James Broadnax, who has spent more than a decade on Texas death row, is scheduled for execution on April 30 for a 2008 double murder near Dallas. At the center of his ongoing appeal is the use of rap lyrics he wrote as a 19-year-old, which prosecutors introduced during his capital murder trial to establish gang affiliation and implicate him in the shootings. Defense attorneys argue that presenting his lyrics to an almost all-white jury unfairly prejudiced them by reinforcing racial stereotypes.

Broadnax and his cousin were convicted of killing two men outside a suburban Dallas music studio. Prosecutors highlighted lyrics from a notebook Broadnax kept, containing rap verses, personal reflections, and job leads, asserting the content demonstrated his involvement in criminal activity. Defense lawyers contend that the trial court failed to instruct the jury not to interpret the lyrics as autobiographical, a lapse they say encouraged bias rooted in racial assumptions about young Black men.

The use of rap lyrics as evidence is not unique to Broadnax’s case. Over the past 50 years, courts in more than 40 states have admitted rap lyrics in hundreds of criminal proceedings, often to suggest motive, gang membership, or confessions. Legal experts and scholars say this practice disproportionately targets young men of color and treats rap music as a straightforward personal diary rather than a form of artistic expression employing metaphor and fiction.

Erik Nielson, coauthor of “Rap on Trial,” said this approach disregards the creative and literary dimensions of rap and taps into longstanding stereotypes about Black men’s capacity for artistic complexity. Research demonstrates that identical song lyrics are more readily accepted as art when attributed to genres like country or heavy metal rather than rap, highlighting cultural biases in judicial settings.

Prominent rappers such as Young Thug have faced similar use of their music in court. Young Thug pleaded guilty to gang-related charges in a high-profile case where prosecutors introduced his lyrics as evidence. Other artists have publicly emphasized the fictional nature of their work; for example, Drakeo the Ruler released a song titled “Fictional” shortly before his death to counter claims of autobiographical intent, and 21 Savage has described his raps as “fiction as hell.”

Broadnax’s legal team has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to stay his execution and reconsider how rap lyrics are used in criminal trials, warning that their application risks perpetuating racial bias. Several well-known rappers, including Travis Scott, T.I., and Killer Mike, have filed amicus briefs supporting this position.

Prosecutors maintain that Texas law permits consideration of evidence related to a defendant’s reputation during sentencing. They argue that Broadnax waived complaints about the lyric evidence in earlier appeals and that the court should uphold the current rulings. The case underscores ongoing debates about the intersection of race, art, and the criminal justice system in the United States.