Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed a new law Tuesday (May 12) restricting when prosecutors can rely on rap lyrics as criminal evidence, marking the latest legislative victory for opponents of the controversial practice.
At a signing ceremony in Annapolis, Moore formally greenlit the Protecting Artists’ Creative Expression (PACE) Act, a law passed last month that allows authorities to use rap lyrics and other “creative expression” as criminal evidence only in limited circumstances.
Critics say using rap lyrics as evidence stifles free speech by penalizing creative expression, and that it can unfairly sway juries by stoking racial bias against young Black men. As he signed the bill, Moore said hip-hop lyrics had been cited in court more than 800 times, while songs of all other genres combined had been used by prosecutors just four times.
“This is not a coincidence. This is bias,” Moore said. “In Maryland, that ends today.”
Prosecutors have used rap lyrics for decades to win convictions against the people who wrote them. Stars like Young Thug and Lil Durk have both faced recent indictments that quoted their lyrics, as have hundreds of lesser-known and amateur rappers over the years.
Opponents, including prominent voices in the music industry, have waged an increasingly organized campaign to limit the practice, often termed “rap on trial.” California enacted the first-ever legislation on this front in 2022, followed by Louisiana in 2023. Maryland’s new law makes it the third state to pass such a law, with proposed legislation in New York, Georgia and Missouri targeted next.
“Today, Maryland makes history and sends a message that our creativity is not a confession, and our imagination does not belong in an indictment,” said Kevin Liles, the CEO of Warner Music Group’s 300 Entertainment and a longtime advocate on the issue, in a statement Tuesday.
“Lyrics are a powerful tool for personal expression, not a shortcut to criminalization,” said Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, in the same statement. “This legislation helps establish important guardrails that ensure artists’ creativity is not unfairly used against them.”
Like the laws passed in other states, Maryland’s new legislation would not outright ban the use of lyrics in criminal cases and would still allow prosecutors to cite music in obvious cases where it’s particularly relevant. Instead, it would merely require prosecutors to show by a “preponderance of evidence” that the lyrics are worthwhile evidence before they are admitted at trial.
Under the new law, before lyrics and other creative expressions are shown to jurors, judges will be required to rule that the artist intended them as literal statements; that they refer to the facts of the case; and that they are relevant to a disputed fact in the case.
