Hip-Hop and the Law Review: The Year in Review

The previous year has seen a number of articles published on hip-hop in the country's law reviews.  The following is a nearly complete list of those articles that consider hip-hop in any number of forms: case study, methodology, theoretical intervention, etc.  One trend is the continued study of hip-hop's relationship to copyright law.  2012 has seen more focus on hip-hop and copyright law than on hip-hop and other sub-disciplines.  Why?  Perhaps the continued evolution of web-based technologies and the increasing ease of sharing information (Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) has made issues of copyright law and intellectual property more salient to the average person.  Perhaps the re-appropriation of corporate logos by Occupiers has inspired more inquiry into the ways in which material is used and abused.  No matter the reason, 2013 should see continued work on hip-hop as scholars continue to study the effects of hip-hop on the Arab Spring, further investigate the effects of mass incarceration, become increasingly exposed to students who grew up with hip-hop, and theorize new relationships to the law given our increasingly diverse country. 

In no particular order, here are 2012's hip-hop-related articles:

Andrea M. Ewart with Kimberly R. Villiers, "Dangerous" Dancehall Reggae and Caribbean Treaty Obligations, 27 Connecticut Journal of International Law 321-343 (Spring 2012)

andre douglas pong cummings, Derrick Bell: Godfather Provocateur, 28 Harvard Journal on Racial and Ethnic Justice 51-66 (Spring 2012)

andre douglas pond cummings, Symposium: War on...The Fallout of Declaring War on Social Issues: "All Eyez on Me": America's War on Drugs and the Prison-Industrial Complex, 15 Journal of Gender, Race and Justice 417-448 (Spring 2012)

Vera Golosker, Student Note: the transformative tribute: How Mash-Up Music Constitutes Fair Use of Copyrights, 34 Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal 381-401 (Spring 2012)

Lisa T. Alexander, Hip-Hop and Housing: Revisiting Culture, Urban Space, Power, and Law, 63 Hastings Law Journal 803-866 (March 2012)

Unsigned Student Note, Student Note: Not in Court "Cause I Stole a Beat": The Digital Music Sampling Debate's Discourse on Race and Culture, and the Need for Test Case Litigation, 2012 University of Illinois Journal of Law, Technology & Policy 141-166 (Spring 2012)

Donald F. Tibbs, Symposium: War on...The Fallout of Declaring War on Social Issues: From Black Power to Hip Hop: Discussing Race, Policing, and the Fourth Amendment Through the "War on" Paradigm, 15 Journal of Gender, Race and Justice 47-79 (Winter 2012)

Anna Shapell, Student Note: "Give Me a Beat:" Mixing and Mashing Copyright Law to Encompass Sample-Based Music, 12 Journal of High Technology Law 519-565 (2012)

Kim D. Chanbonpin, Legal Writing: the Remix: Plagiarism and Hip Hop Ethics, 63 Mercer Law Review 597-638 (Winter 2012)

John S. Pelletier, Student Note: Sampling the Circuits: The Case for a New Comprehensive Scheme for Determining Copyright Infringement as a Result of Music Sampling, 89 Washington University Law Review 1161-1202 (2012)

Tracy Reilly, Good Fences Make Good Neighboring Rights: The German Federal Supreme Court Rules on the Digital Sampling of Sound Recordings in Metall auf Metall, 13 Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology 153-209 (Winter 2012)

Caleb Mason, Jay-Z's 99 Problems, Verse 2: A Close Reading with Fourth Amendment Guidance for Cops and Perps, 56 Saint Louis University Law Journal 567-585 (Winter 2012)

Here's to a hip-hop and the law filled new year and more excelleent scholarship. 


-- Nick J. Sciullo

New Journal: Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The University of Tennessee has launched a new journal, Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice.  The first issue (Spring 2012) features some interesting contributions covering everything from religion to gender to race.  Title VII, 9/11, and workplace discrimination all get coverage.  Articles are also supplemented with student notes and contributors span the spectrum of the legal world.  All articles are available free for download.  Good work UT!

-- Nick J. Sciullo

Race and the Media Symposium in Metro DC

The Race and the Media Symposium will be help in Silver Spring, Maryland (Metro DC) on June 9, 2012.  Visit the symposium website for more details.  Presenters include Eddie Moore, Jr., Doreen Loury, William "Flip" Clay, Shane Kyla, Elgin Klugh, and Frederick Gooding (bios available here).  Register here.


-- Nick J. Sciullo

Lauricella and Alexander on Lil Wayne's Prison Blog

Sharon Lauricella (Faculty of Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies - University of Ontario Institute of Technology) and Matthew Alexander (University of Ontario Institute of Technology) have published Voice from Rikers: Spirituality in Hip Hop Artist Lil' Wayne's Prison Blog (Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, Vol. 24, No. 1, 2012, pp. 15-28).  Here is the abstract:


While incarcerated on Rikers Island, Grammy award-winning rapper Lil’ Wayne posted letters to a blog to maintain contact with fans.  The blog entries and comments from fans express gratitude, positivity, encouragement, and a pervasive sense of spirituality and religiousness.  This paper considers the content of Lil’ Wayne’s letters from Rikers, together with posted comments to the blog, in the context of spiritual communication and participatory media.


-- Nick J. Sciullo

Chanbonpin on Legal Writing, Plagiarism and Hip-Hop Ethics

Kim D. Chanbonpin (John Marshall School of Law - Chicago) has posted Legal Writing, the Remix: Plagiarism and Hip-Hop Ethics (forthcoming in the Mercer Law Review) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

In this Article, I focus on hip hop music and culture as an access point to teach first-year law students about the academic and professional pitfalls of plagiarism. Hip hop provides a good model for comparison because most of our entering students are immersed in a popular culture that is saturated with allusions to hip hop. As a point of reference for incoming law students, hip hop possesses a valuable currency as it represents something real, experienced, and relatable.

Significant parallels exist between the cultures of U.S. legal writing and hip hop, although attempting direct analogies would be absurd. Chief among these similarities is the reliance of both cultures on an archive of knowledge, borrowing from which authors or artists build credibility and authority. Whether it is from case law or musical recordings, the necessary dependence on a finite store of information means that the past work of others will be frequently incorporated into new work. The ethical and professional danger inherent in this type of production is that one who borrows too freely from the past may be merely copying instead of interpreting or innovating. In the academic world, this is plagiarism. Members of the hip hop community call this “biting.” In neither culture is this mode of production celebrated.

My goals for this project are two-fold. First, as a professor of legal writing, I want to ameliorate the problem of plagiarism that I have seen growing worse each year. Second, as a scholar, I would like to contribute to the growing body of literature on hip hop and the law. This Article marks the beginning of my attempt to theorize a hip hop ethics and develop its application to the teaching, the academic study, and perhaps eventually, the reform of the law.


A most enthusiastic hat tip to Margaret Kwoka, who I met at LatCrit XVI, for passing this information on to me.


-- Nick J. Sciullo

Law Reviews and Hip-Hop; Thoughts on Placing Your Article

A 05/10/11 LexisNexis search with no date restrictions on journals with the most articles containing the word “hip-hop” produced some interesting results. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (24) is by far in the lead, but the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law (18), Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal (15), UC-Davis Law Review (15), Howard Law Journal (12), and UCLA Entertainment Law Review (12) round out a strong top 6.

Here we see 3 of the Top 10 Arts, Entertainment and Sports Law journals according to the W&L law review rankings. Not bad it would seem for an area that is relatively new to the legal academy.

The next 5 are also a strong group of journals: Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts (11), DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law (10), Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal (10), Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal (10), and New York University Law Review (10).

Here again are another 4 articles in the Top 16 Arts, Entertainment and Sports Law journals. 7 of the Top 16 of these specialty journals have published 10 or more articles that at least mention “hip-hop.”

Several journals had 9 articles (Cardozo Law Review & de novo and Michigan Journal of Race & Law). Several came in with 8 (Berkeley Technology law Journal, California Law Review & The Circuit, DePaul Law Review, and Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology). Strong showings at 7 as well (American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy and the Law, Michigan Law Review, and Stanford Law Review).

For the sake of space I only included those journals with 6 (Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review, New York University Review of Law & Social Change, Southern California Law Review, Tulane Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property, University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, and Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal) and 5 articles (Asian Law Journal, Boston University Law Review, Indiana Law Journal & Supplement, Iowa Law Review, Kentucky Law Journal, Law & Society Review, Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, Texas Review of Entertainment & Sports Law, Tulane Law Review, University of Colorado Law Review, University of Pittsburgh Law Review, University of Richmond Law Review, Villanova Sports & Entertainment Law Journal, Washington & Lee Law Review, and The Yale Law Journal). There are many more journals with fewer articles, but they’d be too cumbersome to mention.

The above list also includes 3 of the Top 8 journals in Minority, Race and Ethnic Issues according to W&L rankings.

Those journals that feature “hip-hop” in the title are much fewer in number. The Michigan Journal of Race & Law and UCLA Entertainment Law Review lead the way with 2 articles each. The 13 other journals that feature an article with “hip-hop” in the title are Michigan Law Review, National Black Law Journal, North Carolina Law Review, Oklahoma City University Law Review, Rutgers Race and the Law Review, Santa Clara Law Review, Stanford Law Review, Texas Review of Entertainment & Sports Law, University of Louisville Law Review, Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law, and Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal.

A reasonable question for scholars hoping to place their hip-hop article is, “Will I be able to place my article at a reputable journal?” A good question! The evidence looks rewarding. Not only do hip-hop articles place frequently in the highest specialty journals, they also place in perhaps some unexpectedly strong General Law reviews. Looking at those reviews that have published more than 5 articles and again using the W&L General U.S. Law Review list… Articles that contain “hip-hop” appear in the journals ranked 3, 4, 5, 9, 22, 23, 24, and 29. I obviously didn’t go through the whole list, but these are not bad numbers.

Articles that featured “hip-hop” in the title faired well too. They placed in General Law reviews at 4, 9, 24, 75, 101, and 187. Again, not too bad. They also placed in the Arts, Entertainment and Sports Law journals at positions 6, 9, and 12 for those specialty journals.

-- Nick J. Sciullo

Placing your hip-hop scholarship

It occurred to me that there really isn't a list of journals that publish on hip-hop. While, law reviews are increasingly embracing hip-hop as part of the larger critical race theory dialogue, there are also other journals that are actively soliciting hip-hop contributions. I've listed them below, in no particular order. I will follow up this post with some thoughts on law reviews and hip-hop scholarship.

Words. Beats. Life.

http://www.wblinc.org/the-global-journal-of-hip-hop-culture/

Publisher: Words Beats & Life Inc.

Citation: APA

Length: 5,000 for research articles, shorter for other forms

Publication frequency: 2 editions per year

Submission email: submissions@wblic.org

The Journal of African American History

http://www.jaah.org/

Publisher: Association for the Study of African American Life and History

Citation: Chicago Manual of Style

Length: 35 page maximum

Publication frequency: 4 editions per year

Submission email: Hard copy only, in triplicate

Popular Music and Society

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/rpms

Publisher: Routledge

Citation: Will review APA, Chicago/Turabian, and MLA; MLA for publication

Length: 4,000-10,000 words

Publication frequency: 5 editions per year

Submission email: TMOGCB1@wpo.cso.niu.edu

American Music

http://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/am.html

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Citation: Chicago Manual of Style

Length: 25-50 pages

Publication frequency: 4 editions per year

Submission email: nlearner@davidson.edu

Journal of Popular Music Studies

http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=1524-2226

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell/International Association for the Study of Popular Music

Citation: Chicago Manual of Style

Length: 5,000-7,500 words

Publication frequency: 4 editions per year

Submission email: submissions@thejpms.net

Popular Music

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=PMU

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Citation: Specified in author guidelines

Length: 10,000 word maximum

Publication frequency: 1 per year

Submission email: cos01kn@gold.ac.uk

Ethnomusicology

http://www.jaah.org/

Publisher: University of Illinois Press/Society for Ethnomusicology

Citation: Chicago Manual of Style

Length: 10,000 word maximum

Publication frequency: 3 editions per year

Submission email: ethnomusicology@umd.edu

Callaloo

http://callaloo.tamu.edu/

Publisher: Texas A&M University

Citation: MLA

Length: 10,000 word maximum

Publication frequency: 4 times per year

Submission email: http://callaloo.expressacademic.org/login.php

Journal of Black Studies

http://jbs.sagepub.com/

Publisher: Sage

Citation: APA

Length: 25 page maximum

Publication frequency: 6 times per year

Submission email: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jbs

-- Nick J. Sciullo

Unionist Popular Culture and Rolls of Honour in the North of Ireland: During the First World War and Other Diverse Essays

A new book has just been released entitled, "Unionist Popular Culture and Rolls of Honour in the North of Ireland: During the First World War and Other Diverse Essays." Edited by Nannette Norris, this book examines popular culture across a broad range of topics from comics to poetry, hip-hop to cinema.

Included essays:

Preface Bruce E. Drushel

Introduction Nanette Norris

Unionist Popular Culture and Rolls of Honour in the North of Ireland during the First World War Catherine Switzer

Don’t Read Those ‘toons! French Comics, Government Censorship, and Perceptions of American Military Aviation Guillaume de Syon

A History of African American Religion in Comic Books Nicholas Yanes

Conversations with the Law: Wyclef Jean, Shottas, and Haitian Jack: A Hip-Hop Creole Fusion of Rhetorical Resistance to the Law Nick J. Sciullo

Dolls with Disabilities: Playing with Diversity Katie Ellis

(Re)Thinking Gender and Sexuality in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Brian M. Peters

Women Without Men: The Separate Universe of Women's Utopian Fiction, 1915-1985 Nanette Norris

Empowered Muslim Women in the Poetry of Mojha Kahf Naglaa Saad

VideoWest: Looking Back Harshly, Moving Fast-Forward Meredith Eliassen

‘Heart o’ the City’: Mind, Body, and The Matrix Paula Young Lee

Vote for HipHopLaw.com for the ABA Blawg 100

You have until October 1 to cast your vote. Voting requires a no more than 500 character explanation of your vote and some basic contact information. Every vote counts. If you enjoy HipHopLaw.com or think others in the legal community should read it, vote.

Editors make the final decision, so don't think your efforts are futile. One well-written entry is all we might need.

The voting page: http://www.abajournal.com/blawgs/blawg100_submit/.

It would be really cool to see HipHopLaw make the cut.


-- Nick J. Sciullo

CFP: Multi-Contributor Anthology of hip-hop essays

CFP: Multi-Contributor Anthology of hip-hop essays

Hip hop has always been, and continues to be, so many things to so many people. With roots in the past and yet at the same time a revolutionary style of music and expression it offers a rich mix of topics, viewpoints, meanings and inspirations. Hip hop has finally begun to be embraced by scholars and is still eminently important to the public that consumes it and this project hopes to appeal to both ends of that spectrum. This anthology aims to look at the 30-40 year (depending on who you are and when you consider hip-hop 'born') catalogue of hip-hop music, the artists that created and continue to create it, the issues that have influenced it and continue to be prevalent in the music, the past from which it was drawn, the future that it will continue to inhabit. The aim is to show hip hop's past, present and future, where it has come from, where it is now and where it will be ten, twenty or thirty years from now. The past section thus far will include an essay on the connections between beboppers and hip hoppers, a connection between Robin Hood ballads and hip-hop, and an essay addressing the ways in which hip hop artists make use of history and memory (musically, lyrically and visually) to create their version of history. The future section thus far includes an essay on the Australian incarnation of hip hop and addresses hip hop's future in the globalization of the art form, and an essay addressing the political/activism aspect of the hip hop generation and what is required to make it work. The present section is at this point empty, and all sections are in need of many more submitals. The following list is just a few possibilities for topics and if your interest area overlaps with someone else's paper that will not rule out its inclusion as I envision an anthology that can be used to show multiple angles/opinions in one place.

Past:
Hip hop's connection to any previous musical style/tradition.
Hip hop's respect for its own past.
The founding days of hip hop.
Changes in hip hop 'uniforms' in terms of fashion connected to the message/music.

Present;
The state of hip hop today, is it dead as Nas suggests, in a period of transition/reinvention, is it strong as ever?
What is hip hop saying about current social status?
How has hip-hop impacted/been impacted by events like Hurricane Katrina/Gulf Oil Spill?
Is President Obama our first hip hop president?
Would Wyclef be the answer Haiti needs?

Future:
Should hip hop be introduced to the classrooms? How? In what ways shouldn't it?
What is the future of hip hop as a genre?
In what ways will globalization change what we think of as hip hop?
In what ways can hip hop be used as a political vehicle? To what ends?

The publishing company that I am working on this project with would like a book proposal in a month or two, at this point I am collecting abstracts that include an approximate page length to be able to give the publisher an accurate idea of how long the entire project it will be. That being said, I will also be submitting sample chapters so if anyone has a paper written already or can have a paper written in a month or two I would love to have as many sample chapters as possible. As mentioned previously, I want this collection to have broad appeal, if you are interested in doing more opinion piece than research paper feel free to do so, if you have the desire to do interviews instead of any kind of article that would be fantastic. The background is of no difference as I want this project to be as diverse as possible, sociology, music history, African-American studies, popular culture studies, fashion, psychology, history, any and all are welcome. Please submit any abstracts, address any questions to, and feel free to contact me at kingmjl@gmail.com.

CFP: Rap and Hip Hop Culture

Who: PCA/ACA & Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Joint Conference

Dates: April 20-23, 2011

Where: San Antonio, TX

http://www.swtxpca.org

Proposal submission deadline: December 15, 2010

Conference hotel:
Marriott Rivercenter San Antonio
101 Bowie Street
San Antonio, Texas 78205
USA Phone: 1-210-223-1000

Proposals for both Panels and Individual Papers are now being accepted for the Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture Area. We had excellent representation in this Area for 2010, and we are looking to expand in both quantity and complexity for 2011. This year, we are particularly interested in proposals that address the following:
- Intersections of Hip Hop and Pedagogy
- Rap Music, Hip Hop Culture, and Space/Place
- Theoretical approaches to Hip Hop (i.e., Language Theory/Postmodernism/Social Theory)
- Rap, Hip Hop, and Academic Disciplinarity
- Rhetorical Approaches to Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture
- Rap, Hip Hop, and Film/Documentary
- Hip Hop Subjectivities/Agency
- Anthropological/Sociological approaches to Hip Hop Culture
- Economics and Hip Hop Culture
- Discussions of international Hip Hop
- Intersections of Hip Hop and Religion/Theology
- Hip Hop and Technology
- Latino Hip Hop
- Women and Hip Hop
- Hip Hop in the age of Obama

As always, papers and panels that consider the myriad ways that Rap Music and Hip Hop culture impact and feed upon Popular and American culture are encouraged. This Area should be construed broadly, and we seek papers that aren’t afraid to take risks. Proposals from Graduate Students are particularly welcome, with award opportunities for the best graduate papers.Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words with relevant audio/visual requests by December 15, 2010, to Robert Tinajero at the email below. Panel proposals should include one abstract of 200 words describing the panel, accompanied by the underlying abstracts of 250 words of the individual papers that comprise the panel.

Robert Tinajero, hiphopcfp@hotmail.com, www.swtxpca.org


-- Nick J. Sciullo

CFP: Examining Race in the 21st Century at Monmouth University

THEME: Examining Race in the 21st Century

DATE: Thursday, November 11 – Saturday, November 13, 2010

VENUE: Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ

The idea of race continues to be controversial. In spite of different historical developments in various parts of the world, the meaning of race and its significance remains an open issue.

Some of the questions this conference will address are:

Why do the issues that surround race continue to be important?
Is race a useful construct?
How are systems of racial classification and identity manifested in social institutions and relationships?

We seek individual papers, panels, workshops, and posters that can include but are not restricted to the following topics:

Race and identity in different cultures
Race, gender, ethnicity, color, and class
Race in the Obama era
Race and diversity in higher education
The concept of post-racialism in history and society
Race and popular culture
Race and urbanization
Race change[s]: Racial formation, then and now
Race and identity in local and global perspective
Race, continuity, and change
Implications of racial discourse
Race and ethnicity: similarities and differences
Race and power
Race, Gender, Class
Race and Labor
Race in Politics

Confirmed Speakers:

Dr. Robin D.G. Kelley (Keynote)
Professor of History and American Studies
Associate Director, Center for Diversity and Democracy
Department of Ethnic Studies and History
University of Southern California (USC)
Los Angeles, California

Dr. Isar P. Godreau
Researcher and Director
Institute for Interdisciplinary Research
University of Puerto Rico, Cayey
Puerto Rico

Dr. Paul Finkelman
Professor
President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy
Senior Fellow, Government Law Center
Albany Law School
Albany, New York

Dr. Irene Silverblatt
Professor
Department of Cultural Anthropology
Duke University
Durham, North Carolina

Dr. Rogers Smith
Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Political Science
Chair, Penn Program on Democracy, Citizenship, and Constitutionalism
Department of Political Science
University of Pennsylvania
College Park, Pennsylvania

Others-TBA

Please send 250 word abstracts to secondbiennialraceconf@gmail.com Please visit the website at www.monmouth.edu/race/ often for further updates.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Hettie V. Williams, Lecturer, African American History, Department of History and Anthropology, hwilliam@monmouth.edu
Or
Dr. Catherine Duckett, Associate Dean, School of Science, at cduckett@monmouth.edu.


-- Nick J. Sciullo

CFP: Emerging Paradigms in Critical Mixed Race Studies at DePaul University

“Emerging Paradigms in Critical Mixed Race Studies,” the first annual Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference, will be held at DePaul University in Chicago on November 5-6, 2010.

The CMRS conference brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines nationwide. Recognizing that the diverse disciplines that have nurtured Mixed Race Studies have reached a watershed moment, the 2010 CMRS conference is devoted to the general theme “Emerging Paradigms in Critical Mixed Race Studies.”

Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) is the transracial, transdisciplinary, and transnational critical analysis of the institutionalization of social, cultural, and political orders based on dominant conceptions of race. CMRS emphasizes the mutability of race and the porosity of racial boundaries in order to critique processes of racialization and social stratification based on race. CMRS addresses local and global systemic injustices rooted in systems of racialization.

Call for Papers - deadline May 7, 2010


http://las.depaul.edu/aas/About/CMRSConference/CallForPapers.asp

The 2010 CMRS is organized by Camilla Fojas and Laura Kina (DePaul University) and Wei Ming Dariotis (San Francisco State University) and is sponsored by DePaul University Global Asian Studies (formerly Asian American Studies) and Latin American and Latino Studies and co-sponsored by the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University, the MAVIN Foundation, and DePaul's Cultural Center, African Black Diaspora Studies and American Studies.

All queries should be directed to the conference chairs: cmrs@depaul.edu or 773-325-4048.

The conference is free and open to the public but we do ask that you preregister at:
http://condor.depaul.edu/~aas/CMRSconference/.


-- Nick J. Sciullo

Feed Your Mind: Hip-Hop Books for 2010

This is a somewhat complete list of books that might help readers as they pursue hip-hop study that have been published to date. If you've come across other books, post them in the comments. And, if you've read some of these books, post your reviews below as well.

How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks by Dave Tompkins
336 pages, Melville House, ISBN-13: 978-1933633886

Raw Law: Don Diva's Hip-Hop Guide to Criminal Justice by Muhammad Ibn Bashir, Esq.
256 pages, Grand Central Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-0446509350

City Kid: A Writer's Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success by Nelson George
288 pages, Plume, ISBN-13: 978-0452296046

Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation by Christopher Emdin
142 pages, Sense Publishers, ISBN-13: 978-9087909864

Hip Hop is Not Our Enemy: From A Preacher Who Keeps It Real by Dr. Kenneth T. Walum, Jr.
184 pages, AuthorHouse, ISBN-13: 978-1449074241

Tupac Shakur: The Life and Times of an American Icon by Tayannah Lee McQuillar
288 pages, Da Capo Press, ISBN-13: 978-1568583877

Political Poetry as Discourse: Rereading John Greenleaf Whittier, Ebenezer Elliott, and Hiphopology by Angela Michelle Leonard
374 pages, Lexington Books, ISBN-13: 978-0739122846

Why Are So Many Black Men in Prison? by Demico Boothe
160 pages, Full Surface Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-1425713973

Post Black: How a New Generation Is Redefining African American Identity by Ytasha L. Womack
224 pages, Lawrence Hill Books, ISBN-13: 978-1556528057

-- Nick J. Sciullo

Conference Alert and Call for Papers: From the Levin College of Law

We are currently planning the 2010 conference. Please email any suggestions for speakers or musical acts to MusicLawConference@gmail.com.

The Music Law Conference at The University of Florida Levin College of Law is hosting its 8th annual conference on February 27, 2010. The conference brings together musicians, lawyers, students, academics, policy makers and entertainment professionals for a weekend to network, learn, and share ideas. It is our goal that everyone, from the disgruntled ex-band member to the seasoned entertainment attorney, that attends the conference will leave with a new perspective on the music industry.

The theme of last year's conference was "From the Suits to the Stage." We explored topics that every musician and future entertainment professional needs to know.

Topics for this year will include: digital and retail markets, new forms of music distribution, international issues, ethical issues, protecting musicians' rights, understanding both sides of the table, the art of business, and basic D.I.Y. (Do-It-Yourself) ideas for new artists.

The Conference is scheduled for Feb. 27, 2010 (Saturday) at the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom at the University Levin College of Law. The conference and panel discussions, which will examine the music business, will take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The live music showcase will be on the evening of Feb. 27, 2010 from 9pm to 1:30am at a local music venue.

Directions to get to the Levin College of Law from West 13th Street (SR 441): Go west approximately 2 miles on SR-26 (University Avenue). Turn left on Southwest Second Avenue. Continue to Southwest 25th Street. The law school is located at Southwest Second Avenue and 25th Street.

There is a registration fee required to attend the conference, but the panel discussions are free for all current UF students and faculty with a valid university ID. Seating is limited, so register early!

For more information about the conference please e-mail MusicLawConference@gmail.com. Visit our blog at musiclawconference.blogspot.com.

Thank you for your interest.

-- Nick J. Sciullo

2009 in Review: Hip Hop-related law review articles

With the year wrapping up, I thought it only appropriate to compile a list of law review articles published this year that might be relevant to hip-hop scholars, with SSRN links where I could find them. This list probably is not exclusive, so feel free to add articles in the comments section.

Reuven Ashtar, Theft, Transformation, and the Need of the Immaterial: A Proposal for Fair Use Digital Sampling Regime, 19 Alb. L.J. Sci. & Tech. 261 (2009)

R. Richard Banks, Class and Culture: The Indeterminacy of Nondiscrimination, 5 Stan. J.C.R. & C.L. 1 (2009)

Jacob Honigman, Can't Stop Snitchin': Criminalizing Threats Made in "Stop Snitching" Media Under the True Threats Exception to the First Amendment, 32 Colum. J.L. & Arts 207 (2009)

Lolita Buckner Inniss, A 'Ho New World: Raced and Gendered Insult as Ersatz Carnival and the Corruption of Freedom of Expression Norms, 33 N.Y.U. Rev. L. & Soc. Change 43 (2009)

Max N. Panoff, Black, Tie Optional: How the NBA's Dress Code Violates Title VII, 8 Va. Sports & Ent. L.J. 275 (2009)

Tracy Reilly, The "Spiritual Temperature" of Contemporary Popular Music: An Alternative to the Legal Regulation of Death-Metal and Gangsta-Rap Lyrics, 11 Vand. J. Ent. & Tech. L. 335 (2009)

Meredith L. Schantz, Mixed Signals: How Mixtapes Have Blurred the Changing Legal Landscape in the Music Industry, 17 U. Miami Bus. L. Rev. 293 (2009)

Nick J. Sciullo, Conversations with the Law: Irony, Hyperbole and Identity Politics or Sake Pase? Wyclef Jean, Shottas, and Haitian Jack - A Hip-Hop Creole Fusion of Rhetorical Resistance to the Law, 34 Okla. C. U. L. Rev. 455 (2009)

Here's to a successful 2010 to all the scholars hip-hop has touched.

-- Nick J. Sciullo

Hip-Hop Scholarships a Reality?

Recently, one of the top selling R&B groups of all time, Boyz II Men, came together to talk about the initial planning of a hip-hop scholarship. They spoke at the Institute of Production and Recording in Minneapolis and discussed everything from their high school days at the High School for Creative and Performing Arts to Will Smith and Jodeci.

Like Boyz II Men or not, the vast majority of folks listened to them in the early and mid-90's. It would have been difficult not to. While the R&B group in general has become a less marketable entity than the R&B soloist today, R&B groups dominated much of the 1990s with acts like Public Announcement, Next, 112, Silk, Shai, Mint Condition all holding strong fan bases. Boyz II Men was really out in front of this phenomenon

This marks a positive development for hip-hop that often hasn't been perceived as promoting traditional methods of education. This presents an encouraging development in hip-hop's giving back to the community. Because Boyz II Men are a mainstream voice in the larger urban music movement with cross-generational and genre appeal, this could greatly enhance the reputation of hip-hop and R&B artists especially as it relates to education.

Will other artists and groups follow suit?

For the full story and to watch a video of the interview, click here.

-- Nick J. Sciullo

(Photo of Boyz II Men from http://www.famemagazine.co.uk/.)

A Tragic Loss for Historians, Race Scholars, and Activists

Yesterday we lost a pillar of the scholarly community. John Hope Franklin, Professor Emeritus of History and at Duke University and Professor of Legal History at Duke Law School, passed away on March 25. Franklin was the rock of the modern African-America studies movement, an award-winning author and researcher, and a member of the NAACP Legal Defense fund led by Thurgood Marshall that litigated the Brown v. Board of Education case.

Franklin was the first Black to hold an endowed chair at Duke and the first Black President of the American Historical Association. President Barack Obama offered the following comment: ''Dr. Franklin will be deeply missed, but his legacy is one that will surely endure.'' The New York Times has run a powerful obituary that may be read here.

His seminal text, From Slavery to Freedom, was required reading for many an undergraduate. I remember distinctly the first time I opened the text and felt the harsh legacy of slavery come alive. It is a text as crisp as it is informative and perhaps the greatest text on slavery yet written. Franklin was a prolific scholar, publishing some of the greatest texts on slavery.

Although I never had the privilege of meeting Dr. Franklin, I feel in some small part guided by his attention to detail and his passionate pursuit of justice. Franklin told the Associated Press in 1995: ''I want to be out there on the firing line, helping, directing or doing something to try to make this a better world, a better place to live."

These are words we can all take to heart. In studying the law, and hip-hop's relationship to it are not we simply looking for a way to make the world better? Should not the goal of activism, scholarship, and thought be to make the world a better place to live? Dr. Franklin walked the walk and along that journey he taught many of us what it meant to be a scholar and what we could do to make our position in the world one of activism and struggle.

- Nick J. Sciullo

(Photo by Derek Anderson/The New York Times)