Rapper Travis Scott has joined a legal effort tied to a case now before the United States Supreme Court, weighing in on a growing debate over how rap lyrics are used during criminal trials.
Through his attorneys, the Houston artist submitted a legal filing supporting James Garfield Broadnax, a Texas man convicted in connection with a double homicide near Garland in 2009 and later sentenced to death. The case has become a flashpoint in the broader argument over whether creative writing can be introduced as evidence to suggest criminal intent or character.
Scott’s legal team focused on the sentencing phase of Broadnax’s trial. Prosecutors presented rap lyrics written by Broadnax to the jury, which the filing says was nearly entirely white. The brief argues that this presentation shaped how jurors viewed the defendant.
“The manner in which prosecutors presented rap lyrics written by petitioner James Garfield Broadnax, a Black man, to an almost all-white jury during his capital sentencing hearing presents an ideal vehicle for addressing this issue because the prosecutors’ conduct here was particularly egregious,” the document states.
Attorneys backing the filing say the lyrics were treated as proof that Broadnax posed a future threat rather than as artistic expression.
“The prosecutors argued Mr. Broadnax was likely to be dangerous in the future simply because he engaged in ‘gangster rap,’” the filing explains. “Such an argument functionally operates as a categorical and straightforwardly unconstitutional content-based penalty on rap music as a form of expression.”
The brief also stresses that rap lyrics fall under First Amendment protections. It argues the genre, often created by minority artists, has historically faced heightened scrutiny from law enforcement and prosecutors.