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​A Soundcloud Rap Song Could Land Teenager In Prison For Decade

​A Soundcloud Rap Song Could Land Teenager In Prison For Decade

Michael Schmitt was arrested for creating a 'false public alarm' - which BuzzFeed reports carries a five-to-10-year sentence

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

We all know that we should be careful with what we post online - whether that's calling into work sick after sharing photos from a night out the day before or slagging off someone you shouldn't a little too publicly.

But one teenager is reportedly facing up to 10 years in jail for something he posted online, after sharing a controversial rap to his Soundcloud account back in February.

18-year-old Michael Schmitt recorded a freestyle rap, in which he says lyrics including 'You can suck my dick', 'You're gonna get cracked on the head like an egg, bitch', 'Pull my gun, kill your fuckin' head, now you're dead, go to sleep'.

The US teen didn't explicitly reference anyone in the rap, but he did mention his New Jersey school - James Caldwell High School - in the track's title, which was 'U lil sluts @ JCHS I love u all even thoy'all hurt me and I forgive u. I would never hurt u'.

Soundcloud

A fellow student spotted the concerning rap online and alerted her mother, noting that Schmitt's Soundcloud profile photo also showed him posing with a handgun. Her mum told the school, which in turn called the police, and it didn't take long before a SWAT team arrived on campus.

Schmitt was arrested for creating a 'false public alarm' - which BuzzFeed reports carries a five-to-10-year sentence. He has been on house arrest since March.

"They painted me as a school shooter, and that's terrifying," Schmitt told BuzzFeed.

"Whenever these school shootings are happening, it's scary to me that I'm being associated with that because of this rap song."

Schmitt has insisted that he's just a weird kid who loves hip hop, but doesn't own a gun and never planned an attack on his school.

However, the James Caldwell High School principal, Jim Devlin, said people were right to be alarmed.

"A student associated with our school put a violent song on SoundCloud, which references killing somebody - shooting somebody in the head - and posts a picture of him with a gun, and made a connection to girls at our school," Devlin told BuzzFeed.

"If you put all of that together, it does seem pretty threatening. At that point it's not my job to say 'Is it credible? Is it not?'

"We have to protect our students and families."

He added: "He [Schmitt] says there wasn't a plan, but we don't know for certain."

Schmitt's arrest took place just 10 days after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, which saw 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz killed 17 and injured 50 more. In the wake of the attack, it transpired that Cruz had shared worrying images and captions involving knives and guns on social media.

"This is as serious as it gets," David Gray, Schmitt's lawyer, told BuzzFeed.

"His life is on the line."

Schmitt added: "It was like I was guilty the second I posted the song on SoundCloud. They wouldn't let me explain myself."

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/NJ.com

Topics: rap, Music, US News