Travis Scott and two other major rappers failed to sway the Supreme Court with briefs supporting a death row inmate whose conviction relied heavily on prosecutors’ weaponizing his own rap lyrics against him.
According to CNN, James Broadnax was executed Thursday evening in Huntsville, Texas, for a 2008 robbery that killed two men outside a Dallas music studio.
Broadnax maintained he wasn’t the shooter. His cousin Demarius Cummings, who received a life sentence, recently confessed in a video that he was the actual killer, saying, “I’m really gonna tell it like it’s supposed to be told, that it was me, that I was the killer.”
DNA evidence backed Cummings’ claim. His genetic material was found on the murder weapon and inside one victim’s pocket, while Broadnax’s DNA wasn’t there.
Yet prosecutors had used Broadnax’s rap lyrics to paint him as a violent criminal during trial, and T.I. and Killer Mike joined Travis Scott in filing briefs at the Supreme Court arguing this violated his constitutional rights.
Broadnax’s attorneys also argued that prosecutors violated his rights by dismissing all seven potential Black jurors during jury selection using a spreadsheet that bolded only their names, a practice the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 1986 under Batson v. Kentucky.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles denied his request for reprieve or commutation on Tuesday.
His case exposed exactly why the Hip-Hop community’s been fighting so hard to protect artists from having their creative work used as evidence in court.
The execution comes as Maryland just passed the Protecting Artists’ Creative Expression Act, becoming the first East Coast state to restrict the use of rap lyrics in court. Governor Wes Moore is expected to sign the bill on May 12, with it taking effect on October 1.
State Delegate Marlon Amprey, who led the four-year push, explained the reasoning: “The reality is, if that song isn’t having anything to do with the trial, then it shouldn’t be used in court.”
He added that prosecutors have been targeting young Black and Latino men specifically, using their music to suggest they’re more violent.
Kevin Liles of Free Our Art, who championed the Maryland effort with bipartisan backing, said the organization is already moving to New York next.
The federal RAP Act, which Congress introduced to bar the use of lyrics as evidence in court proceedings, reflects the same principle. Convictions have already been vacated in Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, and New York over the past three years because lyrics were wrongfully admitted as evidence.