Thursday, August 13, 2009

Rapper Gets Two Years in Prison for "Kill Me a Cop" Song

In theory, this song is a threat, so in that sense, it's wrong, but there have been worse songs in the history in hip hop with the same theme and the penalty then didn't go past the government attempting to censor it. I guess what seperates this one from the pack is the fact that he specifically mentions the cops names. My take on things like this is, yes, the message is conflicted and disturbing, but songs like this are a s a cry for help. Instead of imprisoning minorities for relaying messages like this, those who take offense should take a second to dissect the message to better understand where the artist is coming from. They should ask, "Why would he even feel the need to make song like this?" Or "What's the motivation for this song?" I don't agree with the way some rappers attempt to get their point across or how they verbalize their struggle by glorifying the negative aspects, but there is a reason why they even feel the need to rap about these issues it in the first place; they are products of their environment. Another thing that bothers me is the fact that historically, people have gotten less time for harsher offenses, such as actually KILLING someone (like NFL player Donte Stallworth, who got 24 days in prison). I guess he can't make a good case for himself when his prior offense was cocaine related but whatever. Read the story below (source):

Florida rapper Antavio Johnson has been sentenced to two years in prison for his song "Kill Me a Cop", which he produced as a teenager.

Johnson wrote the song in response to harassment he received from two Florida police officers. In the song, Johnson specifically mentions the two officers - one male and one female - by name, saying they would be shot with a "glock" in the "dome" if they "get my timing wrong."

After the song was completed, Johnson put it up on his MySpace page, and authorities stumbled across it while looking for gang-related activity on MySpace. The song was never played on the radio.

The 20-year-old is already serving time for violating probation related to cocaine use.

Johnson has received some support from the American Civil Liberties Union, saying that while Johnson's lyrics might disturb, "We [shouldn't] punish bad thoughts in America."


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