All posts tagged "Rap"

WASHINGTON — Some of hip-hop’s biggest names are back on Capitol Hill. Just their names. The superstars — from Grammy-winning Young Thug to his alleged rival YFN Lucci — are currently in prison, in part, over their lyrics.

The racketeering cases putting chart-toppers behind bars are replete with salacious allegations of “murder, assault and threats of violence,” according to prosecutors. But the cases fall apart without the lyrics, according to the artists, their attorneys and advocates.

“It hurts when an indictment – the charging document – states rap lyrics as a basis for the issuance of the indictment,” Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) told Raw Story outside the U.S. Capitol. “Of course, the jury gets the indictment when they go out to deliberate. When you have that kind of decision making going on at the front end of a prosecution, you're almost guaranteeing at the back end what's going to happen.”
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NEW YORK (AFP) – The legendary US musician and poet Gil Scott-Heron, known as the "Godfather of Rap," has died in New York at the age of 62, his recording company announced.

TASHKENT — Rap music in Uzbekistan should not be called 'evil and satanic', part of Western culture, although rappers should include "love for the homeland" in their songs, an Uzbek official said Tuesday.