GLAZIER LENDS RIAA SUPPORT TO RAP LYRICS BILL

RIAA Chairman & CEO Mitch Glazier has fired off a letter to the California State Senate in support of AB 2799, a bill that would limit the use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal proceedings.

In the letter, addressed to the Honorable Toni Atkins, Glazier cited numerous songs “rooted in imagination” that use hyperbole and “fantastical imagery” to paint a picture, including Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff," The Beatles’ “Happiness Is a Warm Gun" and Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues." Glazier wrote the colorful lyrics are "customary, and often necessary, elements of creative expression."

Glazier also suggested the same rules don't apply to rap lyrics. As he explained, “When rap and hip-hop artists adhere to this time-honored tradition of make-believe, their lyrics are too often—and unfairly—taken literally, stripped of the poetic license afforded other genres."

Introduced by Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer of California State Assembly District 59, AB 2799 is presently on its third reading in the Senate and could pass as early as this week. Glazier's letter appears below.