Cardi B & Lil Durk Lawyer Drew Findling on RICO, Rap Lyrics & More

“I have associates in my firm that never fathomed that when they went to and graduated law school, they would sit for hours and study lyrics,” says Drew Findling, speaking with Billboard over coffee in West Hollywood.

Findling, who has carved out a niche at the crossroads of criminal law and music, is currently the go-to defense attorney for star rappers coming under the thumb of prosecution. His client list reads like a who’s who of contemporary hip-hop: Cardi B, Offset, Gucci Mane, Lil Nas X, Lil Durk, Da Baby, GloRilla, Rod Wave and Lil Baby, among others.

Though he now rubs shoulders with some of music’s biggest names, Findling had far humbler beginnings at the Fulton County Public Defender’s Office. And to this day, it’s clear that he’s first and foremost a passionate criminal defense attorney.

That comes through in how he talks about the music business and his own role in artists’ careers. For a musician caught up in the criminal justice system, there’s often noise from labels, managers, agents and publicists about the potential impacts of different legal maneuvers. Will a proposed trial date interfere with an album rollout? Is embarrassing information going to come out in a legal brief? Will bail conditions ruin the world tour?

Yes, these career impacts are real considerations for his clients, says Findling, adding that his firm maintains “10 out of 10” relationships with managers and labels. But winning in court takes priority over all else.

“We’re always going to do what’s in the best interest of the client for their case,” explains Findling. “And so, if coincidentally, if vicariously, it has an impact on their career, we’ll take that into consideration. But we always put first and foremost the end result of their case.”

Findling says that in the hip-hop industry, there’s a “total respect” for the criminal process. Take, for example, the fact that Findling represents artists from all different labels, even when they don’t get along with each other. He says not a single client has ever pressured him not to take on a rival’s case, which he calls an “unwritten rule” in hip-hop: When your liberty is at stake, you deserve to get the very best legal representation, full stop. As Findling puts it, “Ops have nothing to do with us.”

Music business concerns are still crucial, though. Any good criminal defense lawyer needs to be aware of their client’s career status, as it can be relevant to whether prosecutors are able to show a motive for crimes that have a financial component.

“It’s no different than if we were representing a doctor in a healthcare fraud case. We’ve got to be aware if the doctor’s practice was really suffering, and at that time she made shady decisions because she had impending bills,” explains Findling. “Same with a performer: If somebody’s on the upswing, if they’re rolling in their industry, we need to know. And if they’re suffering, we need to know. That could be the reason for a flawed decision, and in like fashion, if someone’s surging, it could be why the allegations are just ridiculous.”

That’s why Findling has his associates study rap lyrics, the same way that other young lawyers pore over caselaw and legal briefs. For artist clients who have pending criminal cases, Findling’s team often looks over their unreleased music to determine whether any lyrics could present a legal issue.

This is because prosecutors have a habit of citing violent rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases. It’s a controversial practice that’s been restricted in several states but is still allowed in federal court, despite a legislative solution that’s been repeatedly introduced in Congress but has yet to move forward.

Findling is intimately familiar with lyrics popping up in court. A judge recently ruled that certain Lil Durk lyrics will be admissible in the Chicago rapper’s upcoming murder-for-hire trial, in which Findling will be the lead defense lawyer. He’s a vehement critic of the practice.

“What prosecutors and law enforcement don’t understand: This is just a business,” says Findling. “When a musician writes a song, they’re writing that song, and these big labels are approving it, because they know people are gonna sit on their mom and dad’s La-Z-Boy at 18 years old and hit the download. That’s the music that people want to hear.”

“I think it is unfair and absolutely racist, calling it what it is, to somehow draw the inference that that is part of a bent towards violence,” adds Findling. “No, it’s capitalism, is what it is.”

Findling is not shy about calling out racial bias when he sees it in the criminal justice system, especially where Black artists are concerned. One of his biggest complaints is the way law enforcement agencies scour the social media accounts of rappers for photos that depict a luxury lifestyle.

These images often get cited in court as evidence that an artist made a windfall through drug dealing or other illegal activity. But Findling says rappers earn millions of dollars selling records, and flashing cash and jewels is part of the job.

“You would never ask that if a CEO for a major company was in a resort in Maui flashing cash,” he says. “You wouldn’t say, ‘Wow, so what’s that CEO doing on the side?’ But if you’re in the space of rap and hip-hop they’re gonna ask that question, and that’s just pure unadulterated racism.”

Findling also sharply criticizes the use of the death penalty, which is on the table in the ongoing murder case against his client YNW Melly. He says prosecutors only do this to get a so-called death-qualified jury, which means any potential trial juror who says they’d be unwilling to issue the death penalty gets eliminated from the pool. “You kick off that group of people that might be more empathetic to a defendant,” he says. “We’ve seen that forever, and Melly’s case is just another sad example.”

The use of RICO cases is another problem for Findling. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, a federal statute that also has a local counterpart in Georgia, is often deployed to prosecute large groups for alleged gang activities. This was the case in the YSL prosecution of Young Thug and his associates, in which Findling represented YFN Lucci.

In no uncertain terms, Findling says RICO cases are brought by prosecutors who are “insecure about the ability to win a case, so they just come up with the easiest way.” The easiest way, he says, is to charge dozens of people together with “borderline” criminal activities and wear them down as a group.

“You get these monster indictments, and look at who’s really getting hurt,” says Findling. “You look at Lucci, and you look at Thug, but look 22 spaces down at the 19-year-old African American kid that can’t afford the counsel… What happens is it’s really hurting these young kids of color. They’re just getting swept up in the system, on these cases that are just so thin.”

Findling is similarly critical about the RICO trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was convicted last year of prostitution offenses but acquitted of more serious sex-trafficking and RICO counts over sex parties known as “freak-offs.” The Combs indictment “was a joke, Findling says, and “just another example of using RICO when you had no confidence in the underlying case itself.”

Findling’s job is grueling, and he’s constantly on the road; during his Billboard interview, he was in Los Angeles for back-to-back hearings in Lil Durk’s murder-for-hire case and Lil Nas X’s assault case before getting on a plane that night. Asked what keeps him coming back, his answer is simple: “I just love all these young people.”

“People underestimate the brilliance that’s involved, the dedication that’s involved,” he says. “I always say that grinders are attracted to one another. I love the people that are working like crazy, and I just have admiration for them. Man, the ones that have come from challenging backgrounds — how can I not want to be there for them?”