Fat Joe has joined several other rappers—Killer Mike, T.I., N.O.R.E, Young Thug, and Travis Scott—in a petition to halt the execution of a Texas rapper named James Broadnax. In 2009, Broadnax was sentenced to death for two murders that happened a year prior. The crux of the case rested on 40 pages of the defendant’s handwritten rap lyrics. However, according to Broadnax’s fellow rap peers, his sentence is “unconstitutional.” Fat Joe recently chatted with CBS News about why he decided to be part of the fight.
“I just happen to know that hip-hop music comes from a place of creativity and imagination,” Fat Joe tells the outlet. “…There’s nowhere on earth that the stuff that we write is actually real.” In his opinion, rap lyrics are no different from books or movies. “So to see someone go to trial with the lyrics they used on songs that came from their imagination to be used against them is a crime in itself.”
“We have to definitely take care of our freedom of speech,” Fat Joe Says
“We have to definitely take care of our freedom of speech, our freedom of expression, and our freedom of imagination,” Fat Joe added. One of the interviewers noted that murder-mystery writers don’t face the same scrutiny as rappers when it comes to their content—a sentiment to which the rapper agreed. Another reporter noted that Fat Joe, himself, admitted telling falsehoods in his lyrics; however, the rapper just defines it as being “creative.”
He adds, “The music talks to you. It’s hard for someone who doesn’t make music to understand this. The beats tell you what to write—sometimes it’s happy stuff, sometimes it’s depressing stuff, [or] sometimes it’s party stuff.” The rapper argues that you cannot hold a person accountable for rap lyrics in the court of law. “I do believe that the prosecutors and the judges know that this is unfair as well.” Fat Joe says he and the other artists mentioned aren’t just fighting for Broadnax, but all cases like his.
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