Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America

Representations and claims of violence in music is not a practice only observed in hip hop and rap music. It has pervaded music, art, and literature throughout human history. Then why is it that rap musicians have been inordinately persecuted, censored, and held accountable for their lyrics? Johnny Cash was never questioned when he said "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die," yet countless rap musicians have come under scrutiny from society and government institutions for singing about murder, drugs, and criminal activity. In Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America, Erik Nielson and Andrea L. Dennis explore the hypocrisy that is apparent in the way we approach the artistic expression of black musicians. There's also a fricken foreward by Killer Mike. 

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