Not taking professors seriously when they talk about hip-hop?

There's an interesting article from January 5, 2011 over on The Chronicle... here. it talks about teaching copyright law in the classroom. The article's pretty good, but one quote from University of Illinois - Chicago UIC Distinguished Professor of Communication Steve Jones seemed particularly interesting.

Jones is quoted in the article as saying:

"I don’t think they [students] see anyone who’s a professor as having authority on hip-hop and rap."

Is that true? Does being a professor, or being academically inclined somehow detract from one's credibility or knowledge of "hip-hop and rap?" It seems to me this could not possibly be the case. Does one lose their street cred once one enters academia?

Many of the bloggers here on www.HipHopLaw.com have experience in hip-hop culture beyond their academic interests, and as many fall in the loosely defined "hip-hop generation," it seems that they have some authority on the question of hip-hop. This seems to be a common charge against academics, the notion that they are somehow apart from their area of scholarship, but usually that charge is leveled by non-academics. But, that criticism is certainly not universally applicable. Is it even legitimate?

I don't think anyone is confusing any of the bloggers here with Nas, MC Lyte, or whomever, but I also don't think that's the point. No one on this blog is trying to become a hip-hop star (at least not to my knowledge). The goal for hip-hop scholars should not be to be rappers. I don't ever want to be mistaken for any of the people I listen to or write about, I just want to bring my personal story and research to the hip-hop and legal communit(y)(ies) and see what happens. I don't think what I write is valuable because I have a J.D., I think it's just another voice in the milieu, hopefully a voice that says something important and adds to the ongoing discussion. Most of us writing on this blog, are modest in this respect and I think it is something we try to convey to friends, colleagues, and students. But, according to professor Jones, few people may be taking us seriously...

I wonder what Professor Jones means when he talks of this monolithic "professor." What are the characteristics of his "professor?"

I'd be interested in seeing what others in the blogosphere think about this article and about the above mentioned quote.

-- Nick J. Sciullo

Camille Nelson Chosen as Dean at Suffolk

One of our very own has made it to perhaps the pinnacle of the professoriate as the newly selected Dean of the Suffolk University Law School. The full announcement from Suffolk is here: http://www.suffolk.edu/42396.html.

This is a tremendous accomplishment and a great honor. Nelson is the first womyn and first person of color to hold this position in Suffolk's 104 year history.

You can view Professor Nelson's Hofstra faculty page here: http://law.hofstra.edu/directory/faculty/fulltimefaculty/ftfac_nelson.html.

Perhaps there's a correlation between presenting at The Evolution of Street Knowledge conference that gave birth to this blog and career advancement. It may be too early to tell.

Three cheers for Dean Nelson! This is truly a great accomplishment and I'm sure I speak for all HipHopLaw.com bloggers when I say, "Best of luck and congratulations."


-- Nick J. Sciullo

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)