Source: Paramount+ / Paramount+
HipHopWired sat down and spoke with the director and his star Paramount Plus documentary As We Speak: Rap Music On Trial.
One of the most pressing situations affecting Hip-Hop culture and the communities that love it is the persistent weaponization of rap lyrics in criminal cases throughout the United States and abroad. The most vivid example is the current RICO lawsuit being brought against Young Thug by Fulton County prosecutors in Georgia. Unfortunately, the general public is still unaware of the scale of these actions by the criminal justice system and its implications – to date, 700 trials have used rap lyrics as evidence since 1990.
Source: Paramount+ / Paramount+
A new documentary, As We Speak: Rap Music on Trial shines a bright light on how much law enforcement has used rap lyrics to win convictions in criminal cases. The documentary, which will air on Paramount Plus, is directed and produced by JM Harper ((jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, Don't go tell your mom.) As We Speak is told through the perspective of Kemba, a talented MC from the Bronx who is our narrator as he talks to various artists such as Killer Mike, Mac Phipps, Glasses Malone and lawyers like MSNBC's Ari Melber in the US and UK for their perspectives in unique ways – even starting the film by getting a two-way pager to keep his communication private. HipHopWired had the opportunity to speak exclusively with Harper and Kemba about the film and its message.
HipHopWired: JM, what was the artistic spark for doing this project? Was it always your intention to get the point of view of someone who rhymes like Kemba as the main narrator for the project?
JM Harper: Really, what we've seen especially with the Young Thug lawsuit is that most of the time this issue is discussed in the national news and the artist in question is always silent. You don't hear them being told to shut up, they are made to shut up. And so that was the most obvious entry point for me, was that you could tell the story from the artist's point of view, and there was probably something new and interesting to learn there. And something real to learn that we weren't being told this through the DA or the prosecutors, or even the media that was covering it. I knew Kemba could tell this story with nuance and perspective and do it in a way that I had seen some of the great black minds of our time – the great minds of our time, period – but definitely her great black minds of our time that could take something, a subject that seemed one-way at first, and really articulate it in a way that reached everyone, no matter where you come from. That's why I thought of Kimba. And I think that's what he does in the film.
HHW: So Kemba, making this film and connecting with some of the other artists who were under pressure, unfortunately, like Mac Phipps – how did you get more insight into their experiences talking to them about the film?
Kemba: It was a lot of emotions. Mac Phipps, I respect him so much, just because he didn't get upset. He wasn't bitter. I sure would be. He just had such enthusiasm for the rest of his life. You know, hearing the story… it upset me. I understand why people don't have faith in the justice system. How could someone lose 30 years of their life, even when someone confesses to the crime they were convicted of. How could anyone pit their lives against them, a line from this song, a line from this song. It was really incredible to hear that. And we've heard a few different people's experiences like this, that their art forms are being taken away or used against them. Yes, it was eye-opening.
HHW: We have the opportunity in the film to connect with different artists from cities around the world. What were the most memorable experiences of shooting these segments for both of you?
Harper: For me it was Chicago. I can just talk to some of the early rappers, period. The way, 10 or 15 years later, they were talking about their label experience. You get 100 grams from a company to talk about what was happening around you. I didn't know that Chi-raq, Drillinois was a term – I didn't know about Driilinois terminology, that it came from the first drill manufacturer. And that term was used on CNN every night at the time. The music's origin stories and the complexities there simply hadn't been addressed and amplified. I'm sure it was talked about, but not until we were able to capture it in this whole black history context. Could it fit into a framework that applies to what is currently happening in courtrooms? This was one of his most exciting moments, every city presented something new. But for me, Chicago was special for that reason.
Kemba: Yeah, I agree about Chicago. I'll say Atlanta, just talking to Killer Mike. And he has a wealth of knowledge. But also, we're just learning about it. So history, just to see how far back it all goes, like art that's kind of not seen or looked at. It is not respected as art. Back from rock and roll to blues and jazz, back to Negro spirituals, and how this is just the latest iteration of that. This was very strange to me.
HHW: This will be my last question, a little on the fun side. Whose idea was it to start it all with the two-way pager download?
Harper: (laughs) So when I cut Kanye jeen-yuhs documentary, set mostly in the late 90s, early 2000s, Kanye would always seem to write both ways. Two-way this, two-way that. Then I saw that it was all over the music videos of that era and the Hip-Hop community had really embraced a two-way street for its short life between the invention of the pager and cell phone texting. That became a really interesting starting point and then bringing it to the pawn shop was great. These patois-speaking kids, I didn't even ask them to speak like that. They asked, “can we say something?” I was like, “yeah” and they just started leaving. It was just really organic. This little piece of Hip-Hop history was a perfect vessel for Kemba to write and communicate, thinking he was off the grid. So, that's where it came from.
As We Speak: Rap Music On Trial airs on Paramount Plus on February 27.
