Rappers Brief SCOTUS On First Amendment

The Supreme Court this week heard from rappers, including T.I., Big Boi, and Killer Mike, speaking out in defense of a high school student who was disciplined for posting a rap song online. “The government punished a young man for his art – and, more disturbing, for the musical genre by which he chose to express himself,” the rappers wrote in the brief. They urge the Justices to consider rap music as an art form that deserves First Amendment attention. The student, Taylor Bell, posted a song on Facebook and YouTube that drew attention to sexual misconduct by two coaches. In response he was suspended and sent to a different school. “Following a long line of rappers before him, Bell saw an opportunity to confront injustice,” the brief reads.