Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about the business and law of music. Two men were convicted in federal court on Tuesday in Brooklyn of murdering Jason ...

The Restoring Artistic Protection ACT — or RAP Act — would place legal guidelines on when, and how, lyrics can be introduced to a jury as evidence. But is it enough? In 2019, the Maryland Court of ...

The racial bias of courts using rap lyrics to criminalize artists of color. California is the first state to prevent courts from criminalizing Black and Brown artistic expression, after passing ...

The Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act restricts the use of rap lyrics during criminal trials in the state Brenton Blanchet is an Associate Editor on PEOPLE's TV team. He has been working at ...

Prosecutors' use of rap lyrics at trial has come under scrutiny. A California judge vacated the murder convictions of two Black men on Monday after ruling that prosecutors "more likely than not" ...

The John Adams Courthouse in Boston, home of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. (Photo by Swampyank from Wikipedia Commons via Courthouse News Service) BOSTON (CN) — Rap lyrics that a defendant ...

In what is positioned to address a growing issue for music artists, particularly in the hip-hop genre, a new bill has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressmen Hank Johnson ...

California just passed legislation that limits the use of rap lyrics and other forms of artistic expression against artists in court. Assembly Bill No. 2799, also known as the Decriminalizing Artistic ...

The trial of Grammy Award-winning rapper Young Thug, real name Jeffery Lamar Williams, began on Monday in Atlanta, Ga. The trial is expected to take months and will be pivotal in shaping how the ...

The bill targets a controversial practice used by prosecutors for decades. Top music industry leaders, including the Recording Academy, are backing legislation introduced in Congress on Wednesday that ...

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act into law on Friday. The bill will limit the use of lyrics as evidence in legal proceedings. Advocates of the bill say using lyrics ...

Paul Stephen Adey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...