guilt in America

Title

Rap on trial : race, lyrics, and guilt in America / Erik Nielson and Andrea L. Dennis ; with a foreword by Killer Mike.

Author

Nielson, Erik, 1976-

Publication

New York : The New Press, 2019.
©2019

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	Sc D 20-87	Schomburg Center - Research & Reference

Details

Additional Authors

Description

xii, 203 pages; 23 cm

Summary

Should Johnny Cash have been charged with murder after he sang, "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die"? Few would seriously subscribe to this notion of justice. Yet in 2001, a rapper named Mac whose music had gained national recognition was convicted of manslaughter after the prosecutor quoted liberally from his album Shell Shocked. Mac was sentenced to thirty years in prison, where he remains. And his case is just one of many nationwide. Over the last three decades, as rap became increasingly popular, prosecutors saw an opportunity: they could present the sometimes violent, crime-laden lyrics of amateur rappers as confessions to crimes, threats of violence, evidence of gang affiliation, or revelations of criminal motive--and judges and juries would go along with it. Detectives have reopened cold cases on account of rap lyrics and videos alone, and prosecutors have secured convictions by presenting such lyrics and videos of rappers as autobiography. Now, an alarming number of aspiring rappers are imprisoned. No other form of creative expression is treated this way in the courts. This book places this disturbing prosecutorial practice in the context of hip-hop history and exposes what's at stake. It's a gripping, timely exploration at the crossroads of contemporary hip-hop and mass incarceration. -- Publisher description

Subject

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-194) and index.

Contents

Hip Hop : From the margins to the mainstream -- Rap enters the courtroom -- Lyrics, stereotypes, and bias -- What about the First Amendment? -- Aggressive prosecutors and untrained experts -- Surveillance, suppression, and the rise of gang units.

Call Number

Sc D 20-87

ISBN

9781620973400
1620973405
9781620973417 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2019035045

OCLC

1104047459

Author

Nielson, Erik, 1976- author.

Title

Rap on trial : race, lyrics, and guilt in America / Erik Nielson and Andrea L. Dennis ; with a foreword by Killer Mike.

Publisher

New York : The New Press, 2019.

Copyright Date

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-194) and index.

Added Author

Dennis, Andrea L., author.

Killer Mike (Rapper), writer of foreword.

Research Call Number

Sc D 20-87

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