decision sure to draw scrutiny, a Georgia judge ruled Nov. 9 that prosecutors will be allowed to admit rap lyrics as evidence at Grammy-winning artistJudge Ural Glanville issued the ruling after Young Thug argued that his lyrics are protected, artistic free speech and that linking them to alleged crimes during trial would be “racist and discriminatory.”
“While we respect Judge Glanville and the dedication and effort he clearly spends on his rulings, we believe that he got this one wrong,” Douglas Weinstein, attorney for“The rap lyrics being conditionally admitted in this case bear no connection to the crimes charged. It is a reflection of the state of race in our country that only rap artists are put in a position to have to defend their art in court. To call the use of these lyrics anything other than racist would be to sugar coat it.
“You acknowledge that you are the same person referred to as Tick in the 2014 song by Young Thug entitled ‘Eww’ in the verse, ‘She gettin robbed by Tick,’” a prosecutor said at Stephens’s December 2022 plea hearingAfter “Eww,” they pointed to Williams’ March 2016 song “Slime Shit,” highlighting the lyrics, “I’m in the VIP and I got that pistol on my hip, you prayin that you live, I’m prayin that I hit, hey, this that slime shit.
“Mr. Williams has the absolute right, like all persons in America, to exercise lawful speech/expression,” they said. “The State is by no means proposing a moral equivalency between rap lyrics and skinhead or other racist song lyrics. That said, the legal equivalency when it comes to the universal application of evidence statutes and case law is undeniable,” they argued.
His fate could largely rest on the credibility of former associates including Antonio “Mounk Tounk” Sledge, a co-defendant who accepted a plea deal in exchange for his cooperation and testimony. Sledge agreed to testify that he “personally knows” one or more YSL members murdered Thomas Jr. and that he went to Williams’s house the day of the killing and is a topic of ongoing debate around the country.
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