Young Thug, Gunna Jail: How Can New York's 'Rap Music On Trial' Bill Help Them?

Young Thug and Gunna's arrest shocked fans last week. But sadly, their arrest is just one of the many problems that the hip-hop community has been facing for quite a while now.

The two rappers were involved in a grand-jury indictment for members of the YSL (Young Slime Life) Gang that Young Thug allegedly formed in Atlanta in 2012.

However, one interesting route that this controversial case has taken is that prosecutors have used the artist's and other indictees' song lyrics and social media posts as a basis for the indictment.

The inclusion of using artists' works/lyrics has been quite a debate in the hip-hop community for the past few months - especially in New York City.

'Rap Music On Trial Bill,' Can This Help Gunna and Young Thug?

In a recent interview with TMZ, rapper Bobby Shmurda is "dancing for joy" as the "Rap Music On Trial" Bill was signed into a low in New York State Senate.

The "Rap Music On Trial" Bill prevents authorities, including prosecutors, from using rappers' lyrics against them in court cases. Rap and Hip-hop titans Jay-Z, Fat Joe, Killer Mike, and Kelly Rowland are among the many artists who helped champion this bill.

The need for the bill was heightened as deaths and arrests among the New York Hip-hop community, particularly drill rap, have spiked just this year.

However, this might be too late for Shmurda, as he has already served his sentence for being prosecuted using his song lyrics in 2014. But, he believes that this bill should be pushed nationwide as other states should adopt this to protect other artists from other parts of the country.

"I'm grateful for it. I feel like it needs to happen all over the country, especially with what's going on in Atlanta right now," he said.

Should this be passed into law in Georgia, where Thugger and Gunna are currently jailed, this could mean a huge advantage for them, who was mainly prosecuted on their song lyrics.

Lyrics from their collaboration "Slatty" were used against them. Gunna's legal team called the RICO indictment "intensely problematic," while Young Thug's camp vowed to fight the "ethically, legally and zealously."

The bill has one more step to overcome - it has to pass through the New York State Assembly to become a complete law.

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