Murder They Rapped

From platinum stars to local heroes, hip-hop artists are seeing their lyrics used against them in criminal trials; here’s a look at a problematic and growing trend through the eyes of the accused

- Jeff Weiss

There was no discernible reason for the police to follow Drakeo the Ruler that afternoon. As he later told me, no traffic violations were committed; no weed was smoked. But constitutional questions of rightful search and seizure don’t seem to trouble the cops patrolling South Central Los Angeles, and so a brief drive to the liquor store last winter ended with L.A.’s most original rap stylist since Snoop Dogg handcuffed, accused of illegal possession of a firearm and looking on as law enforcement showed him his own videos and rapped his own lyrics at him. Things only got weirder from there.

Over the next several weeks, other members of Drakeo’s crew, the Stinc Team, were also arrested. The charges ranged from first-degree murder to commercial burglary, enhanced by the threat of lengthy mandatory sentences due, according to Drakeo, to the district attorney’s accusation that the Stinc Team is a gang rather than one of the West Coast’s most popular young hip-hop collectives. As far as evidence goes, his attorney has claimed that the case largely hinges on a jailhouse confession allegedly obtained by an informant. So in an effort to demonise the 25-year-old artist, prosecutors are using Drakeo’s music and flashy, carefully cultivated image against him.

“That’s bullshit. I can say whatever I want,” the rapper born Darrell Caldwell says from inside the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. During Drakeo’s months of incarceration, the judge has refused to grant him bail. “They’re only doing this because I’m a rapper — and a black rapper at that,” he says. “I go hard to make sure that you can interpret my music in 20 different ways, but they’re still trying to use it to paint a false picture of me.”