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First Amendment

Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law

2009

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

A 'Ho New World: Raced And Gendered Insult As Ersatz Carnival And The Corruption Of Freedom Of Expression Norms, Lolita Buckner Inniss Jan 2009

A 'Ho New World: Raced And Gendered Insult As Ersatz Carnival And The Corruption Of Freedom Of Expression Norms, Lolita Buckner Inniss

Publications

Carnivalization, a concept developed by literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin and later employed in broad social and cultural contexts, is the tearing down of social norms, the elimination of boundaries, and the inversion of established hierarchies. It is the world turned upside down. Ersatz carnival is a pernicious, inverted form of carnival, one wherein counter-discourses propounded by outsiders are appropriated by elites and frequently redeployed to silence and exclude those same outsiders. The use of the slur "'ho" by gangsta' rappers in the performance of songs that articulate a vision of urban culture is an example of carnivalization. Thus, when words …


The “Spiritual Temperature” Of Contemporary Popular Music: An Alternative To The Legal Regulation Of Death-Metal And Gangsta-Rap Lyrics, Tracy Reilly Dec 2008

The “Spiritual Temperature” Of Contemporary Popular Music: An Alternative To The Legal Regulation Of Death-Metal And Gangsta-Rap Lyrics, Tracy Reilly

Tracy Reilly

The purpose of this Article is to contribute to the volume of legal scholarship that focuses on popular music lyrics and their effects on children. This interdisciplinary cross-section of law and culture has been analyzed by legal scholars, philosophers, and psychologists throughout history. This Article specifically focuses on the recent public uproar over the increasingly violent and lewd content of death metal and gangsta -rap music and its alleged negative influence on children. Many legal scholars have written about how legal and political efforts throughout history to regulate contemporary genres of popular music in the name of the protection of …