B.G. pushed back against prosecutors’ efforts to modify the terms of his supervised release. According to court documents obtained by AllHipHop, the rapper’s lawyers contested a proposed condition requiring him to submit his lyrics to a probation officer before releasing any songs.
Judge Susie Morgan ordered B.G. to provide lyrics to every song he’s recorded since his release from prison ahead of a hearing scheduled for June 18. He complied with the Louisiana judge’s order on Tuesday (May 21), as first reported by The Guardian.
B.G., whose real name is Christopher Dorsey, submitted his lyrics under seal for “intellectual property reasons.” His legal team said continued scrutiny of his lyrics would violate his First Amendment rights.
“As to the Government’s request for Mr. Dorsey to provide U.S. Probation (and the government) with lyrics ‘for any song that he may write, in whole or in part, while on supervised release,’ it is respectfully submitted that this request is overly broad and violates the First Amendment and due process,” his attorneys wrote. “It is respectfully submitted that requiring Mr. Dorsey to submit his mental impressions and lyrics for any song that he may write, whole or in part, would constitute a prior restraint. It is respectfully submitted that Mr. Dorsey should be permitted to write and express his own thoughts without fear that he needs to provide all lyrics to U.S. Probation and the Government.”
They added, “Besides Mr. Dorsey, are there any other music artists on supervised release in this District or throughout the United States being required to submit all of their song lyrics to U.S. Probation and the Government? Significantly, Mr. Dorsey’s song lyrics have not resulted in any criminal activity. It is respectfully submitted that blaming someone’s music for violence is like blaming Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone for violent crimes because of their movies. Furthermore, evaluating lyrics for alleged supervised release violations would result in arbitrary, vague and subjective enforcement. Accordingly, the proposed condition as it relates to the submission of future lyrics/mental impressions should not be adopted by this Honorable Court.”
Lawyers also sought clarification on the prosecution’s proposal to block B.G. from associating or working with convicted felons without the court’s written approval. Attorneys wanted the conditions to be reworded since “many people in the entertainment industry have felonies.” B.G.’s legal team said he will report to his probation officer “if he inadvertently meets someone who he knows is a felon.”
B.G. spent more than a decade in prison for gun and witness tampering charges. He was released in 2023. The New Orleans native denied violating the terms of his supervised release.
