Young Thug, Casanova and Bobby Shmurda are just a few of the many rappers in recent memory that have found themselves and their music on trial recently. With a number of high-profile artists finding themselves at the center of criminal investigations and court proceedings, ABC News has elected to take a closer look at how the genre rap and Hip-Hop culture is treated in the legal system through a new documentary called Rap Trap.
“The 2022 arrest and indictment of hip-hop stars Young Thug (Jeffery Williams) and Gunna (Sergio Kitchens) stunned the hip-hop world and reignited a national conversation about the use of lyrics in the courtroom. For some, the lyrics were evidence of potential wrongdoing. But for others, the case spotlighted a disturbing trend of criminalizing Black art that goes back decades, prompting a national movement to protect art and creative expression,” the documentary’s description reads.
“A new ABC News Studios documentary hour, Rap Trap: Hip-Hop on Trial, explores the criminal case against the rappers and asks the question: Should rap lyrics be used in criminal prosecutions, and what effect would that have on artists’ free speech rights?”
Led by ABC News Studios, the documentary will also feature Killer Mike, Michael Eric Dyson, Kevin Liles, Fat Joe and many others. Check out the documentary’s trailer below before it arrives on Hulu on February 23, 2023.
