If you meet McKinley Phipps now, he's a far cry from the 20-year-old, chart-climbing rapper known as Mac, signed to music mogul Master P's No Limit Records, whose 1998 album "Shell Shocked" reached No ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Hugh McIntyre covers music, with a focus on the global charts. Hip-hop is bigger than ever, as it’s the most-consumed genre of ...

Can a criminal defendant's own rap lyrics serve as evidence against him in court? It appears they can be, and the music industry is crying foul. As reported in yesterday's Wall Street Journal, ...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Friday that limits the use of rap lyrics in criminal court cases in California. The law requires "a court, in a criminal proceeding ...

The Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act, passed in 2022, restricts the use of rap lyrics in criminal prosecutions, aiming ...

Rap is a lyrical expression of social, cultural, and political issues in present society. Unsurprisingly, rap music is the most popular genre of music and features predominantly Black artists ...

California on Friday enacted a new law limiting prosecutors from using rap lyrics as evidence against criminal defendants. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a series of bills, including AB 2799, which requires ...

In the history of hip-hop, some rappers have set out to murder the competition with lyrics that have ranged from vicious to downright violent. But a group of music stars — led by Brooklyn’s own Rock & ...

SACRAMENTO -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Friday that limits the use of rap lyrics in criminal court cases in the state. The measure, also known as Assembly Bill 2799, ...

David Kenner still remembers the lyrics prosecutors shared for the Los Angeles courtroom during the 1996 murder trial of his client Calvin Broadus, better known as the rapper Snoop Dogg. “’Cause it’s ...

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis defended her use of rap lyrics in criminal cases Monday after the office released an indictment targeting alleged members of what she said is a violent ...

Mac the Camouflage Assassin. Boosie Badazz. Drakeo the Ruler. Mayhem Mal. Since the early 1990s, police and prosecutors have used lyrics to build and try hundreds of criminal cases against rap artists ...