The Recording Academy leaders and members have joined Congressmen Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) to announce reintroducing the Restoring Artistic Protection (RAP) Act. This act is intended to safeguard artists’ freedom of creative expression by limiting the use of song lyrics in court, which often disproportionately affects rap and hip-hop artists.
At a press conference on Capitol Hill, artists, and industry advocates, including the Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and Academy Black Music Collective Chair Rico Love, expressed their views on the significance of passing this legislation. They emphasized the importance of ensuring that all artists can create freely without fearing their work being criminalized.
The announcement follows the Recording Academy’s Annual GRAMMYs on the Hill®, which honored music creators and connected them with members of Congress to advocate for the Restoring Artistic Protection Act, the HITS Act, the American Music Fairness Act, and reform of the live event ticketing marketplace.
Congressman Johnson said, “For too long, artists–particularly young Black artists–have been unfairly targeted by prosecutors who use their lyrics as evidence of guilt, even though there is no evidence that the lyrics are anything more than creative expression. When you allow music and creativity to be silenced, you’re opening the door for other realms of free speech to be curtailed as well. The government should not be able to silence artists simply because they write, draw, sing or rap about controversial or taboo subjects. The Restoring Artistic Protection Act (RAP Act) would protect artists’ First Amendment rights by limiting the admissibility of their lyrics as evidence in criminal and civil proceedings.”
Since the 2000s, over 500 documented cases have used lyrics as criminal evidence in court against an artist defendant. A 2016 study by criminologists at the University of California found that rap was evaluated more negatively than other genres of music, highlighting the possibility that bias against rap lyrics could inappropriately impact jurors when admitted as evidence to prove guilt. The Recording Academy has been spearheading efforts to protect the First Amendment rights of artists nationwide by working to limit the use of an artist’s lyrics and other forms of creative expression as evidence in criminal proceedings.
On September 30, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Decriminalizing Artistic Expression Act into law alongside Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. at a virtual bill signing. The Academy is also working to advance similar legislation in several states, including Louisiana, Missouri, and New York. Louisiana’s HB-475 passed a House vote on April 25, while Missouri’s HB-353 recently advanced to the House for a vote.
