Cyrus Langhorne
Atlanta rappers T.I., Big Boi and Killer Mike are reportedly headed to Supreme Court tomorrow (December 21) to defend a former high school hip-hop artist’s lyrics.
According to reports, the trio will try to have the court hear an appeal from Mississippi rapper about rap music being political speech and protected by the First Amendment.
They’re standing up for Taylor Bell, who four years ago was a Mississippi high school student in the Itawamba School District. He was disciplined for posting a rap song with explicit lyrics about some coaches alleged to have acted inappropriately toward female students. In their brief, the rappers urge the justices to hear an appeal from Bell, who is now pursuing a music career under the name T-Bizzle. (The Clarion-Ledger)
Bell caught heat for name-dropping school sports coaches in a 2011 rap.
Court documents say Bell wrote the song after he said several girls at the school told him two coaches were behaving inappropriately. School officials allegedly learned of the song after it was posted on Facebook and YouTube. Bell named the coaches in the song and used the school logo in the video, which was a sticking point for school attorneys. (The Clarion-Ledger)
Back in August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of Bell’s school for its decision to suspend him over the song.
Administrators said the rap song threatened the coaches — and according to the ruling, one of the coaches said he was scared for his safety. The Fifth Circuit opinion, which was issued Thursday, affirms the district court’s ruling that the school administrators reasonably understood the speech to be threatening, harassing and intimidating the teachers, and that the song caused a “substantial disruption” at school. (SPLC)
On the song, Bell singled out school coaches and sent a verbal warning their way.
“Looking down girls shirts / drool running down your mouth / you f*cking with the wrong one / going to get a pistol down your mouth / Boww”
