Photo Credit: Eventbrite
Despite the rapper’s incarceration, Gunna Fest is going forward as planned in his hometown.
In 2021, South Fulton Mayor William Edwards dubbed September 16 as ‘Gunna Day,’ recognizing the rapper’s positive impact on his community. At the beginning of 2022, Gunna (Sergio Kitchens) is behind bars on RICO charges and will not have a trial until January 2023. If convicted on the charges he faces, the rapper could spend up to 20 years in prison.
South Fulton celebrated Gunna Day in 2021 with the opening of Gunna’s Drip Closet and Goodr Grocery Store. Both were places aimed at low-income students to distribute food, clothing, and sundries to those in need. Gunna Fest 2022 retains that spirit while adding family festivities like free rides, food, and Gunna merch.
The charges that Gunna and Young Thug face are unique in that they are accused of conspiracy based on song lyrics. The case has sparked a wave of laws in New York and now California that are seeking to protect musical lyrics from being used as evidence of a crime. The New York Senate has already passed a law to prevent this, while California seeks to tighten the rules around the admission of rap lyrics as evidence.
A new bill before California Governor Gavin Newsom would force prosecutors who want to use rap lyrics, or any other form of creative expression, to hold a pretrial hearing. The hearing must be away from the jury, and it must prove that the lyrics or other artistic expressions are relevant to the case at hand before their admission.
“There’s a pretty large body of information and a pretty strong body of opinion that prosecutors and their gang experts have their heads on backwards,” says Stephen Munkelt, Executive Director of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, who supports the bill. Across the nation, researchers have found around 500 cases where rap lyrics were introduced in state or federal trials.