Moreover, it’s impossible to ignore the discriminatory outcomes this type of ruling will create.
![let it shine rap battle lyrics let it shine rap battle lyrics](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PsJkhKkKcok/hqdefault.jpg)
Great music is more often than not rooted in storytelling, and by imposing criminal consequences for a story told through an artistic medium, the court here threatens to stifle creativity and limit the scope of artistic expression. The chilling effects of this ruling on the creativity of all rap and hip-hop artists is gravely concerning. Drawing on African-American storytelling traditions, rap often utilizes violent rhetoric as a form of intellectual competition and a vehicle for change, though such lyrics are not to be taken literally.
![let it shine rap battle lyrics let it shine rap battle lyrics](https://img.ifunny.co/images/38036498282c4b4fcbd2270cf7387f3712fdf6d52cd7cdd81c7bbb66187bcb34_3.jpg)
It attempts to put all rap lyrics into the categories of historical fact and fiction, failing to understand that hip-hop, like most art, is more complex than that. The Court uses this poorly substantiated analysis toward its finding that the lyrics had an “unmistakable factual connection” to the crime. Ignorant of this perspective, the Court’s opinion hastily draws conclusions from Montague’s lyrics, making up connections between the lyrics and the crime that are simply not there. Early pioneers developed the genre, in part, to end gang violence - rap was an outlet that transformed the competitiveness and territoriality of gang life into something artistic and productive. In the 1970s, hip-hop emerged in the South Bronx as a response to the combined effects of poverty, unemployment, gang violence, and isolation from mainstream America. In this culturally problematic ruling, the Court fundamentally misunderstands the history, purpose, and importance of hip-hop music. As the dissenting opinion by Judge Shirley Marie Watts notes, the decision here “does little more than portray a defendant to be a person with base violent tendencies who is capable of indiscriminate violent criminal acts.” In making this determination, the Court wildly understates the unfair prejudice posed by the use of this type of evidence. Maryland’s highest court took the case on appeal and affirmed Montague’s conviction, finding that the danger of unfair prejudice posed by the admission of the lyrics does not substantially outweigh the lyrics’ probative value.