The new film As We Speak challenges us to think twice about the foundational free speech rights enshrined in the First Amendment when it comes to protecting artistic expression.
Paramount+
The documentary from J.M. Harper (Emmy nominee for the mini-series Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy) traces how rap lyrics become evidence in the courtroom—a practice that contributes to the disproportionate criminalization of young Black artists.
In a captivating series of interviews, animations, historical footage, and enactments, the film offers a new window into a decades-old issue that remains dangerously relevant to Black rappers in America today.
As We Speak’s debut at this year’s Sundance Film Festival coincides with the high-profile trial of rapper Young Thug, who still faces RICO charges for racketeering in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. The presiding judge recently deemed Young Thug's rap lyrics admissible in court to support the government’s case against him. He and his twenty-eight co-defendants are accused of gang activity, including street racing, selling marijuana and cocaine, and possessing firearms.
Young Thug was arrested in summer 2022—while the film was still in development—and is one of at least 700 prosecutions where rap lyrics have been introduced as evidence since the 1990s. The actual number of potential cases is unknown, given how few—less than 1 percent in 2022—go to trial because most defendants make plea deals to avoid the risk of going to court. Two years later, Young Thug remains in prison during his ongoing trial and faces twenty years in prison if convicted.
At the center of As We Speak is the thirty-three-year-old Bronx native and underground rapper Kemba, who takes viewers on his own journey of discovery into the past, present, and future of Black art being used as evidence to condemn its creators. Before the film, Kemba was aware of this issue threatening his artistic community, but was himself surprised by its sheer magnitude.
“My specific goal is to pull back the veil on just how pervasive and how insidious this whole thing is,” Kemba tells The Progressive.
1 of 3
Paramount+
Bronx native and underground rapper Kemba in "As We Speak."
2 of 3
Paramount+
Kemba in "As We Speak." The documentary compellingly portrays the criminal justice system as inherently biased against especially young Black men.
3 of 3
Paramount+
Glasses Malone and Kemba browse records in "As We Speak."
The documentary compellingly portrays the criminal justice system as inherently biased against especially young Black men—preyed on by police, and handed over to prosecutors who are concerned only with their conviction rates. In leading Kemba through a dramatized example of the process based on case histories, the film reveals the courtroom as a surreal stage where rap lyrics are stripped of their cultural context and wielded by men in suits and robes to conjure the specter of the dangerous Black criminal.
Regardless of their relevance to the charges, prosecutors have used musical snippets to sway jurors into believing that the defendant is predisposed to criminal behavior. Somehow, this tactic bypasses the legal boundaries of “character evidence,” which should be inadmissible in U.S. courts.
When it comes to free speech, artistic expressions like poetry and fiction are often unquestionably beyond the reach of prosecutors to use in court cases—at least when the defendants are white. The infamous case of romance novelist Nancy Brophy, who was on trial several years ago for murdering her husband, comes up in the film. In 2018, a district judge ruled that an article on the Internet by Brophy titled “How to Murder Your Husband,” was inadmissible as evidence against her. (She was convicted the same month that Young Thug was arrested).
As We Speak shines brightest through its interviews with rap luminaries. Killer Mike appears in an Atlanta diner, describing this legal tactic as “nothing more than a sleight of hand trick” connected to the criminalization of Blackness. “If I can keep you believing that these people are criminals, you’ll never wonder why this criminality exists.” For Killer Mike, who grew up during the crack epidemic under Ronald Reagan’s drug policies in the 1980s that stoked mass incarceration, it was the first generation of rappers who informed him of the unjust ways the system works and inspired him to speak out against it. “Rap validated that I wasn’t insane,” he says in the film. “As a kid, I’m seeing things that people aren’t acknowledging.”
Paramount+
Killer Mike in "As We Speak."
In recent years a movement to Protect Black Art has emerged from artists and activists in the industry and beyond. The filmmakers see As We Speak as part of this campaign to urge prosecutors to voluntarily end the practice and urge legislators to limit its use. A reigning culture in the U.S. that criminalizes Blackness still remains, however, which is what Kemba—who was raised in activist circles as a teenager—sets his sights on.
“If we could open people's eyes to the fact that people's artistry—whether in their spare time or for their profession—is being twisted and used against them as this sort of ‘smoking gun’ to lock ‘em up,” Kemba says, “I think it’ll just change the perception—and hopefully that aids the movement.”
The film’s worldview stems from an academic book that defined the issue for the progressive legal and activist community: Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America by Erik Nielson, a professor of African American literature and hip-hop culture, and Andrea Dennis, a former public defender.
For the filmmakers, the intent wasn’t to adapt the book but to reframe its message for a mainstream audience.
“In progressive movements, a lot of the information is delivered in ways that just doesn’t hit people on the same kind of gut instinctual level,” the film’s director, J.M. Harper, tells The Progressive. “It goes for the head instead of the heart, and I knew that if we could make a film that went for both—the same way that the music does, frankly—that we would have something interesting and unique.”
With elegant cinematography and a dynamic soundtrack, As We Speak leads with lightness, beauty, and imagination. For those who care about freedom of expression, the experience will be enraging and illuminating. It will leave viewers with a profound understanding of the complexities within the criminal justice system and the enduring power of artistic truth.
As We Speak premieres on Paramount+ February 27.