Parents' Guide to As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial

This documentary strongly argues against allowing prosecutors to use rap lyrics as evidence. The structure of As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial is also strong, using rapper Kemba as a personalized guide through the issue. Starting with a short history of Black musical forms and genres and how they were largely received by White America, Kemba takes viewers up through the present day and visits criminal defense attorneys, journalists, and law professors to help shed some light on this unfair and racist practice. As the documentary reveals, since 1990, rap lyrics have been used as evidence in over 700 trials. Further, only 1% of cases actually even go to trial, as the other 99% of cases involve the accused taking plea deals wherein evidence is not made public, so the true number of cases where rap lyrics are being used to unfairly "convict" those charged is unknown.

One of the most compelling pieces of evidence is a study done by Adam Dunbar out of the University of California, Irvine, that shows how people view rap music as a genre versus other musical genres. When being presented with the same lyrics (actually taken from a 1960s folk song called "Bad Man's Blunder," written by two White men), some people were told the lyrics were from rap music, others were told the lyrics were from country music, and a third group was told the lyrics were from heavy metal music. The first group thought the writer of the lyrics had "worse character" and a "greater criminal propensity." So, while Freddie Mercury can sing about having "just killed a man (put a gun against his head)" and Johnny Cash can sing, "I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die," they don't face the same persecution that a Black musical artist would if they had written those same lyrics.