Whether or not the lyrics in songs represent real life is hotly debated.
The audience wants to know who songs were written about,
what’s the story behind the beef, everything.
And as far as rappers are concerned,
their lives are open books for the audience.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out in their favor,
and their over-honesty in their lyrics sometimes get them into trouble.
In fact, sometimes it lands them in jail.
The first time this happened was back in 1993,
back when gangster rap was really getting going
and some of the OGs of hip-hop were running the scene.
Snoop Dogg was busy recording his debut album, Doggystyle,
when he found himself involved in a murder case.
His bodyguard shot and killed a member of a rival gang,
and because Snoop was in the car at the time, he also caught a charge.
Prosecutors were eager to paint Snoop as a murderer
and used his own words against him.
They played his song “Murder Was the Case”
during the trial, pointing out lyrics like
“roll up on the side of him,
roll your window down… gimme another clip.”
While it does sound similar to the situation that happened,
it was a bit of a stretch
and both Snoop and his bodyguard were acquitted of the charges.
Even though the suspects weren’t convicted,
this first incident of using a rapper’s words against him
set the stage for the future of rap-related crimes and confessions.
Since Snoop’s case,
there have been a few more rappers that have been sent to prison
after their lyrics were used against them as evidence.
There’s always been the question of how true to life rappers songs are
many of them claim that they rap the truth,
while others just invent things a bit to look harder than they are,
but that doesn’t stop investigators, lawyers, and judges from going through them
to find evidence of a crime.
And Snoop’s case was just the beginning.
Bobby Shmurda was the next big rapper to get the lyrical-investigation treatment
during a case involving GS9.
He had joined up with the gang when he was growing up in Brooklyn
and was soon getting into all sorts of trouble with the law.
GS9 wasn’t necessarily considered a gang like the Bloods or Crips, though.
Police called it a “crew” which could be anything from a group of kids rapping
to a few teens selling crack on the corner.
GS9 was definitely on the rap side,
but after shots were exchanged between GS9 and street gang Brooklyn’s Most Wanted,
it was seen as more of a violent street gang than a group of musicians.
In December of 2014, though, his criminal activities caught up to him
and he was arrested by police in New York City, along with fourteen others.
They caught charges of conspiracy to commit murder,
reckless endangerment, and drug and gun possession.
Bobby isn’t known for being discreet,
so the police began to pick up on everything that he was putting online
to find evidence for the bust.
Videos, songs, posts, they looked at everything,
keeping tabs on him and GS9 both.
But the best piece of evidence they found to show Bobby’s involvement in
were the lyrics to his hit song “Hot Nigga.”
In the song, he raps that
“I been selling crack since like the fifth grade,”
which is an open admission of at least one crime.
Then, throughout the song,
he goes on to name friends and other members of GS9,
talking about murders they had committed or were going to commit.
Because of all the open talk about the crimes,
cops saw him as “the driving force” in the gang.
He pleaded guilty to the charges,
thanks to the obvious admissions of guilt in his lyrics.
The charges brought him a max sentence of 25 years,
and he will be up for parole in August of this year.
He could be released as soon as December 2020.
It’s not just super famous rappers that have their songs used against them in court.
Troy Ward, also known as T Ward in the local Indianapolis hip hop scene,
was convicted of murder and robbery charges in 2018,
thanks to his overly honest rhymes.
In 2017, a triple homicide occurred,
leaving 25-year-old Dominique miller,
25-year-old Jordan Wright,
and 19-year-old Justin crowder dead.
Investigators didn’t have much to go on
other than that it looked like a drug deal gone wrong.
But after looking more into the local scene of people of interest,
they found Ward’s music online.
Using the beat from 2 Chainz’s song “I’m Different” Ward rapped about an incident
where he supposedly killed someone.
We all know that not all rappers are talking about reality in their songs,
but on this one, cops are certain that they are related to the triple homicide.
One investigator said,
“This was not a random talk about some random incident.
When you take all of those things together,
that song is pretty consistent with the facts of the case.
We pretty much broke it down, lyric by lyric.”
Some of the lyrics describe the shooting itself when Ward raps:
“I creep up to the door silently and slow
I opened up that ***** and now we clashing poles
Two shots to the body two shots to the dome
Finesse the ******* stash and then I took it home.”
There’s also a line that describes one of the victims as wearing swim trunks,
which was true in real life.
Ward’s lawyer argued that the lyrics shouldn’t be used as evidence,
since music is art and doesn’t always show the real truth.
Prosecutors argued back that there were far too many similarities and details to ignore
and the song should be taken as a confession.
In the end, T-Ward, along with accomplices Sean Jones and Martell Williams,
was found guilty and sentenced.
Ward received 180 years for his part in the murders, including three counts of robbery.
But these other rappers that got locked up for their lyrics
are nothing compared to the criminal situation of Tay-K.
Born in Arlington, Texas,
Taymor McIntire started rapping early on
and formed a rap group when he was just fourteen years old,
but it wasn’t until he went solo that he started getting a bit more attention.
Once he left his group in 2015,
fans couldn’t get enough and it was clear that he thrived on the attention,
which is where he went wrong.
Back in 2016, Tay-K and a few friends were desperate for money and drugs.
Obviously, getting even a lot of attention for music online
doesn’t necessarily bring in big stacks immediately,
and Tay wasn’t up for being patient.
Instead, he and his buddies cracked a plan to rob an acquaintance, Zachary Beloate,
since he was a known drug dealer.
They figured he would definitely have plenty of cash and weed on hand,
so he was a good target.
They arranged for two female friends to head over to his apartment and seduce him.
While he was distracted by the ladies,
Tay and another man would come in, show off some guns,
and rob whatever they could grab.
Things didn’t go according to plan and one man ended up dead,
with Tay and his friends fleeing the scene.
They were caught quickly and put on house arrest to away their hearing,
but Tay thought that sounded boring.
Instead, he cut off his ankle monitor and took off,
ending up in New Jersey where he settled in with some friends.
Even on the run, Tay-K wanted to make music,
and what better inspiration for a new song than his current outlaw experience?
He started putting together “The Race” which he released while still on the run.
It’s no so much that his lyrics got him put away because they were evidence;
they were more of a taunt to cops trying to catch him.
In the song, he says,
“I was tryna beat a case, but I ant beat that case, *****, I did the race.”
Once he was caught and sent back to Texas,
the song was used against him to show his guilt, along with cover art for his EP
“#LivingLikeLarry,”
which shows the rapper holding a very real gun.
Tay-K was found guilty of the charges, thanks to the lyrical help,
and was sentenced to 55 years in prison.