The Resurgence of the RAP Act: Why Industry Professionals Enthusiastically Support This Bill

Artists release music and write songs to create art, not to offer any sort of criminal confession.[1] Yet, dating back to a 1996 criminal trial involving Snoop Dogg,[2] artists’ lyrics have been admissible as evidence in criminal and civil trials. Most recently, rapper Young Thug, was accused of being the head of a violent gang based solely on lyrics from his songs as evidence.[3] His case sparked nationwide controversy regarding the constitutionality of his lyrics being admitted as key evidence at trial. The rapper’s popular music collective known as “Young Stoner Life,” was posited by prosecutors to actually be a violent Atlanta gang known as “Young Slime Life.”[4] Young Thug’s attorney proclaimed that prosecutors were “targeting the right to free speech, and that’s wrong.”[5] To date, there have been more than 820 instances identified in which an artist’s creative works have been used in criminal trials.[6] 

Federal Rule of Evidence 403[7] governs this area of the law by “permit[ing] courts to exclude evidence that is unduly prejudicial.”[8] However, in situations where prejudicial evidence has “sufficient probative value,” it can be deemed admissible at trial.[9] Prosecutors often use this as a loophole to have highly prejudicial song lyrics admitted as evidence at trial. 

The admissibility of an artist’s creative work as evidence in criminal trials disproportionately impacts young Black or Latino male rappers.[10] Prosecutors have been known to attempt to exploit rappers’ lyrics by treating them as “inculpatory statements and confessions, to show circumstantial proof of criminal acts, motives, or intent, and to show membership in or affiliation with a gang.”[11] These methods employed by prosecutors are used to “circumvent the evidentiary rule against character or propensity evidence,” by using various lyrics to “tie the defendant to gang life, violence, or lawless behavior.”[12] More often than not, rappers employ common tropes that imitate a popular portrayal of gangsters, which in turn can be used against them in a criminal prosecution.[13] This sets a dangerous precedent opening the doors to jurors incorrectly interpreting rap lyrics as literal.[14] Artists and industry professionals have been rallying behind a protective bill aimed at protecting the right to free speech and artistic expression for years now. 

On July 24, 2025, Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04) and Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-37), reintroduced the Restoring Artistic Protection Act (hereinafter ‘RAP Act’).[15] The RAP Act was first introduced in 2022 in an effort to put “safeguards in place to ensure that First Amendment protection is a reality for all artists in America.”[16] If passed, the RAP Act would limit the admissibility of evidence of artists’ lyrics and other forms of creative expression.[17] The RAP Act is not a “blanket ban,” rather it is meant to limit the use of an artist’s lyrics as evidence in criminal trials, by requiring a judge to determine whether said lyrics are directly relevant to the case.[18] Similar bills have been passed at the state level in both Louisiana and California.[19]  

The First Amendment asserts that “Congress shall make no law… abridging the Freedom of Speech.”[20] The admissibility of artistic speech goes against the very principles that the First Amendment stands to protect.[21] The RAP Act would ensure that necessary safeguards are put in place to ensure the protection of artistic expression at the federal level.  

Congressman, André Carson (IN-07), echoed his support for the bill by stating that, “Policing creative expression goes against the First Amendment and tampers the creative expression that brought us the world’s most influential artists in history.”[22] The bill received support from dozens of other congressional representatives and music industry leaders.[23]

Professionals across the music industry have been passionately supporting this bill since it originated in 2022. The Recording Academy is among the leading supporters of the RAP Act and has championed its passage since it was first introduced back in 2022. The Recording Academy’s Chair of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Chelsey Green, backed the bill by stating that, “We must protect the right to create freely without fear that our words will be twisted or weaponized in a courtroom.”[24] Recording Academy CEO, Harvey Mason Jr., also supported the bill in a statement articulating the dangers of weaponizing lyrics in court which he describes as “a harmful tactic that stifles artistic expression.”[25] 

The passage of the RAP Act is important not only for rappers, but for musicians and creatives of all kinds. This bill would put the necessary safeguards in place to ensure that no artist has to fear that their creative expression will be used against them in harmful, exploitative ways. Recording Academy members will attend ‘GRAMMYS on the Hill Advocacy Day 2025’ in Washington, D.C. later this month to show their support for the RAP Act.[26]

Ansley Henderson is a Second Year Law Student at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a Staff Editor at the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. Ansley is interested in pursuing a career in the music industry, with particular interest in Copyright and Intellectual Property. Ansley is the Entertainment Co-Chair for the Intellectual Property Law Society at Cardozo and is also a member of the New York chapter of Grammy U. Ansley enjoys attending concerts and discovering new talent. 

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[1] James Landry, Protecting Musicians in Court: How the RAP Act Could Change the Game for Artists, Landry Legal (Aug. 13, 2025), https://landrypllc.com/protecting-musicians-in-court-how-the-rap-act-could-change-the-game-for-artists/ https://landrypllc.com/protecting-musicians-in-court-how-the-rap-act-could-change-the-game-for-artists/[https://perma.cc/F98L-RPJX].

[2] Paul Meara, Lyrics on Trial: A History of Rap Bars Used in Court and How Precedent May Effect Young Thug’s Fate, Black Entertainment Television LLC. (Nov. 21, 2023), https://www.bet.com/article/w9idu1/rap-lyrics-court-history-young-thug-trial [https://perma.cc/U6LL-YYCT].

[3] Andre Gee, These New Bills Aim to Prevent Rap Lyrics From Being Used in Court Nationwide, RollingStone (July 24, 2025), https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/rap-act-bill-lyrics-used-in-court-1235393033/ [https://perma.cc/NHT6-A6VD].

[4] Bill Donahue, Judge Rules Young Thug’s Lyrics can be Used in YSL Rico Case: ‘The First Amendment is Not on Trial,’ billboard (Nov. 9, 2023), https://www.billboard.com/business/legal/young-thug-lyrics-can-be-used-ysl-rico-case-judge-ruling-1235467208/ [https://perma.cc/6PUL-4VXE].

[5] Id.

[6] See Press Release, Hank Johnson, House of Representatives, Reps. Hank Johnson and Sydney Kamlager-Dove Introduce Bill to Protect Artists’ 1^st Amendment Rights (July 24, 2025), https://hankjohnson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/reps-hank-johnson-and-sydney-kamlager-dove-introduce-bill-protect [https://perma.cc/TSP7-9LC5].  

[7] Fed. R. Evid. 403.

[8] Kelly McGlynn, Jacob Schriner-Briggs & Jacquelyn Schell, Lyrics in Limine: Rap Music and Criminal Prosecutions, 38 Comm. Law., 2, at 10, 13.

[9] Id.

[10] Jack I. Lerner, Charis E. Kubrin et al., Rap on Trial Legal Guide, U.C. Irvine Intell. Prop., Arts, & Tech. Clinic, 1 (Version 1.1 2022).

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

[13] Id.

[14] McGlynn, Schriner-Briggs, & Schell, supra note 6 at 11.

[15] Press Release, supra note 5.

[16] Montana Miller, The RAP (Restoring Artist Protection) Act Has Been Introduced in the House. Here’s What it Means for Artists’ First Amendment Rights, Recording Acad. (July 29, 2022), https://www.recordingacademy.com/advocacy/news/rap-act-restoring-artistic-protection-house-of-representatives-what-to-know [https://perma.cc/FRZ6-FBEY].

[17] Press Release, supra note 5.

[18] Landry, supra note 1.

[19] Claire Hoffman, The Restoring Artist Protection Act is Reintroduced in Congress to Protect Creative Expression: Analysis, Recording Acad. (Aug. 6, 2025), https://www.recordingacademy.com/advocacy/news/restoring-artistic-protection-act-reintroduced-congress [https://perma.cc/24V4-F77S].

[20] U.S. Const. amend. I. 

[21] McGlynn, Schriner-Briggs, & Schell, supra note 6 at 13.

[22] Press Release, supra note 5.

[23] Press Release, supra note 5.

[24] Hoffman, supra note 19.  

[25] Id.

[26] Id.