California’s Senate passed a new bill Thursday that will firmly limit the ability of prosecutors to use rap lyrics as evidence and require judges to weigh whether they’ll “inject racial bias” into a case, according to Billboard.
California’s new legislation. AB 2799, would ban rap lyrics from the courtroom unless prosecutors can directly link such lyrics to relevant facts in the case and won’t “inject racial bias into the proceedings.”
Passed by the state’s Senate by a unanimous vote on Thursday, A.B. 2799 will return to the state assembly for final tweaks by the Senate. If approved by the Senate, the bill will make its way to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk to be signed by the end of September.
A.B. 2799 would be the first of its kind to be passed after similar legislation failed in New York earlier this year.
The use of rap lyrics in court has become an even bigger issue in the music industry after two of hip hop’s biggest stars, Young Thug and Gunna, were indicted in May on RICO charges that quoted their lyrics.
The new legislation would create a “so-called presumption against the use of any creative expression as evidence,” according to Billboard.
Along with requiring rap lyrics to have similarities or details related to the crime in order to be used in court, the new bill will require that courts “consider testimony on the particular genre of expression being cited by prosecutors” and admit testimony about “experimental or social science research” showing that a genre of music can “introduce racial bias into the proceedings.”
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