A US rapper has been sentenced to 55 years in prison after being found guilty of murder and three counts of aggravated robbery at a Texas court.
Tay-K - sometimes known as TayK-47 and real name Taymor Travon McIntyre - had one of his music videos played in court as evidence during sentencing, with a print-out of the lyrics also shown by prosecutors, according to the BBC.
The 19-year-old is behind bars for the 2016 murder of 21-year-old father Ethan Walker during a home invasion in Mansfield, Texas that left another man wounded.
Tay-K's track 'The Race' is believed to reference the murder and the video for it was produced while he was on the run from authorities.
Prosecutors played the entire video for the jury, which shows the rapper standing in front of his wanted poster, throwing gang signs and waving guns at the camera.
"F**k a beat, I was trying to beat a case / But I ain't beat that case, bitch I did the race," Tay-K says in the lyrics, which also include references to killing and robbing people.
The track was released in 2017, around the same time Tay-K was arrested.
It was certified platinum in January of 2018, with its popularity in part coming from "the fact it seems to be about the very murder that Tay-K has been found guilty of", according to CBS reporter Jason Allen.
Richard Walker, father of the man Tay-K is convicted of murdering, is said to have told the court he carries "hate" for the people profiting from the death of his son.
"Every lyric to 'The Race' is stained with my son's blood. Every 'Free Tay-K' T-shirt that was ever sold has my son's blood on it," he said, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
"My son is gone. He's a box of ashes sitting in my living room."
Tay-K is reportedly appealing the sentence but is also awaiting trial for a number of other charges.
Newshub.
