Duke Law Professor Discusses The Legendary KO

This is a long clip, but he talks about KO within the first 10 min. This is an excellent lecture on intellectual property and creative license. Back story after the jump.

(LOL at the professor reading Kanye’s lyrics)

I won’t belabor you with too many details. You already know most of the story. Hurricane Katrina hit in late August 2005. KO made “George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People”. The internet got shut down.

Shortly thereafter, we got a call from Professor James Boyle, who teaches at the Duke School of Law. I was hesitant to take his call because i’m fan of UNC basketball, and hate Duke by default. I overcame my prejudices and obliged him.

He told us that he was conducting research on sampling / intellectual property etc, and was fascinated with the evolution of the G. Bush song, and traced it all the way back to the beginning of time (I exaggerate, but he did some serious research on this). If you have time, check out the the full lecture. He’s also written a book. We should have copies soon.

P.S.  – Rappers, step your game up! Holler at me when they teach your works in school! (Please ignore my false rapper bravado; I couldn’t resist)

P.P.S. – He called us “fascinating” at 49:39. That might be a first.