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Related Artists: Valtonyc
After the news that Taylor Swift is successfully swerving court after being accused of stealing lyrics from a fellow artist, there is a more worrying story emerging from Spain where Mallorcan rapper Josep Miguel Arenas Beltrán, stage name Valtonyc, is to be jailed for 3 years over the content of his lyrics.
As reported by Catalan News, the Spanish Supreme Court have ruled that Valtonyc’s latest tracks - which were available for free online - promoted terrorism, slander, threats against specific people and ‘lèse-majesté’, defined as defaming the Spanish royal family.
In particular, the artist has criticised the Spanish monarchy over their close ties to the Saudi royal family, their foreign policy and the amount of money they have.
He raps on the song ‘Tuerka Rap’: “The situation worries me quite a bit, how to support two families: mine, and the royal one.”
Elsewhere Valtonyc calls for “death for these pigs”, in reference to the monarchy and corrupt politicians, and asks “may they be afraid like a [Spanish] Guardia Civil police officer in Euskadi [the Basque Country]”.
The young man’s sentence has fuelled a wider conversation in Spain about the freedom of expression for artists and musicians. Valtonyc’s lawyers have argued that hip-hop and rap often contain provocative or symbolic language and should be considered an artistic work, rather than act of slander.
The story is not entirely new though, with rappers and other such artists often punished for what are considered “unacceptable” lyrics.
In 2016, Sean Chung - aka JP SMOOV - was jailed for the lyrics of his song ‘KAR’ which were interpreted as a threat to a district attorney. Other artists who have gotten in trouble with the law over their words are Curtis Williams of Two-9and Key!, Tiny Doo and Cameron D’Ambrosio.
Then there are those artists who, like Taylor, fall afoul of copyright laws or attempted law suits. Drake was famously sued in 2015 for $300,000 for “stealing” lyrics for the song Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2 from an 80s jazz musician called Jimmy Smith. Other famous tussles include the Beach Boys vs Chuck Berry in 1963 and Vanilla Ice ripping off Queen and David Bowie in 1990.
One thing is for certain: if artists aren’t careful, their lyrics can land them in hot water indeed.
