Last night, I went to a lecture by Professor Paul Butler (GW Law) about his book, “Let’s Get Free: A Hip Hop Theory of Justice.” [Disclaimer: I haven’t read it, so I might butcher this a bit.] The premise is essentially that hip hop/rap music has a lot to say about the effects of our criminal justice system on our inner cities. From the values and observations found in hip hop – by really listening to what artists have to say – we can craft meaningful reforms to the criminal justice system that will help curb the vicious cycle of incarceration, crime, poverty, and community decline.

A prime example is the Draconian sentencing we attach to drug laws, which have a disproportionate impact on inner city communities. Because drugs are so prevalent, police are ubiquitous, and drug laws are so harsh, a disproportionate number of African-American and Latino males spend time in jail for non-violent crime, often at a young age; in turn, it is harder for them to seek education and employment after serving time, which often leads to additional collateral consequences (this is of course just one strand in a complicated web of cause & effect). This cycle has a normalizing effect within these communities (being incarcerated is considered an inevitability and not reflective of one’s moral character), and the laws lose their perceived legitimacy and their deterrent effect, thereby stripping their practical justification, on top of being inherently unjust.

This last part – the effects that these laws have on the hood and the attitude with which they are treated – is, I think, where the artists come in. In the quest to create just laws, it is necessary to pay attention to the reality of their impact; listening to hip-hop can help us with that part of the equation. Unfortunately, it seems that few people take seriously what it is that hip hop has to say on the subject, and there is not enough meaningful conversation about the music’s role. If and when that happens, Prof. Butler believes that artists will have an even greater opportunity – and responsibility – to educate.

He points primarily to mainstream artists (Jay-Z, Kanye, Li’l Wayne) rather than the “socially conscious” strain of hip-hop (Dead Prez, Talib), because of their greater impact on pop culture (and, I suspect, because the latter are too progressive and impractical). I have my reservations about the theory – or, more specifically, what hip hop has to offer in the way of theorizing legal reform, rather than pure observational power. Or whether hip hop is the right medium for those that need to hear its messages. But it is definitely one of those simple yet profound ideas that we should be thinking about. Maybe that’s all Prof. Butler’s trying to say. Props to JP for bringing him in.

My favorite jam from the talk (and another Hype Williams-directed classic!):



By the way, y’all know how coincidences bug me out. This morning, I woke up thinking about all of this. When I walked out the door and turned on my iPod, the first album cover that popped up on my screen (out of about 100GB of music, mind you): Dead Prez, ‘Let’s Get Free’ (the book’s namesake). WTF.