CNN -- Killer Mike, Chance the Rapper, Meek Mill, Yo Gotti, Fat Joe and 21 Savage were among the group of artists and scholars named in a legal brief filed on March 6. The briefing urges the Supreme Court to hear a case involving Pittsburgh rapper Jamal Knox and determine whether his song lyrics are protected under the First Amendment.
Knox was found guilty of "terroristic threats and witness intimidation" and sentenced to two years in prison partially due to lyrics from a song that he wrote entitled "F*ck the Police."
The artists and scholars urging Supreme Court involvement say that Knox's song is a "political statement ... that no reasonable person familiar with rap music would have interpreted as a true threat of violence."
