When New Orleans rapper BG returned home in September after serving an 11-year sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, the rap community rejoiced. He's the man responsible for introducing the phrase “bling-bling” into the pop culture lexicon, after all.
But nearly a year later, the founding member of the '90s rap group Hot Boys is facing an unusual legal challenge: On Friday (June 28), a U.S. District Court judge in Louisiana ruled that the New Orleans rapper must provide to the US Audit Office a copy of the lyrics of his upcoming songs for approval before they are produced or promoted.
The decision was issued by a US District Court judge Susie Morgan, came several months after BG (real name Christopher Dorsey) was arrested in March for appearing at a Las Vegas concert alongside rapper Lil Boosie. apparently, BG needed prior permission from the court to associate with acts who also have felony convictions, like Lil Boosie does. The court clerk in the case also mentioned BG's work with Gucci Mane, another rapper/convicted felon with whom BG released a collaborative mixtape, Mud & Bricksin December.
BG was then released on his own recognizance pending a judge's decision. Shortly after, the rapper expressed his disappointment an Instagram postsaying in part, “It's crazy how after paying my debt to society with 12 and a half years of my life, I come home and I'm still not free… I did everything the right way and it seems like that's not enough.”
At a June 18 hearing, BG and prosecutors confirmed they reached an agreement to modify the rapper's terms of supervised release after his March arrest, but “disagreeed” over prosecutors' request to bar the rapper from ” promote and glorify the future weapon of violence/murder” in his music and concerts, according to the June 28 ruling.
“Defendant argues that the additional condition proposed by the government is an unconstitutional prior limitation of speech that is an overly broad condition of supervised release,” the ruling states.
The judge ultimately found that prosecutors' request “was not sufficiently clear and specific to serve as a guide to the defendant's conduct and to those entrusted with his supervision,” instead imposing a special condition that BG provide the office suspension “copy the lyrics of any song he writes”, according to the decision. Any verses BG shares with the probation office will be passed on to the US government, which can then decide if “his conduct is inconsistent with the goals of rehabilitation,” the ruling continues.
A BG representative did not immediately respond Advertising signhis request for comment.
The decision is sure to spark controversy at a time when the practice of lyrics being used against rappers in criminal court has become a much-heard issue. In November, a judge ruled that Young Thug's lyrics can be used during the YSL RICO case, saying “the First Amendment is not at issue.” Bobby Shmurda and the late Drakeo the Ruler have also had their lyrics used against them in criminal cases. Laws have since been passed and proposed at both the state and federal levels to stop the criminalization of rap lyrics. In September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law restricting the practice, and similar laws have been proposed in New York and the US House of Representatives.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/rapper-b-g-song-lyrics-government-judge/
