Papers of the 2012 Tupac Amaru Shakur Collection Conference: Hip Hop, Education & Expanding the Archival Imagination

The Papers of the 2012 Tupac Amaru Shakur Collection Conference: Hip Hop, Education & Expanding the Archival Imagination has now been published.  The file is available here.  Last Fall the Robert W. Woodruff Library at Atlanta University Center (Clark Atlanta University, Spellman College, Morehouse College, and Interdenominational Theological Center) hosted a conference that brought together scholars from across disciplines and across the world.  This blogs very own, andré douglas pond cummings and Nick J. Sciullo both presented.  Sciullo's paper can be found at pp. 32-37 of the conference proceedings.  

This interdisciplinary exploration of Tupac, hip-hop, and the archival imagination should be of tremendous interest to hip hop, law, criminology, and librarianship scholars.


-- Nick J. Sciullo

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

Public Enemy and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Public Enemy live

HipHopLaw.com favorite Chuck D and Public Enemy will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.  When Chuck D provided the keynote address to the "Hip Hop and the American Constitution" course in April 2012, offered collaboratively by Drexel Law and WVU Law, he spent the first portion of his address sharing with our law school students and invited guests, the induction speech he had written for 2012's R&R HOF inductees, The Beastie Boys.  Now Chuck and PE will have the opportunity to craft their own acceptance speech for their own HOF induction.

Public Enemy's Hall of Fame induction is important for many reasons:  First, PE will be only the fourth hip hop group inducted into the R&R HOF (following on the heels of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, RUN-DMC, and the Beastie's), but PE will become the first overtly political and socially conscious hip hop group to be inducted and recognized for the movement that they inspired.

Second, PE was not just controversial at launch, but they unabashadely critiqued (a) the criminal justice system in the United States (in "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" and "Can't Truss It," amongst many others); (b) continuing and festering racism in America (in "Fight the Power" and "By the Time I Get to Arizona," amongst many others); and (c) police brutality and inner city neglect (in "Get the F Outta Dodge" and "9-1-1 is a Joke," amongst many others).  Public Enemy inspired listeners to write, protest, rap, and actively engage in fighting against injustice and promoting education and intelligent criticism.

Third, PE, certainly Chuck and Professor Griff,  viewed themselves as educators AND entertainers, not simply entertainers.  With a strident message to deliver, Chuck, Griff and PE were relentless in their lyrics and their delivery.  For this, PE was annihilated by critics when they emerged in the early 1990s.  Still, PE knew that their target audience was not the establishment nor their critics, rather young people that needed to be educated in a way different than was being delivered by most U.S. public schools. "Messages" delivered below:



In rewatching Can't Truss It, one is reminded just how controversial and edgy PE was when they came out in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  The choice for induction in the R&R HOF is certainly deserved as this groundbreaking group paved the way for so many others to follow.  Congratulations to Chuck D and Public Enemy on their selection for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

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

Hip Hop's Far Reaching Corporate Influence

On Super Bowl Sunday last month, Chrysler dropped a cool $9 million dollars for a 2-minute commercial, the longest in Super Bowl history. The commercial showed gritty, emotional everyday pictures of Detroit and Detroiters and asked, “What does a town that’s been to hell and back know about the finer things in life?” The commercial ended with Chrysler’s new tag line: “Imported from Detroit.”



The commercial set the internet ablaze. Traffic on Edmunds.com, the premier online automotive information site, spiked. Chrysler-related searches increased by 267% and 1,619% for Chrysler’s new 200, featured in the ad. Chrysler’s bold, profound commercial was ranked by many as one of the top commercials of the Super Bowl. When Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Chrysler, gave his execs a sneak-peak of the ad, many were reportedly close to tears.

Why was this commercial so memorable, moving and so successful (not to mention expensive and risky)? Aside from featuring a battered Detroit now purpotedly rising from the ashes and coming on strong, Chrysler decided to also feature an infamous Detroit native. Perhaps like the automobile industry itself, this Detroit native plateaued several years ago and seemed to fade in import and impact. But now, on a comeback himself, hip hop superstar Eminem can speak for a city and citizenry that are seeking to rise to a new found prominent place.

The irony in this interesting circle of corporate risktaking is that, as reported by Forbes magazine, Marchionne himself hesitated before deciding to make Eminem the face of his franchise in this expensive outlay of shareholder value. Marchionne admitted, “This was not an easy choice. . . . Apart from the money involved . . . and this is pretty expensive stuff, but you know, the choice of the topic, the choice of the characters in the thing were not easy choices. I had to think about this really long and hard. . . . You know, I love Eminem but . . . I also know that some of the choices of language that he has made are things that are not what I would consider to be commonly shared.” Marchionne necessarily treaded a delicate line in featuring the hip hop bad boy who is famous for hard-core lyrics and profanity, as well as bouts of homophobia and misogyny.

Eminem’s manager, Paul Rosenber, explained that the ad “started off as a request to license music but after . . . learning more about [Chysler CEO] Sergio Marchionne's vision, we realized there was a lot in common with Chrysler's story as it relates to Detroit and Eminem and his ability to overcome. We think the video we made with Chrysler is a statement about the passion of the company and the City of Detroit and we are proud to be a part of it."

Marchionne eventually overcame his reluctance to use Eminem as his spokesperson, recognizing how much the rapper has in common with the automaker. “[Eminem] represents part of America that I think is important as hell. I think it’s at the heart of what we are.” OK, not everyone likes the rapper’s music, Marchionne conceded, “but a lot of what he is, is us, you know? I mean there’s a sort of seriousness about that kid . . . which is true of [Chrysler]. The fact that we’re coming out of nowhere, right? A lot of people last year asked us, you know, are you still going to be here in 12 months?”

The fact that Eminem and his parallel story to Chrysler’s are generating national buzz and interest, despite the well-documented auto industry bailouts and bankruptcies last year, is a testament to the far-reaching influence that hip hop artists have nationally and internationally.


*** Cross Posted on the Corporate Justice Blog ***

Kanye West's Monster

Last month, an unfinished music video of Kanye West’s latest single “Monster” leaked online, and since that time, the hip hop community and its critics have been ablaze with commentary and critique.

Always pushing the envelope, and some arguing too far, Kanye’s new video is graphic and violent, depicting dead white women hanging in a smokey alley, their necks wrapped in industrial chains, vampires devouring corpses, and Kanye also appears in bed with two dead, eroticized white women and holds a decapitated white woman’s head dripping blood.

The video, now released, can be seen here: Monster

Melinda Tankard Reist of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, among many others, started an online petition to ban the video, stating that the video represents the disturbing and misogynistic view that “men enjoy dead women as sex and entertainment. The female body is to be devoured, reduced to the same status as meat. Female bodies should be displayed before men as a great feast for their consumption.”

What is Kanye thinking? Does Monster make a political statement that eludes?

Here is a sampling of some of the commentary:

In Defense of Kanye West, That's Mr. "Monster" to You

Kanye West "Monster" Video Show Rapper Sexually Exploiting Female Corpses

Kanye West's "Monster" Video: Campy Horror Masterpiece or Misogyny?

The Meaning Behind Kanye West's "Monster" Video

Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor, Gender, and Race in 21st Century Sports Law

A new book has just been released called "Reversing Field: Examining Commercialization, Labor, Gender and Race in 21st Century Sports Law." Edited by andré douglas pond cummings and Anne Marie Lofaso, this book interrogates the "dark side" of sports, focusing on the commercialization of collegiate athletics and the exploitation of college athletes, as well as issues of racism, sexism and discrimination in professional and collegiate sports.

Per the frontmatter: "Reversing Field invites students, professionals, and enthusiasts of sport – whether law, management and marketing, or the game itself – to explore the legal issues and regulations surrounding collegiate and professional athletics in the United States. This theoretical and methodological interrogation of sports law openly addresses race, labor, gender, and the commercialization of sports, while offering solutions to the disruptions that threaten its very foundation during an era of increased media scrutiny and consumerism. In over thirty chapters, academics, practitioners, and critics vigorously confront and debate matters such as the Arms Race, gender bias, racism, the Rooney Rule, and steroid use, offering new thought and resolution to the vexing legal issues that confront sports in the 21^st century."

Crack-Powder Cocaine Disparity Update

Hip hop has long critiqued the racial disparities in the criminal justice system. In particular, artists have spoken out in strident rhyme against the crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity. Ice Cube in "The N***a Ya Love to Hate" and Lil Wayne in "Don'tGetIt/Misunderstood," both critique in detail the devastating impact of the sentencing disparity on communities of color and young African American men (see below). Both Ice Cube and Lil Wayne, amongst dozens of other artists, may take heart in a recent Obama era legislative enactment.

In a completely under the radar moment, a new law of considerable importance was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in August. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 was introduced by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) in March 2010 and signed into law by President Obama on August 3, 2010. Before passage of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, defendants that possessed 5 grams of “crack” cocaine were sentenced to a mandatory minimum prison term of 5 years. In contrast, a defendant possessing powder cocaine had to possess 500 grams of powder before the same 5-year mandatory minimum sentence would be triggered. For more than 20 years, a 100:1 crack-powder sentencing disparity has existed in our nation’s federal legislation. This disparity has literally devastated urban communities across the nation and has cost the U.S. government millions of dollars as federal and state prisons are overflowing with non-violent inmates, an overwhelming majority of which are African American.

As an example, 80% of all defendants sentenced under federal crack cocaine laws in 2008 were African-American, and prison sentences for crack cocaine offenses averaged two years longer than those for powder cocaine. As President Obama observed at the signing of the Fair Sentencing Act, the old sentencing regime was “fundamentally unfair.” The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 aims to “restore fairness to Federal cocaine sentencing,” by significantly reducing the crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity from 100:1 to 18:1. Today, a defendant must now possess 28 grams of crack cocaine (rather than 5 grams) before a 5-year mandatory minimum sentence is required. This difference represents an enormous practical effect, which is that this new threshold essentially eliminates the mandatory 5-year minimum for simple possession—most dealers and traffickers carry crack in amounts of 28 grams or more.

Further, the Fair Sentencing Act increases monetary penalties for major traffickers and increases prison sentences for a number of aggravating factors, including violence or weapons possession during cocaine trafficking offenses, which practically shifts the focus of the federal “War on Drugs” from simple possession to violent trafficking. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reports that this shift will result in federal prison savings of over 42 million over the next five years.

Why does any disparity continue to exist in the cocaine sentencing regime? While a complete elimination of the crack/powder disparity was what Senator Durbin initially proposed, proponents of an equal sentencing regime were unable to fully eliminate the disparity, no doubt based on the reputation of “crack” as a dangerous drug that inspires greater violence and allegedly delivers great health risks. Still, 18:1 is a watershed moment as it portends an elimination of the disparity in those punished by federal cocaine laws.

Lil Wayne talks about the sentencing disparity in Don'tGetIt here (begins at 2:35).

Ice Cube references the impact of drug sentencing on African American males in The N***a Ya Love to Hate here (begins at :40)


* Portions of this blog post are cross-posted on the SALT Law Blog.