Lil Durk’s lawyers are fighting to keep two experts on rap and Chicago gang culture in the courtroom as his murder-for-hire trial approaches.
Attorneys for the rapper, whose real name is Durk Banks, opposed prosecutors’ effort to limit testimony from Dr. Erik Nielson and Dr. Lance Williams ahead of the August 20 trial, per AllHipHop.
“Mr. August 20p lyrics are central to the government’s case against him,” the defense wrote, arguing that prosecutors want jurors to treat his music as “a legitimate confession.”
Nielson, co-author of Rap on Trial: Race, Lyrics, and Guilt in America, is expected to discuss how rap lyrics can involve hyperbole, image-making and manufactured “fake beefs.”
Durk’s attorneys also pushed back against questions about whether Nielson’s expertise applies specifically to drill music.
“Drill rap is a marketing term,” they wrote, arguing that separating it entirely from other forms of rap is “entirely fictional.”
Williams, meanwhile, is expected to testify about Chicago gang structure and drill culture. The defense said his more than 25 years of gang-intervention work gives him a different role from Nielson.
Durk has pleaded not guilty to charges connected to a 2022 Los Angeles ambush that killed Saviay’a “Lul Pab” Robinson.
A judge is expected to hear arguments over the experts on August 13.