Jeffrey Williams, aka Young Thug a veritable hip-hop superstar from Atlanta with three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, has been credited with shaping the contemporary sound of rap.
His distinctive flow and sound are often heralded as the preeminent example of “mumble rap,” a microgenre named for the unclear or slurred vocal delivery of its artists.
Young Thug’s music is rife with emotions, freestyles, and ad-libs, and draws on a dizzying range of influences, from psychedelia and punk to Lil Wayne.
His lyrics are both familiar and absurd, referencing the realities of the world in which he grew up as a Black man in Atlanta and his own capricious flights of fancy.
Young Thug’s lyrics, “I’m prepared to take them down,” and “I never killed anybody but I got something to do with that body,” is being cited as evidence against him in his trial.
But critics are up in arms about the clearly racist motivations in this practice of using rap lyrics as evidence in court against rappers while their heavy metal counterparts spew worse and get away with it.
Here are examples of repugnant lyrics by heavy metal artists that have not seen the light of day in a courtroom: (Please be fore-warned due to graphic language)
From “Preteen Deathfuck,” Nattefrost (2005)
“Seven years old with two bleeding holes
Fucked her for days in every thinkable ways
Her innocent cries couldn’t milden my heart
I stabbed and stabbed, and I cut her apart!!!!”
From “Fucked With a Knife,” Cannibal Corpse (1994)
Tied tight to the bed
Legs spread open
Bruised flesh, lacerations
Skin stained with blood
I’m the only one you love
I feel her heart beating
my knife deep inside
Her crotch is bleeding
From “Charred Remains,” Autopsy (1989)
The rancid smell of burning hair
Screaming in excruciating pain
Blood boils over, warping veins
Burnt skull collapses onto melting brains
Spontaneous death, up in flames
Twisting and writhing as life burns away
Until nothing is left but charred remains
In his 2019 book, Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics and Guilt in America, co-authored with Andrea L. Dennis, University of Richmond professor Erik Nielson identified about 500 criminal trials over the past decade in which rap lyrics were used as evidence.
Conversely, research uncovered only four examples of artistic works like fiction or lyrics being used as evidence of assault or violent threats in mediums and genres aside from rap dating back to 1950.
Heavy metal music is an exclusive genre of white artist while rap music is mostly by black artists. Is there racism here? You decide.
DNT News.
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