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Lyrics from New York rapper Ra Diggs are at the center of a murder trial that has started in Brooklyn.
According to ABC News, the government and Diggs’ defense attorneys are debating whether his songs should be submitted as evidence in the case. In February 2012, Riggs was indicted for three brutal murders, one of which dates back to 2001.
Ra Diggs (real name Ronald Herron), who is reportedly a Waka Flocka associate, has several songs like ‘Live by the Gun, Die by the Gun,’ containing violent lyrics.
The government has accused the rapper of being the city’s highest-ranking Blood member and his songs detail various homicides he committed. The defense, however, believes that Diggs’ lyrics are protected under free speech and inadmissible.
Both sides are awaiting a ruling on whether a dozen of Diggs’ videos and songs can be submitted as evidence.
Diggs has a long criminal record that started in his teenage years, according to prosecutors. The 32-year-old is reportedly a reputed leader of a Bloods gang that sold crack cocaine out of the Brooklyn housing projects.
Diggs’ defense attorneys argued that music and videos are fictional works of art being expressed by the rapper’s views on the hardships of his life.
However, the government contends that the rapper built a criminal enterprise through violence and then highlighted those activities in his songs. Admitting that he’s a gangster in his music doesn’t “inoculate him against their use against him in trial,” prosecutors have stated.
For now, Ra Diggs will have to remain silent. When he asked the judge if he could give his own opening statement, he was denied.
