R.I.P. Heavy D

Heavy D collapsed in his Beverly Hills home today, passing away at the age of 44. According to CNN, Heavy D (né Dwight Arrington Myers) "was pronounced dead in the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Tuesday afternoon, according to Los Angeles County coroner's operations chief Craig Harvey. The cause of death has not been determined, Harvey said.

While his hip-hop recording career began in 1987 with his group Heavy D & the Boyz, his breakthrough hit came in 1991 with a remake of the O'Jays' 'Now That We Found Love.'"

Most recently seen as an actor with a small part in Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller's heist comedy "Tower Heist," Heavy D was a prominent figure in the hip hop world in the late 1980s and early 1990s, recording his classic "Now That We Found Love" and also the theme track for "In Living Color" during that time period. The influential and pioneering Heavy D. will be missed. RIP

A Shout Out from The Faculty Lounge

Yesterday, on The Faculty Lounge blog, Bridget Crawford wrote that “Hip Hop and the Law” would be a great course. She was inspired by a Washington Post story concerning Dr. Michael Eric Dyson’s Georgetown University undergraduate course on “Sociology of Hip Hop – Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z.” As another source of inspiration, she pointed to our blog, HipHopLaw.com. We want to thank Bridget for the shout out and return the favor. I, for one, am a fan of The Faculty Lounge. It is a useful source of intellectual conversation and thoughtful information, especially about the legal academy.

Let me also offer another example of teaching at the intersection of hip hop and the law: Professor Donald Tibbs of The Earl Mack School of Law of Drexel University received a grant this past spring to start a course on Hip Hop and the American Constitution. His distinguished group of guest lecturers includes Paul Butler, Imani Perry and HipHopLaw.com bloggers Pamela D. Bridgewater, andré douglas pond cummings, and Akilah Folami. The lectures will culminate in a book to be edited by Tibbs and cummings.

We look forward to hearing more about this project as it progresses.

--Atiba Ellis