The mounting cases against YSL have once again caused Hip Hop to debate the use of rap lyrics as evidence. We've seen this played out for decades as artists who are hit with charges defend themselves against prosecutors looking to use their songs against them. Young Thug and Gunna are currently incarcerated as their legal team works to prove their innocence against accusations of murder, gang activity, robberies, and assault. Prosecutors have been arguing that certain lyrics spoke directly to real-life crimes, most notably Thugger, who is accused of penning rhymes about shooting at YFN Lucci's mother.
This was a hot topic on The Breakfast Club, and on Instagram, they shared a clip from an episode where a caller stated that if a rapper spits bars about a crime, they deserve the heat they receive as a result. "That's right," Charlamange said in agreement.
"'Cause these n*ggas is not remaining silent," he continued. "These n*ggas is goin' in the studio with beats and they loud as hell! 'I killed him! I shot him! I kicked down his door! I beat up his dog and threw his girl on the floor! Robbed him of his chains, robbed him of his car, look at my face so you can know who I are!"
The hosts continued to mock rappers who put their crimes on their songs, teasing how specific some lyrics are, giving prosecutors ammunition in criminal cases.
"Listen, here's the moral of the story: a lot of this is our fault. And the reason it's our fault is because so many rappers from our generation, from the 1900s, were lying. Lying they ass off! And it made a bunch of kids think the way to get in the game was to be the biggest criminal alive. And guess what? You can't do that! You can't be the biggest criminal alive and be a rapper at the same time."
"But it's our fault because we should have never let rappers lie like that for entertainment. Because if it's just art, then we have to demand that some of these people change the content of their art, because all it's doin' is gettin' a bunch of people indicted and influencing a generation of kids wrong."
Do you agree with Charlamagne? Listen to the clip below and weigh in.