Shawn Corey Carter, better known by his rapper name Jay Z, may have somewhat taught Americans, through his 2003 hit “99 Problems,” about the Fourth Amendment. St. Louis University School of Law published an article in its law journal in 2012 of a line-by-line analysis of the second verse of the song with the amendment that prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.
The article, published by Southwestern Law School associate professor and former assistant US attorney Caleb Mason, stated, “It’s intended as a resource for law students and teachers, and for anyone who’s interested in what pop culture gets right about criminal justice, and what it gets wrong.”
Here’s the lyrics to the second verse of the song:
The year is ’94, in my trunk is raw
In my rearview mirror is the motherfuckin’ law
Got two choices, y’all: pull over the car or
Bounce on the devil, put the pedal to the floor
And I ain’t tryin’ to see no highway chase with Jake
Plus I got a few dollars, I can fight the case
So I pull over to the side of the road
I heard, “Son, do you know why I’m stopping you for?”
‘Cause I’m young and I’m black and my hat’s real low?
Do I look like a mind reader, sir? I don’t know
Am I under arrest or should I guess some more?
“Well, you was doing 55 in a 54
License and registration and step out of the car
Are you carrying a weapon on you? I know a lot of you are”
I ain’t stepping out of shit, all my paper’s legit
“Well, do you mind if I look around the car a little bit?”
Well, my glove compartment is locked
So is the trunk in the back
And I know my rights, so you gon’ need a warrant for that
“Aren’t you sharp as a tack? You some type of lawyer or something? Somebody important or something?”
Well, I ain’t passed the bar, but I know a little bit
Enough that you won’t illegally search my shit
“Well, we’ll see how smart you are when the K9 come”
I got 99 problems, but a bitch ain’t one; hit me!
In the article, titled “Jay-Z’s 99 Problems, Verse 2: A Close Reading With Fourth Amendment Guidance For Cops and Perps,” Mason wrote that the song “forces us to think about traffic stops, vehicle searches, drug smuggling, probable cause, and racial profiling, and it beautifully tees up my favorite pedagogical heuristic: life lessons for cops and robbers.”
The song is based on a 1994 incident between Jay Z and law enforcement. The rapper refused to allow police to search his car, which contained cocaine. Although the police called for drug sniffing dogs, the canines never arrived and the officer had to let Jay-Z off the hook.
“There’s a lot of Fourth Amendment law packed into the simple question: When can you use a traffic stop to search for drugs?” Mason wrote.
Another example of Mason’s analysis is his explanation of the seventh line of the verse beginning with, “So I pull over…”
“At this point, Jay-Z has been seized, for purposes of Fourth Amendment analysis, because he has submitted to a show of police authority. He has thus preserved his Fourth Amendment claims,” Mason wrote. “If you are stopped illegally and want to fight it later, you have to submit to the show of authority. In this case, if the police find the contraband, he’ll be able to challenge it in court. Smart decision here by Jay-Z.”
The song reached Number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 list. Not bad for a song that warrants a review of one of America’s fundamental rights.
