For the youngins who aren’t familiar, B.G. was one of the early signees of Birdman’s Cash Money Records, years before Drake and Nicki Minaj were the headlines of the label. He was a part of the New Orleans hip-hop group Hot Boys which included Turk, Juvenile, and a young Lil Wayne.
Although he left the group and label in 2001, he continued his career before being sentenced to 14 years in federal prison and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to two counts of possession of a firearm and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice in July 2012. He was released last September.
While it had been years since he released music, B.G. was excited about getting back in the music game, with plans to make music with artists like Gucci Mane. But in a new report, it appears that it won’t be so easy for the “Bling Bling” MC to release his music.
According to The Guardian, B.G. has been prohibited from glorifying gun violence in his music and must provide the federal government with copies of songs he writes prior to them being recorded and released to the public.
If B.G. turns in a song and it’s decided that the lyrics don’t match his “goals of rehabilitation,” the terms of his supervised release could be hardened.
This is unlike any situation we’ve heard in hip-hop. For as long as the genre has been around rappers have gone to prison, been released, and have continued to write songs about what got them in trouble in the first place.
B.G.’s situation is an evolution of the continuous conversation on whether rap lyrics can be used as evidence in court — one that has come up recently in relation to Young Thug and YSL. In November, an Atlanta judge ruled that song lyrics would be allowed as evidence under certain conditions in the YSL RICO trial.
Hip-hop has always been an art form. Rappers of the past (2 Live Crew) fought and won for their music to have artistic value. B.G.’s requirement to have his songs approved takes away his right to free speech to an extent, essentially silencing his music if it’s not deemed appropriate for his rehabilitation.
B.G.’s situation is different from Young Thug’s since the former has already served prison, but it’s uncomfortable to see that his music, which is a form of expression, can now be used against him after he’s already served his prison time.