Art Not Evidence: ‘Artistic censorship is a growing issue’

Last night (September 24), attendees in their hundreds – most of whom were wearing suits – gathered on the 30th floor of a Canary Wharf high rise, but this wasn’t your usual City of London affair. Inside the room, drill artist Digga D’s music videos played on loop, while rappers mingled with lawyers and KCs over canapés. Their purpose? To support Art Not Evidence’s campaign to end the misuse of rap lyrics in criminal trials.

Art Not Evidence was founded by former major label A&R Elli Brazzill in 2023, who was incensed by what she saw to be the mistreatment of Black rap artists in particular in both the music industry and criminal justice system. “Back in 2019, I saw a correlation between rappers going up the charts and an increase in police surveillance, attention and censorship – such as shows being shut down or videos being taken off YouTube. I did some research and found out that music was also being used as flimsy and misleading evidence in court,” recalls Brazzill of a time in which drill artists like Digga D had their entire careers jeopardised by restrictions on their lyrical content.

“I saw that a similar campaign was being led in the US aiming for law reform to stop this practice,” Brazzill continues. “So, I decided to gather some comrades – lawyers, academics and journalists already working around this issue. We thought if they’re aiming for law reform in a big, complicated country like the USA, so should we on our silly little island.” 

The fundraiser featured guest speeches from Rap On Trial author Erik Nielson, lawyer Cecilia Goodwin (who featured on the documentary Defending Digga D), a member of the ‘Manchester 10’ group of young men who were wrongly convicted of joint enterprise for participating in a Telegram channel, Ademola Adedeji, and his legal counsel, Keir Monteith KC. There were no illusions as to why rap music in particular why had experienced such excessive policing: it was racism.

“What we’re seeing today reflects a long history of Black art and culture being policed as threatening or disorderly, as far back as 1688, slave codes banned instruments in the Caribbean for fear they might incite rebellion,” explains Brazzill. “On top of that we’ve had decades of narratives presented by tabloids and politicians that depict one-dimensional ‘murderous drill rappers,’ entrenching racist stereotypes about Black youth and rap in the national psyche. It was only 2006 when David Cameron blamed 1Xtra saying that grime music causes kids to carry knives – and similar things happened with UK garage, jungle and party rap like bassline up north. Because of all this, when some generic rap music that has nothing to do with the case is presented to a middle-aged white jury and presented by a police officer, it sadly works very well for the prosecution to get their conviction.” 

But, despite this deep history, Brazzill, points out that artistic censorship is currently on the rise. “As our government takes these small steps towards authoritarianism, censorship of art is always one of the first elements you see,” says Brazzill, referencing the recent legal proceedings brought against Kneecap for allegedly waving a Hamas flag during a performance. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it’s gone from Black drill rappers, to an Irish rap group to a Black punk band – with Bob Vylan being the only other target from Glastonbury. The media play a huge role in twisting the narrative, even one of our own team asked me if [Bob Vylan] said ‘death to all Israelis’ because that was the headline going around social media. It’s scary stuff and it’s just going to get worse.”

In view of this worrying shift towards art itself becoming the focus of criminal trials, Art Not Evidence have drafted a Criminal Evidence (Creative and Artistic Expression) Bill, which sets out strict thresholds for when creative expression can be admitted as evidence. “If passed, this legislation would help ensure that artists – particularly those involved in rap music – receive a fairer trial,” Brazzill explains. “It would require that the material admitted is directly relevant to the case and that an expert in rap is brought in to explain the conventions of the genre to the jury. We understand that in some cases, lyrics or other forms of creative expression may be relevant to a trial, and our legislation wouldn’t stop that if it truly were relevant, necessary and not bringing racist stereotypes into the trial.” 

Art Not Evidence, however, is entirely run by volunteers, and achieving their goals requires strategic planning. It’s to this end that they held last night’s fundraiser, hoping to scale up their efforts beyond just lobbying Parliament and allow themselves to play a more active role in providing legal counsel artists like Kneecap as well as educating young people on how to protect their creative expression. In Brazzill’s words: “It’s time to level up!”

Donate to Art Not Evidence here.