Should rap lyrics be used in criminal trials? Formerly incarcerated rapper speaks about "egregious" conviction
CBSN
If you meet McKinley Phipps now, he's a far cry from the 20-year-old, chart-climbing rapper known as Mac, signed to music mogul Master P's No Limit Records, whose 1998 album "Shell Shocked" reached No. 11 on the Billboard Top 200. "It felt good to be a part of something that was big," said Phipps. "It felt good to be a part of something that was recognized all around the world."
But in an instant, Phipps' rise came crashing down in February of 2000, when a 19-year-old man was shot and killed during an altercation at Phipps' show at a nightclub in Slidell, Louisiana. The man later died. Detectives eventually took Phipps into custody after witnesses said he had a gun.
"I pulled my gun out when I ran toward the door," Phipps told CBS News. "And that was probably the biggest mistake I ever made. I would later learn that because people saw me with this gun, that's kind of why people were, like, under the belief that maybe he did it."