Academic

The Gangsta Lifestyle on Trial

By Christopher Bracey

Reuter?s reports that a New York mom and her 14-year-old son have sued, among others,  Rap artists 50 Cent and Tony Yayo, Violator Management and the Universal Music Group-owned Interscope, G-Unit and Shady Records for allegedly promoting a “gangsta lifestyle” that resulted in the young man being assaulted on a Manhattan sidewalk.

According to the complaint filed on Wednesday, James Rosemond claims he was jumped by G-unit rapper Yayo and three other men in March 2007 because he was wearing a Czar Entertainment T-shirt.  ?Czar? is the management company that represents The Game, a former G-Unit rapper who fell out with the group and had become a rival rapper.  James Rosemond is the teenage son of The Game’s manager, Jimmy ?Henchman? Rosemond.

Now here?s the interesting part:

Both Rosemond and his mother, Cynthia Reed, concede that 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, was not present at the time of the alleged assault.  Instead, they argue that the ?gangsta lifestyle? he promotes through his music and public image led to the assault.  According to the complaint, the attack on James Rosemond, who is a minor, was intended to ?promote and maintain Yayo and 50 Cent?s ?gangsta? image? ? an image, which in turn, has been ?promoted, marketed and advertised? by their record labels.

Yayo, who was born Marvin Bernard, admitted that he threatened the minor and was sentenced in February to 10 days of community service in exchange for a guilty plea. His ?employee,? Lowell Fletcher, also pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to nine months in jail.

According to the complaint, ?[t]he members of G-Unit, including defendants Yayo and 50 Cent, encouraged, sanctioned, approved and condoned its members threatening violence, and or engaging in violent acts in furtherance of its business.?

The full article can be found here.

Now, admittedly, it?s been a while since I?ve studied tort law, but it strikes me that not all of the defendants in this action are on equal footing when it comes to the issue of causation (ie. some are more proximate than others).  While it is arguable that Yayo and perhaps 50 Cent might be reasonably held liable for encouraging violence among their cohort in order to promote a gangsta reputation, the line of causation becomes increasingly attenuated as you move up the food chain to the executive level.

Further, assuming that Rosemond and Reed wish to argue ?but for? causality all the way up the food chain to Universal ? that is, but for Universal?s promotion of this ?gangsta lifestyle? in the name of stirring up greater business, no one (all the way down to Lowell Fletcher) would have engaged in conduct that resulted in the assault on the minor ? it strikes me the specificity matters.  ?Promoting a gangsta lifestyle? can encompass a great many things.  Lifestyles are socially constructed, and it could be that Universal was only interested in promoting the superficial aspects ? not ?real? gangsterism.  Rosemond and Reed will need to demonstrate not only that a specific mandate of some sort trickled its way down, but how exactly this occurred in order to establish the kind of robust causation needed to impose liability.

And yet I find myself drawn in by the impetus behind this lawsuit.  I?m attracted by the thought that we (as lawyers and as a society) should take seriously the idea that ?gangsterism? within American culture can produce legally cognizable injury.  And I?m further intrigued by the attempt to hold accountable individuals and corporate interests whose profits are arguably linked to the explicit suffering of others.

At the same time, I hope that these legal niceties will not obscure the real tragedy of this case – that, for some reason, grown black men (plural, mind you) thought it appropriate to assault a black child (singular), in broad daylight, in the middle of Manhattan, because he was walking down the sidewalk wearing the “wrong” T-shirt. 

I am anxious to see how this lawsuit plays out.  In the meantime, what are your thoughts and reactions?

And a special thanks to Prof. Kevin Noble Maillard (a former BlackProf guest contributor) for bringing this one to my attention.

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Full post as published by BlackProf on April 10, 2008 (boomark / email).