Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/08/bling-bling-rapper-bg-required-to-get-government-approval-for-all-future-songs.html
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What the fuck? That is absolutely still censorship. Is this what we’re moving to now? I guess it is. Controlling women’s bodies wasn’t enough. Now we’re moving on to controlling people’s speech.
As long as he’s not actually calling for violence with his lyrics, that’s protected speech regardless of any crimes he has committed in the past. For some reason, courts often seem to have more trouble seeing song lyrics as creative writing in the same manner as poetry or novels. Not just judges. A lot of people seem to think if someone sings something, it has to be autobiographical or otherwise represent their actual beliefs, intents, and desires. Well…I say “for some reason” but let’s be honest, this happens more often with black artists. I don’t recall an FBI investigation of the Violent Femmes when they released Country Death Song.
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Now do Kid Rock!
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Meh, I’m in two minds about that. There’s definitely an argument to be made that making music glorifying a criminal lifestyle is evidence that rehabilitation isn’t working.
I’d probably let him make any music he wants, with the explicit warning that it will be used against him in parole hearings.
Requiring advance permission is a form of censorship but probably ultimately more beneficial than the above method, because he’s less likely to jeopardise his freedom that way.
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From the Guardian article (my bold):
But Morgan said prosecutors’ concerns over Dorsey’s goals of rehabilitation were “legitimate”. So she would have the artist turn his lyrics over to the government prior to putting out or promoting any songs he planned to use them in, and at that point if they are deemed to be “inconsistent with the goals of rehabilitation”, prosecutors could ask to modify Dorsey’s supervised release terms.
So they may not be actually censoring him, just monitoring his lyrics and adjusting his parole terms if the lyrics are not in line with the terms of his parole and the goals of rehabilitation. And presumably he did agree to those terms in order to get parole.
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I’m still waiting them for Johnny Cash’s prosecution for admitting to killing a guy. 
I think music (and music made by black artists) makes for easier targets than other art forms. Easily accessible and requires much less work than, say, reading a book. A good way of getting the “law and order” crowed all worked up. The choice of this particular individual, though, still seems odd, unless he’s much more popular than I realize and/or his lyrics are much more scandalous than anything in recent memory. But I kinda doubt it. Musicians have been singing about crime (and actually doing crime) forever. It’s, what? 75% of pop music?
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This would be the way to go. Let him do whatever, just make it really clear that if he ends up in trouble again it could be used against him. Running lyrics by the government is just wild to me, though i guess he could take it as a challenge and write lyrics about censorship.
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Using song lyrics against someone in a parole hearing is just as wild to me. What the fuck are y’all advocating for here?
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Perhaps the government can provide good critical feedback, and help BG improve his craft? /s
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Giving him a warning vs having to run lyrics by the government? I’m sure there’s more to be considered here, i just know that the actual judgement was not the way to do it.
How about neither! What you’re suggesting still amounts to censorship.
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Noted, but i would like to know what the hell the judge was thinking
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Uhhhh… this is definitely a first amendment violation. WTF?
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Seems like.
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“Prior restraint” is the key legal phrase here. In first amendment law, prior restraint is a definite no-no (that’s the proper legal term also, FWIW). Curious to see where this one lands.
ETA: I owe @RickMycroft a coke.
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@danimagoo is right that this is straight up censorship. They used to do this shit in the Eastern Bloc, lyrics had to be checked by government officials for compliance.
And of course, we have a political party doing that on a daily basis right now.
It tends to be hip-hop, too, you’ll note.
That’s largely due to years of people expecting authenticity out of artists. There is probably a whole book to be written about that shift in popular music. The singer-songwriter is using music as an artistic expression and is therefore being fully authentic with their lyrics. There is much less room for creative expression if everyone is expecting you to spill your guys, ala Taylor Swift style…
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Yeah, that’s why I was really glad to see that Luke Combs kept Fast Car’s lyrics exactly as Tracey Chapman wrote them, including keeping it in the first person as told by a woman. It was a reassertion that singers can sing songs that are told from the point of view of other people. They don’t always have to be referencing themselves.
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Ah, yes. I’m sure all parties involved see this as a great opportunity for artistic collaboration. /s
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Bullshit!
It isn’t a criminal lifestyle, it’s a criminalized life
Louisiana has had the highest murder rate of any state every year of his life. It has the highest incarceration rate every year, and despite being a constitutional carry state where there is no such thing as having enough guns, Black men are incarcerated constantly for gun possession. Continuing to rap about these things mostly reflects that he still lives in the same place.
More bullshit!
His lyrics should not have any bearing whatsoever on his rights
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