Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Hugh McIntyre covers music, with a focus on the global charts. Hip-hop is bigger than ever, as it’s the most-consumed genre of ...

SALEM — Should music, specifically rap lyrics, be considered evidence in a court of law? This is a question jurors nationally and in the Salem Superior Court are grappling with. Unique evidence in the ...

Hip-hop, like any art form, is a means of creative expression. And while rap music is often semi-autobiographical, when Kanye West recorded in 2018, “I thought about killing you / Premeditated murder, ...

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Democratic New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman about the RAP Act, which would bar the use of music lyrics as evidence in court proceedings. The Restoring Artists ...

In such a publicized trial involving a prominent rap artist, where both sides’ attorneys scrutinized text messages, ...

The man accused of killing Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay can’t have his rap lyrics used against him at trial, a Brooklyn judge decided Tuesday in a ruling that doubled as a history-filled paean to hip-hop ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about the business and law of music. Two men were convicted in federal court on Tuesday in Brooklyn of murdering Jason ...

Rap is a lyrical expression of social, cultural, and political issues in present society. Unsurprisingly, rap music is the most popular genre of music and features predominantly Black artists ...

A New York bill could become the first in the nation to limit prosecutors from using lyrics as criminal evidence against artists. Proponents see the bill as a necessary free speech protection for ...

No, that defendant is not former President Donald Trump (though tricky First Amendment issues swirl around his case brought by District Attorney Fani Willis’s office, as well). The defendant, Jeffery ...

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act into law on Friday. The bill will limit the use of lyrics as evidence in legal proceedings. Advocates of the bill say using lyrics ...