An appeals court has ruled that Bankroll Freddie’s rap lyrics were relevant evidence at his drug trafficking and gun possession trial.
A Friday (Aug. 28) ruling from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirms Bankroll Freddie’s 12-and-a-half-year prison sentence for four criminal counts. The Arkansas rapper (born Freddie Gladney III) was convicted in 2024 based on wiretapped phone calls and evidence from a traffic stop — plus, several clips of his rap repertoire.
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This included lyrics from “The Last Real Trap Rapper” off Gladney’s 2021 album Big Bank, a joint Quality Control Music/Motown Records release, in which he rapped “448 that’s a pound, 2,500 come and get it now, 224 that’s a half a bow.” The jury also heard Gladney rap, “I got something hot if he think he a bully, switch on the Glock change this b—h to a fully” on his 2020 Ed Dolo collab “Hot.”
Gladney’s attorneys argued that these lyrics were not autobiographical, but rather showed him adopting an “artist persona” to make it in the trap rap scene. But in Friday’s ruling, obtained by Billboard, three appellate judges unanimously ruled that the lyrics were “probative to show Gladney’s knowledge of terminology that was alleged to be associated with the sale of marijuana.”
“We recognize that some lyrics, rap included, may be prejudicial — sometimes unfairly so,” wrote Judge Jane Kelly in the decision. “But here, the lyrics introduced into evidence were limited to specific lyrics that included words relevant to the charged offenses. No full songs were introduced, and Gladney points to no irrelevant or inflammatory lyrics that were included in the clips.”
A lawyer for Gladney, Bobby R. Digby II, told Billboard on Monday (Aug. 31) that he is already in the process of drafting a petition for further appellate review. He declined to comment further on the decision.
The use of rap lyrics as evidence in criminal trials is controversial. Critics say it threatens artistic expression and injects racial bias into legal proceedings, and several states have banned or limited this practice for local prosecutions.
But rap lyrics are still fair game in federal prosecutions such as Gladney’s. Right now, fellow rapper Lil Durk is also having his lyrics used against him as evidence in an ongoing federal murder-for-hire trial. Legislators have repeatedly introduced a congressional bill that would ban this — the RAP Act — but it has long been stalled on Capitol Hill.
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