It’s a new dawn, a new year and a time to sit and beginning to fight and make things right.  Billionaire rapper; Jay-Z, Meek Mill and more have push for law that would stop New York prosecutors using rap lyrics as evidence of allege crime during court trial.

In a letter to state lawmakers, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the group called for the legislation to be passed after it made its way through the Senate Codes Committee.

“This is an issue that’s important to (Jay-Z) and all the other artists that have come together to try to bring about this change,” Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro, shared. “This is a long time coming. Mr. Carter is from New York, and if he can lend his name and his weight, that’s what he wants to do.”

Spiro co-wrote the letter with University of Richmond Professor Erik Nielson, and said that he hopes the legislation makes its way across the country to “send a message that progress is coming.” Also co-signing the letter were Kelly Rowland, Killer Mike, Yo Gotti, Robin Thicke, and more.

“Our lyrics are a creative form of self-expression and entertainment – just like any other genre,” Fat Joe told Rolling Stone. “We want our words to be recognized as art rather than being weaponized to get convictions in court. I hope the governor and all the lawmakers in New York take our letter into consideration, protect our artistic rights and make the right decision to pass this bill.”

The legislation would limit the use of “creative expression” as evidence and push prosecutors to prove that such art isn’t just fictional, with “clear and convincing evidence.” Senator Brad Hoylman, Senator Jamaal Bailey, and Assemblymember Catalina Cruz have brought the legislation forward.

Hoylman used an example of Johnny Cash singing that he “shot a man in Reno just to watch him die” and David Byrne calling himself a “psycho killer,” without anyone taking them literally. On the other hand, hip-hop artists have a history of having their lyrics used against them. The late Drakeo the Ruler served three years in prison after the content of his songs were used to prosecute him.

“Presuming a defendant’s guilt based solely on musical genre or creative expression is antithetical to our foundational rights and perpetuates the systemic racism that is embedded into the criminal justice system through discriminatory conflations of hip-hop and rap with criminality,” Bailey said.

Fat Joe echoed the sentiment, describing rap songs as “a creative form of self-expression and entertainment” and questioning how they differ from any other genre of music. “We want our words to be recognized as art rather than as a weapon for conviction in court.”

The late ‘Draco the Ruler’ is a rapper who was imprisoned by prosecutors after he was convicted of using lyrics in his 2016 song ‘Flex Freestyle’. Draco – real name Darrell Caldwell – spent three years in prison after being charged with the 2016 murder of a man outside a party in Carson, California.

Investigators in the case claimed that while Caldwell did not fire, the incident stemmed from a beef between him and rapper RJ. During his trial, prosecutors referenced lyrics on ‘Flex Freestyle’, arguing that he and harmed associates attended the party specifically to target RJ.

,I’m riding around town with a tommy gun and a jug / And you can defy the shouts, RJ tied in the back, Caldwell raps on the song. As it turns out, RJ wasn’t even at the party. After three years in prison, Caldwell was acquitted of murder after accepting a plea deal for a reduced sentence.