Rappers Try to Stop a Black Texas Man’s Execution Based on His Song Lyrics

For decades, debates about whether rap lyrics should be used in criminal cases have split the courts and the hip-hop community. Now, rappers are banding together to advocate for a Texas man set to be executed next month largely due to his incriminating song lyrics.

James Broadnax, a Black man, was only 19 when he was accused of killing two white men during a robbery in Garland, Texas, TMZ reported. He was convicted in 2009 by a mostly white jury. The jury sentenced him to death, marking the first time song lyrics have resulted in such a sentence.

Broadnax’s handwritten lyrics provided a “general theme” of “robbing, killing and selling dope,” prosecutors said. They labeled him a threat to society who would probably commit more violent crimes if ever freed. With his execution scheduled for April 30, his lawyers are pulling out all of the stops to try to get his sentence commuted, including tapping notable rappers who have had their own run-ins with the law.

Texas rapper Travis Scott and his lawyer, Alex Spiro, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court. He argued that using rap lyrics in court damages public perception of rap as a genre.

“The prosecutors argued Mr. Broadnax was likely to be dangerous in the future simply because he engaged in ‘gangster rap.’ Such an argument functionally operates as a categorical and straightforwardly unconstitutional content-based penalty on rap music as a form of expression,” the file read. “At a certain level of abstraction, the reality is even more problematic: taking rap music out of context subjects the entire genre to prosecution.”

The history of rap lyrics being used in court dates back to the 1980s. Hundreds of criminal cases have rested on song lyrics, including recent cases of Chicago star Lil Durk– currently awaiting trial for racketeering– and Young Thug from Atlanta, whose lyrics were famously used in his own racketeering case. Still, efforts in states like California and New York against lyrics in court have gained traction.

Speaking of Young Thug, he also came to Broadnax’s defense alongside Killer Mike and 30 other rappers, activists and actors.

Howard University professor Erik Nielson and Killer Mike told the court, “This case exemplifies the racial prejudice that infects a criminal proceeding when the State uses a defendant’s rap lyrics to capitalize on anti-rap bias, the misinterpretation of rap lyrics, and anti-Black bias triggered by rap music.”

They say artistic expression should not be criminalized, no matter the medium or circumstance. “The State used Broadnax’s artistic expression to portray him as a young Black super-predator without redeeming qualities who must be executed to protect the community,” they continued.

Killer Mike has a long history with advocating against lyrics used in court. Back in 2015, he filed a brief after a high school student wrote a rap song accusing two coaches of sexual assault. “The government punished a young man for his art — and, more disturbing, for the musical genre by which he chose to express himself,” he wrote then.

The court has yet to rule on Broadnax’s case. He would be the second person in Texas executed this year.