Hip Hop and Law School Admissions?

At the Veritas Prep Blog, last month was “Hip Hip Month” which included a post on how hip hop can help law students in the admissions process. The post describes how “introspection, emotion, and brutal honesty” are qualities that elevate hip hop and these are the qualities of winning personal statements. These qualities are what makes hip hop memorable and relevant and cause people to become invested in it – exactly the reaction a potential law student wants to see from the person reading their personal statement.

Directly from the Veritas Prep Blog:

"By now, you HAVE to be wondering: what can you, the law school applicant, possibly learn from a rapper?

It's pretty simple, actually: what you can learn is how to tell a story. Rappers - the good ones at least - are ultimately storytellers. The hip hop album generally considered to be the best ever recorded - Nas' Illmatic - is basically a spoken word version of his life's journal. The late great Tupac Shakur transitioned easily from "gangsta rap" to books of poetry and back again. These guys gave us tales of their life, made the words rhyme, and put it all over produced beats and sounds. That was their way of telling a story within the confines of a particular form.

Law school applicants also have the challenge of telling their unique story within the confines of a form . . . the personal statement."

The post can be found here.

Call for Papers: Civil Rights, Social Justice, and the Midwest

Civil Rights, Social Justice, and the Midwest
THE SOCIETY FOR UTOPIAN STUDIES 35th Annual Meeting
Hilton Milwaukee City Center
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
October 28-31, 2010


Milwaukee in the 1960s and 1970s was a key site for civil rights marches, particularly around the open housing movement. From 1897 through much of the 20th Century, the city was governed by a succession of Socialist mayors, elected on their platform of practical, "sewer socialism." And Wisconsin itself and its Midwestern neighbors have long been home to experiments inintentional community.

We encourage papers, panels, presentations and performances on literary, political, social, and architectural aspects of the civil rights struggle, intentional communities, and practical socialism with a Midwestern focus for the 2010 conference. We also welcome papers on other aspects of the utopian tradition - from the earliest utopian visions to the utopian speculations and yearnings of the 21st century, including art, architecture, urban and rural planning, literary utopias, dystopian writings, utopian political activism, theories of utopian spaces and ontologies, music, new media, or intentional communities.

* * *

Milwaukee has a rich array of museums, restaurants, theaters, parks, and universities for conference attendees to visit. The city boasts the first U.S. commission by Santiago Calatrava, at the world-class Milwaukee Art Museum; Frank Lloyd Wright buildings; an excellent opera company; microbreweries galore; award-winning chefs; 19th Century beer baron mansions; Lake Michigan, and more.

Please send a 100-250 word abstract by June 1, 2010 to:

Brian Greenspan
Department of English
1812 Dunton Tower
Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive
Ottawa, ON, Canada K1S 5B6

Or e-mail submissions to: brian_greenspan@carleton.ca (please put "sus submission" in the subject line). As you submit your abstract, please indicate if you have any scheduling restrictions, audiovisual needs (overhead projector; DVD/VHS player), special needs, or a need for a written letter of acceptance of your proposal.

For information about registration, travel or accommodations, please contact the Conference Coordinator, Peter Sands, at: sands@UWM.EDU


-- Nick J. Sciullo

Will Pride and Prejudice and Zombies make Hip-Hop and the Law Easier?

Last year's smash hit novel, by Seth Grahame-Smith, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (PPZ) took the literary world by storm with its odd mash-up of traditional English literature retold through a macabre, Twilight-esque lens. The book sold over a million copies and helped secondary school teachers, teach a book, that not many students were apparently embracing. PPZ used 85 percent of Jane Austin's original text and combined it with typical zombie violence. This new re-telling of the classic novel has helped preserve this classic for a new generation.

Mash-ups have long been important for hip-hop. Remixes, guest appearances, the first mixtapes, etc. all produced dramatic effects combining new and old into something if not new than different. Change, innovation, and good 'ol fashioned rabble-rousing have been a constant part of the ethics of hip-hop for years.

I made the fateful decision to buy Seth Grahame-Smith's new novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. I'm no fan of zombies or vampires, or Twilight, or any of the supernatural books and shows that seem to have flooded the consciousness of every pre-teen, teen, and even a startling number of adults. But, I do like history and I do like Lincoln. I've only just begun the book, but I can tell it's going to be a journey.

What does this all mean for hip-hop?

Although the academy has become increasingly interdisciplinary, there continues to be a bias against popular culture. Sure you can find economics here, political science there, philosophy in that corner, and the entire brethren of liberal arts and social science disciplines mashed up with the law, but try and collect a critical mass of law and hip-hop, law and sports, law and television legal dramas, etc. and you're likely to not come up with much. Popular culture seems to have had an easier time in other disciplines, but law likes to eb exclusive, private, even confusing.

Popular culture in many ways is antithetical to law. It is not rigidly structured, not supportive of canonical interpretation, not an exclusive club. Just as most of us thought that Abraham Lincoln and Vampires were antithetical (if in fact the two occupied the same thought). On face, it makes sense that there are not more mash ups of popular culture and the law, but with the recent success of Grahame-Smith's novels, perhaps there is a new acceptance of the unusual.

Imagine retelling the Richard Sander verses the world story as a tale of Tupac vs. Biggie. Or could the collapse of a corporation be compared or told through the lens of the collapse of Bad Boy? Could we fuse Common's lyrics with a retelling of John Rawls's A Theory of Justice? Garrett Hardin's tragedy of the commons and __________?

I'm not saying there's a NYT's bestseller here or a Harvard Law Review article for that matter, but we might be in for some good news with Grahame-Smith's success.

-- Nick J. Sciullo

Lil' Wayne Sentenced

Lil Wayne was sentenced today to a year in jail after pleading guilty to criminal possession of a weapon in October 2009 after he admitted to having a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun on his tour bus. His sentencing had been postponed twice previously, once for dental surgery and once last week due to a fire in the courthouse basement. The sentence will apparently be served at Rikers Island without protective custody, and there is a possible early release available after eight months with good behavior.

Lil Wayne used his brief reprieve from sentencing productively, spending the time appearing with Jay-Z at a Madison Square Garden show.

For anyone who is in the New York area this weekend:

Women's History Month Conference
The Message is in the Music:Hip Hop Feminism, Riot Grrrl, Latina Music, and More

Twelfth Annual Women’s History Month Conferenceat Sarah Lawrence College Bronxville, New York

Friday & Saturday, March 5 & 6, 2010

Free and open to the public

Keynote speaker: Carmen Ashhurst, former president of Def Jam Recordings and Rush Communications, and author of the forthcoming book, Selling My Brothers: The Movement, The Media and Me

Music has long served social movements as a sound track, as a means of communication, and as its own arena for activism. While multiple generations of feminists have used music in these ways, it has played especially vital roles for those born since the 1970s. This conference will explore the ways in which young feminists have defined and expressed politics through music and musical cultures and communities. Among the questions we will ponder are: How does music reflect sites of agreement and conflict among different groups of feminists? How have movements like Riot Grrrl and Hip Hop feminism attracted young women to feminist activism? How do young feminists’ uses of music compare with those of earlier generations?
View conference schedule»

Dre and Death Row

On February 11th, Dr. Dre brought suit against WIDEawake Death Row Records and its parent companies alleging that Death Row failed to pay him royalties on his album “The Chronic” since 1996 and that the label issued "The Chronic Re-Lit" and a greatest hits collection without his permission or the proper rights. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages of more than $75,000 for several claims, including breach of contract, false advertising, trademark infringement and misappropriation of publicity.

When discussing the suit in Los Angeles Federal Court Dre’s lawyer Howard King told a judge: "When it came to paying artist royalties and honoring limits on Dr. Dre recordings that could be released, the 'new' Death Row Records, to quote our client, 'forgot about Dre.'"

'10 Digital Music Report Says Industry Still Reeling from P2P & New Forms of Infringement

The International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reports in its 2010 Digital Music Report (pdf) that despite hundreds of legit online music offerings (Pandora, Live365 etc.) and higher revenues in 2009, the music industry remains damaged by peer-to-peer file sharing and other forms of online infringement. Conflicting case law internationally, reports the IFPI, is further muddying the waters.

The IFPI has argued for several years that internet service providers (ISPs) "should take more responsibility for policing their networks through a 'graduated response' (or ‘three-strikes and you’re out’) mechanism that includes notices and warning letters to suspected infringers followed by internet access suspension if the first two stages are ineffective." Read more at IP-Watch.org.

Professor Tonya M. Evans
www.ProfTonyaEvans.com

Hip Hop's Languages of Love

My colleague Bridget Crawford recently blogged on Feminist Law Professors about a special issue of Women and Language focused on critical analyses of how hip-hop speaks about love. Check out her post at http://feministlawprofessors.com/?p=14989.

Hip Hop Halftime?

Super Bowl halftime promised to be another old timers affair as "The Who" has been slated by the National Football League to entertain the masses this year. I wonder (along with Scoop Jackson at ESPN) where the flavor is for the halftime show? In a league dominated by athletes of the hip hop generation, how is it that since the infamous Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction, that we have only been treated to the legends of Rock and Roll at halftime, including the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Paul McCartney? While I understand that Commissioner Roger Goodell is interested in protecting the league from halftime scandal, I believe that the legends of hip hop could perform scandal free just as readily as the Stones, Springsteen, Petty and McCartney. So, where is Run DMC? Queen Latifah? What about Ice Cube, KRS One or Dr. Dre (Prince did get the gig in 2007)?

Further, I am confident that the NFL could comfortably inquire into the availability of Jay-Z, Common, Lauryn Hill or Snoop Dogg and avoid the embarrassment of a wardrobe malfunction moment. After all, the Super Bowl is the most-watched event in the world. Why prop up the careers of aging white artists and leave the true soul of global culture on the sidelines?

Intersecting Losses

This week has marked an important loss of two great people who have shaped many a person's life, but particularly hip-hop community members and the many scholars of hip-hop who pursued critical histories during their education journeys.

This week, Howard Zinn, Professor of History at Boston University and author of a People's History of the United States, passed away. Zinn was a fiery political activist and excellent writer, who brought to light the history of peoples maligned to the corners and crevices of history.

Zinn encouraged students to look more critically at the history they were reading, asking not what the history said, but who was doing the saying? Such efforts to disrupt the status quo influenced countless activists, scholars in law, history and political science, not to mention students of all ages. His work helped encourage a history that was more responsive to the masses, and that did not reside in the white-washed mind's eye of the historical studies apparatus. His work critiqued what history was and developed a theory for what history could be.

Likewise, this week, Donnie Simpson, long-time Washington, DC DJ steps down from his post at WPGC radio. Donnie Simpson began working in radio in his hometown of Detroit at the tender age of 15. He relocated to DC in the late 70s. In 1981, he made is television debut at the local Washington, DC NBC affiliate. In 1983, he joined BET becoming one the first VJs in the country. Simpson has greeted visitors on his morning show on WPGC since 1993. Donnie Simpson has been a shining star in the DC radio community for some 30 years and his departure will leave a tremendous void for this community. He has been an active participant in charitable organizations and also established his own scholarship fund, with his wife, for minority students.

The combination of these two events should have a significant impact on hip-hop listeners and scholars. My guess is that more than a few readers have stories of how reading Zinn for the first time made them reconsider historical studies and how listening to Donnie Simpson in the morning put them in a positive mood. It's not every week that two legends leave us, and we'll be hard pressed to find someone to carry on their respective legacies.

-- Nick J. Sciullo

State of The Union: The Streets "Is" talking Pt II

... eating peach cobbler actually but you know what I mean. Well, I wish I had something to offer from the streets re: the Republican response to the President's speech but the music started up just as the new Gov of Virginia took the podium. I have no idea what he said. The only thing I know about he response is that the black woman sitting behind the Gov warranted a couple of comments (nothing nice sister, sorry). I will have to catch him on youtube and see what the what. Anyway, back to the President ... right after I signed off to order my cobbler, the POTUS vowed to work with Congress and military personal to repeal Dont Ask Dont Tell. Ok that's a feel good moment. I'm for that because although I'm as against gays shooting people in unjust wars as I am straight people, military service has been poor people's ticket to health care, social mobility and travel for many years. But let's be clear, the President pulled a fast one I think. He did not issue an executive order repealing the exclusionary policy - he vowed to work on it. Therefore success will be measured by whether he worked on it or not. Having worked on it but not repealed it will not mean a great deal to all those queer people who look to the military (despite its faults) to feed their children, have pap smears and to see the world. We will have to see I guess. In the meantime, Kanye's calling "...la la la wait to I get my money right!" I am going to sign off here and pick this up tomorrow. peace people, PB

Reporting on the State of the Union Address Pamela D. Bridgewater live on location in a bar in DC

...leaving aside for moment the current debate in this bar as to whether Michelle Obama has on a wig, I would like to set the stage for my viewing "party" for the President's State of the Union Address. First off, I am in a bar eating fried chicken livers and drink the nicest Malbec Ive had in a long while. The bar is Langston's Bar and Grille and it is classic DC - ole school DC - fashionable, sassy and generous. Also, this place, like DC is demanding - bring your A game, no matter what it is, politics, pool, music, money - just bring it! Well, Im here and I have brought my A game (one of them at least). Tonight my A game is hunger and something particular from our President. My chicken livers and wine were right on so I'm able to listen particularly well for the President to speak to the people I think have been off of the this Administration's radar screen - working class folks. Im pleased to report that I am pleased! The President, although smug and flippant at times (he cant help his swag) mentioned (with a lot of comedy peppered throughout): Student loan, Community banks, small business loans and health Care. These will have important impact in the lives of the hip hop nation! My favorite line so far is that Democrats must solve problems Not run for the hills.

need to order my peach cobbler so please tuned - more in a minute.....

Soundtracks vs. Comebacks: Music Sampling Gets Scored

Interesting commentary about the reliance on and legal pitfalls of sampling in hip hop music.

I welcome your comments on the following question: Why do hip hop artists and producers prefer to sample the actual performance of a song (which includes rights in the musical composition a/k/a underlying work and and the actual sound recording) rather than just re-create the sounds in studio? Your thoughts?

Soundtracks vs. Comebacks: Music Sampling Gets Scored

hip hop and haiti

The hip hop community is out in force, pledging its support and joining relief efforts helping to deal with the catastrophic earthquake that struck Haiti a little more than one week ago. The relief efforts are being led by Haitian-born artist Wyclef Jean whose organization Yele Haiti has been offering humanitarian support in Haiti since 2005. (Donations are accepted at www.yele.org or by giving a $5 donation by texting “Yele” to 501501). In addition, U2's Bono and Jay-Z are teaming up on a new single to benefit the people of Haiti. The effort is not only carried by hip-hops stars, but local hip-hop groups around the country are also holding benefit concerts raising funds and awareness for the tragedy in Haiti.

The hip hop nation has not survived this tragedy without loss, as Haitian artist Jimmy O was confirmed dead last Friday. Jimmy O was a Port-au-Prince native who worked with Wyclef Jean’s Yele organization. Evenson Francis, regarded as the “pioneer of Haitian hip-hop” also did not survive the quake when he could not escape his recording studio. In remembrance his friends held a ceremony in Delmas Stadium where he had enjoyed performing.

Rap mogul Russell Simmons has called on the hip hop community to action saying “we must do all that we can as individuals and collectively to help save the lives of our brothers and sisters in Haiti.” This call seems to have been answered as Americans have raised over $150 million. The true question will be, however, once the tragedy fades from the evening news whether Haiti will remain at the forefront of our collective thoughts.

Acclaimed "Copyright Criminals" Doc Debuts on PBS 1/19/2010

Broadcast Premiere

January 19, 2010


This Compelling Doc asks ... "Can you own a sound?"

 Copyright Criminals examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money.


This documentary traces the rise of hip-hop from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry. For more than thirty years, innovative hip-hop performers and producers have been re-using portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. When lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.”The film showcases many of hip-hop music’s founding figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground—while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers, Ninja Tune, and more.


It also provides an in-depth look at artists who have been sampled, such as Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown’s drummer and the world’s most sampled musician), as well as commentary by another highly sampled musician, funk legend George Clinton.As artists find ever more inventive ways to insert old influences into new material, this documentary asks a critical question, on behalf of an entire creative community: Can you own a sound?


Support for Copyright Criminals provided in part by the Independent Television Service, Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the University of Iowa.


"...an amazing documentary on the history of sampling" -Rob Sheffield. Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone


USA Today calls Copyright Criminals "...a compelling and insightful documentary illuminating both sides of a hotly debated issue."