Lawyers for Dallas rapper Yella Beezy in his murder-for-hire trial are asking the judge to deny prosecutors’ request to use lyrics from his songs as evidence.
The use of rap lyrics in criminal prosecutions has become a controversial topic, as First Amendment advocates argue they aren't meant to be taken literally and are a legitimate expression of free speech.
Yella Beezy, whose real name is Markies Conway, is accused of paying a man to kill rapper MO3, who was gunned down on Interstate-35 in Dallas in 2020.
Prosecutors alleged in a filing this month Conway uses social media and music to promote his gang affiliation. They submitted a timeline of social media posts and songs they would use during the trial, including seven songs that feature Conway.
“In none of Conway's music is there any indication that he's documenting the murder of MO3,” Conway’s lawyers wrote in a filing Monday.
Conway’s lawyers also argued the lyrics can’t be used because they may have been written by multiple people.
Jack Lerner — a clinical professor of law at the University of California, Irvine — told KERA's NTX Now that rap music has been targeted in the courtroom for over 30 years.
"There's a lot of violence in American culture and American art," Lerner told hosts miranda Suarez and Ron Corning. "But the only art form that is consistently brought into the courtroom is rap music."
He said that's partially because the Black community is over policed and subject to the criminal justice system at a higher rate. But it's also a form of delegitimizing the artform, he said.
"There's a perception out there that somehow rap music isn't art," Lerner said. "And that somehow rap music is just a diary or a window into a person's inner soul."
The state’s highest criminal court in 2024 overturned the capital murder conviction of a Greenville man after judges ruled prosecutors improperly used rap videos he posted on social media to impeach his testimony.
That case, Hart v. State, was cited by Conway’s lawyers as a reason for throwing out the lyrics.
But that defense hasn’t always worked. Dallas death row inmate James Broadnax was executed this year even after prosecutors used lyrics from his songs in the case.
Rapper Travis Scott in March asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause Broadnax’s execution, arguing rap lyrics are not necessarily realistic.
“Judges and jurors unfamiliar with the genre may not know to separate a rapper’s actual life from the pop culture image he or she seeks to project as an artist,” he wrote.
Conway’s trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 24.
Dylan Duke is KERA's breaking news reporter. Got a tip? Email Dylan at dduke@kera.org.
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