San Diego rapper Tiny Doo risks harsh prison sentence for song lyrics
Song lyrics praising violence are unusual. However a prosecutor in California is convinced that one singer’s violent lyrics go beyond creation to conspiracy, informs CNN.
San Diego rapper Tiny Doo has spent 8 months in jail, and is eligible for 25 years to life in prison if sentenced under a little-known California statute that makes it illegal to benefit from gang activities. The statute at the center of this case is California Penal Code 182.5. The code makes it a felony for anyone to take part in a criminal street gang, be aware that a street gang has engaged in criminal activity, or benefit from that activity.
Actually the last part – benefiting from criminal activity – might be quite troubling for the rapper.
Tiny Doo, on his real name Brandon Duncan, is charged with nine counts of criminal street gang conspiracy because prosecutors suspect that he and 14 other alleged gang members increased their stature and respect following a shooting spree across the city in 2013.
Prosecutors focus their attention to Tiny Doo’s album, “No Safety,” and some lyrics like “Ain’t no safety on this pistol I’m holding” as examples of a “direct correlation to what the gang has been doing.”
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There is no proof that Tiny Doo ever fired a bullet. He may rap about violence but he’s got no criminal record. Duncan told CNN’s Don Lemon he’s just “picturing an image of urban street life” by his lyrics. “The studio is my canvas. I’m just painting a picture,” he said. “I’m not telling anybody to go out and kill somebody.”
The singer rejected any involvement with any gang but said the prosecution has him concerned about future creative expression. “I would love to continue to rap,” he said. “But these people have you scared to do anything around here.”
In turn the prosecutors claim the lyrics aren’t the only evidence they got. At Duncan’s preliminary hearing, they exposed some social media posts that, according to them, prove Duncan is still a gang member.
CNN Legal Analyst Mark Geragos says the district attorney may be trying to send a message “that you shouldn’t glorify or glamorize gang activity.” “The problem is you’re going to run straight head-on into the First Amendment,” he said. “If they don’t have anything other than the album, this case I don’t think would ever stand up.”