An alleged drug gang enforcer convicted of attempted murder after his gangsta rap lyrics were read to the jury was entitled to a new trial because of the high likelihood that the lyrics poisoned the jury against him, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Monday.

“One cannot presume that, simply because an author has chosen to write about certain topics, he or she has acted in accordance with those views,” Justice Jaynee LaVecchia wrote for a unanimous court in State v. Skinner.