Mercer Law Review Volume 63 Number 2 Articles Edition Article 4 3-2012 Legal Writing, the Remix: Plagiarism and Hip Hop Ethics Kim D. Chanbonpin Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/jour_mlr Part of the Cultural Heritage Law Commons, and the Legal Writing and Research Commons Recommended Citation Chanbonpin, Kim D. (2012) "Legal Writing, the Remix: Plagiarism and Hip Hop Ethics," Mercer Law Review: Vol. 63 : No. 2 , Article 4. Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.mercer.edu/jour_mlr/vol63/iss2/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Mercer Law School Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mercer Law Review by an authorized editor of Mercer Law School Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Legal Writing, the Remix: Plagiarism and Hip Hop Ethics by Kim D. Chanbonpin I. PRELUDE I begin this Article with a necessary caveat. Although I place hip hop music and culture at the center of my discussion about plagiarism and legal writing pedagogy, and my aim here is to uncover ways in which hip hop can be used as a teaching tool, I cannot claim to be a hip hop head.' A hip hop "head" is a devotee of the music, an acolyte of its discourse, and, oftentimes, an evangelist spreading the messages contained therein.2 One head, the MC' (or emcee) KRS-One,4 uses religious * Assistant Professor of Law, The John Marshall Law School (Chicago). University of California, Berkeley (B.A., 1999); University of Hawaii (J.D., 2003); Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M., 2006).