How YNW Melly’s “Murder on My Mind” could be used in the courtroom

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Charis E. Kubrin, Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at University of California, Irvine, has done extensive research on the use of rap lyrics in courtrooms.

Recently, Jamell Demons, better known as YNW Melly, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. According to police in Miramar, Florida, an investigation “supported by forensic evidence” concluded that Demons shot and killed two of his lifelong friends.

Hours after news broke of Melly’s arrest, the public mistakenly linked the arrest to Melly’s breakout 2017 hit “Murder on My Mind,” a song released a full 18 months before the murders. After Melly was freed in 2017, he went back to jail and later told The FADER last year that his return hinged on the actions of the state attorney, who read the second verse of “Murder on My Mind” to the courtroom.

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