Over the weekend, a Bentonville, Arkansas rapper was arrested over the content he raps about and drew comparisons to YSL. According to All Hip Hop, Reese Alexander Sullivan has been accused of writing and performing rap lyrics that pose a threat to public safety. He’s reported to have made a variety of threats in his songs including shooting up schools, blowing up churches, and even assassinating the president. Sullivan claimed to the FBI that his lyrics were jokes not meant to be taken literally. Regardless, he was charged with felony terroristic threatening and released on bail ahead of his December 11 court date.
The case has become part of a much bigger discussion about freedom of expression in rap music and in the courts. That debate has been going on for years but was recently re-invigorated by a decision in Young Thug’s YSL RICO trial. Last week, the judge ruled that past lyrics the rapper has written were eligible to be used against him in the trial. It didn’t take long for prosecutors to do exactly that. They first cited bars from Thugger’s 2021 collaboration with Juice WRLD “Bad Boy.”
Read More: YSL RICO Trial: Judge Loses Patience With Prosecution Withholding Evidence
Local Rapper’s Lyrics Get Him Arrested, Compared To YSL
The hip hop world quickly spoke out against the judge’s ruling in the YSL case. Killer Mike was one of the first to come out and make a statement. He said he was “scared” by the ruling and that the use of lyrics in court and that it infringes on the first amendment rights of every citizen.
Meek Mill also took to twitter to explains his reservations with the judge’s ruling. He made a post calling for both Young Thug and YFN Lucci to be freed. In the post he also elaborated that the ruling has him scared to even do interviews. That’s because it’s impossible to know what could be ruled eligible in trial. What do you think of a rapper in Arkansas being arrested for the content of his lyrics? Let us know in the comment section below.
Read More: YSL RICO Defendant Derontae Bebee Agrees To Plea Deal
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