Mayhem Mal: Hip hop stars support rapper's appeal

Chance The Rapper and Meek Mill are among a number of hip hop stars backing rapper Mayhem Mal as he attempts to challenge a conviction for making terrorist threats and intimidating witnesses.

Mal, real name Jamal Knox, was jailed for two years in 2014.

Part of his conviction was over lyrics in a track he released, in which he named and threatened the police officers who arrested him.

He had initially been held on drugs and firearm charges.

But he claims that his lyrics should be covered under America's First Amendment - which protects the right to free speech - and his new appeal also has the backing of fellow musicians 21 Savage, Killer Mike, Yo Gotti, Mad Skillz, Styles P and Fat Joe.

Knox and his supporters believe law-makers in America jailed him because they didn't understand hip hop culture.

They have written to lawmakers claiming they need educating about rap and hip-hop, reports The New York Times.

"The song's lyrics were never meant to be read as bare text on a page," their letter reads, in an extract published by the paper.

"Rather, the lyrics were meant to be heard, with music, melody, rhythm and emotion."

The rappers argue that the lawmakers who will decide his case have no knowledge of hip hop culture and "may mistakenly interpret a rap song as a true threat of violence."

"This is a work of poetry. It is told from the perspective of two invented characters in the style of rap music, which is (in)famous for its exaggerated, sometimes violent rhetoric, and which uses language in a variety of complex ways," they say in legal documents.

"It is not intended to be taken literally, something that a reasonable listener with even a casual knowledge of rap would understand."

All the artists supporting Knox are named in his new appeal documents - also shared by The New York Times - which were filed on Wednesday this week.

The documents also mention artists like Kendrick Lamar and NWA, citing them as examples of social commentary in hip hop.

Knox was arrested in 2012 when Pittsburgh Police found fifteen bags of heroin, cash and a loaded gun in his car.

Shortly after he released a track called in which he made threats against the officers who arrested him - naming them both in the lyrics.

After that, he was charged with issuing terrorist threats and intimidating witnesses.

He was convicted in part because of his lyrics.

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