Florida-based artist Y&R Mookey received a 10-year sentence this week after previously being convicted on a possession of a firearm charge. Both the sentence and the trial that preceded it have received nationwide attention, due in large part to the fact that music videos were utilized during the court proceedings.
Per a regional report from Jacksonville’s First Coast News, Mookey—a 23-year-old artist whose real name is Tyler Jackson—was sentenced on Tuesday to 10 years in the Florida Department of Corrections. Additionally, as Florida 4th Circuit Court Judge Meredith Charbula detailed during in-court comments, he was sentenced to five years of probation.
“Mr. Jackson, I watched the music videos and I have to say that I’m appalled at the content of them, at the direction,” Charbula said at the sentencing hearing. In an apparent passing reference to the defense that such works are examples of creative expression and should not be used in this capacity, the judge added, “It may have been some art but that wasn’t what it was for.”
Jackson, who was given credit for 739 previously served days, also spoke during Tuesday’s hearing.
“I want to stress that, I am not the person that the state is trying to make me out to be, by any means,” he told the court. “I am not a violent person. I don’t have any violent charges or a violent criminal background. I’m not no gang member, nor have I ever been a gang member or been guilty by association to any gang. I have no criminal history as an adult and I do my best not to have any encounters with the law enforcement.”
In February, it was announced that Jackson had been found guilty of possession of a firearm by a juvenile delinquent found to have committed a felony act. Mentioned in a press release at the time from State Attorney Melissa Nelson was a 2018 music video alleged to have shown “several individuals brandishing firearms.”
Jackson’s mother Diane Watts was quoted in a Jacksonville Insider report in February as saying that the firearms in question were actually “prop guns.” And during this week’s sentencing, Jackson himself reiterated the fact that he is an artist and entertainer, noting that the state was “prosecuting” his music videos instead of him.
“I am an aspiring artist and I am trying to make a career out of what I love and have a passion for doing, which is music,” he told the judge, as seen in First Coast News’ video above. “Music is my craft and how I intend to make my livelihood and should not be taken literally. I am merely an entertainer which gives my fans what they want to see and hear. The state is prosecuting my music videos and not who I am as a person.”
Complex has reached out to Jackson’s lawyer for additional comment and will update this post accordingly.
Of course, this is merely the latest example of a growing problem that other artists have previously spoken out against. In short, it’s widely considered a truly slippery slope to utilize artistic expression in a strictly literal sense in pursuit of criminal charges, as such an approach runs against the very nature of what art is supposed to provide for both creator and audience.
In January, the use of lyrics in a similarly court-focused fashion was the focus of a campaign from Jay-Z and Meek Mill, among others. The two were among those who backed a proposed bill named “Rap Music on Trial,” which—in short—aims to stop the use of lyrics as evidence. The bill was initially introduced by Senator Brad Hoylman and Senator Jamaal Bailey last November.
