Hip Hop and the ABA

The September 2012 edition of the ABA Journal reports favorably on the "Hip Hop and the American Constitution" course offered last spring semester collaboratively between Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law and the West Virginia University College of Law.  In an article entitled "Hip-Hop at Law," reporter L.J. Jackson writes:

Public Enemy (in Hamburg, Germany 2000)

"Back in 1989, when Chuck D and Flavor Flav exhorted Public Enemy fans to 'Fight the Power,' it’s likely that they never envisioned their anti-establishment anthem would be deconstructed and analyzed as part of an innovative law school curriculum. But the lyrics and discographies of Public Enemy and other hip-hop artists are indeed the subjects of a recent law school seminar and a forthcoming anthology studying the intersection of the Constitution and hip-hop.  Law professors Donald Tibbs and andré cummings are working on a textbook based on the class they co-taught this spring called 'Hip-Hop and the American Constitution.' The lecture series brought an eclectic mix of law professors, formerly incarcerated people and rap artists to the classroom to discuss hip-hop’s legal implications. 'It initially was a hope and dream' to teach the class, says Tibbs of Drexel University, who conceived the idea and pitched it to cummings of West Virginia University."

The entire article can be read here:  Hip-Hop at Law


(photo courtesy of MikaV, Creative Commons License)