Rap superstars T.I., Killer Mike, and Big Boi from Outkast, lined up to support a court case by filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States Monday.
The New York Times reported that the case involved Mississippi high school student named Taylor Bell, who was suspended and kicked out of Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton for posting a rap song on social media about two coaches who allegedly sexually harassed female students. The hip hop superstars want to explain to the justices that their musical medium is a political and artistic force that should be protected by the First Amendment.
The Blaze wrote that Bell, whose rapper name is T-Bizzie, got complaints from female students saying they were sexually harassed by two male coaches. So Bell recorded a rap song about it to bring the matter to light. One of the most notable lyrics in the song is "Looking down girls' shirts, drool running down your mouth, going to get a pistol down your mouth."
After the student rapper was suspended, there has been a series of appeals that brought Bell's First Amendment case to the Supreme Court. There is a big probability that the Court will decide on February if it would hear the Bell v. Itawamba County School Board, No. 15-666 case.
According to The Guardian, University of Richmond assistant professor Erik Nielson, along with the rap superstars, drafted the amicus brief on Bell's case. Nielson, who studies hip hop, said Johnny Cash didn't actually shoot a man in Reno and Bob Marley didn't shot a sheriff. Now, the lyrical content of hip hop artists are increasingly being used against them in court.
The brief states, "By taking Bell's song lyrics literally rather than as forms of artistic expression, both the school and the fifth circuit essentially delegitimized rap as an art form that is entitled to full protection under the constitution."
Nielson said rap music is being used in court as evidence, which shows the racial oppression of the US justice system. This is what the rappers hope to change through the amicus bill.
