Beginnings
Would you pass up on the opportunity to study the history and significance of one of your favorite musical genres in college? With the schools that have risen to prominence in hip-hop culture within the last couple of decades, it may be hard to say no.
The cross between hip-hop music and college-level education is one that may have been foreshadowed by the likes of the genre’s early “textbooks”. This collection, which can be traced back to as early as over 20 years ago, includes underlying works still reckoned as constitutional to hip-hop scholarship. At the center of the trophy case, there can be seen the Bible of hip-hop/academic crossover, an exploration of rap music’s depths written by the now director of the Center for Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University, Tricia Rose. The book, titled Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America, comprehensively details themes within the lyrics of hip-hop music while simultaneously examining the cultures and perspectives that lie beneath the genre. In regards to the forefront of this article, it can be recognized that the 1994 text, as well as other similar detailed accounts of hip-hop studies such as It’s Bigger Than Hip Hop and Hip Hop: A Cultural Odyssey, have maintained relevancy and will continue to stay relevant as long as hip-hop is alive (sorry Nas, but hip-hop is not dead; in fact, it is now the most popular genre in the world according to Forbes). These books were ultimately legitimized as hip-hop increasingly gained traction in academics, and colleges across the U.S. began to take notice of the potential of hip-hop studies and glimpse of hopefulness these works provided.
Hip-Hop on Campus
Beginning just 23 years ago in 1994 at Howard University, hip-hop focused classes have since then risen to popularity at the schools of which they are offered- a long list at that, and one as of more recently including prestigious schools such as Harvard University, Penn State University, Grinnell College, the University of Washington, and more (a list of some can be seen at the bottom of this article). Providing three unique cases, here are a few summaries of the presence of hip-hop at Harvard University (a prologue of sorts, as the school does not have a main hip-hop class but rather is crucial to the cross between higher education and hip-hop), the University of Arizona, and the University of Virginia (hometown plug).
Harvard University
At Harvard, one of the top universities in the nation (and the world as well), hip-hop can be seen as having a more dynamic and expansive role besides solely offering a class to its community. The “Hiphop Archive & Research Institute”, founded within the school in 2002, is described by its webpage as facilitating “the pursuit of knowledge, art, culture and responsible leadership through Hiphop”. Offered by the institute as well is the Nasir Jones (Nas) Hiphop Fellowship, a fund provided to scholars and artists of the university who “demonstrate exceptional productive scholarship and exceptional creative ability in the arts, in connection with hiphop”. Not stopping there, as well as being in collaboration with rap legend and icon Nas (whose legacy is reflected by the sheer amount of mentions he has had in this article), Harvard has also collaborated with producer 9th Wonder to create a hip-hop archive for the university’s library. The archive, meant to recognize hip-hop classics for their impact on society and significance in relation to culture and the genre of hip-hop, so far includes five albums: The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest, Illmatic by Nas, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill, and To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. Students on campus are now indulging themselves in hip-hop culture because of this newfound presence brought to the school in the recent years. In progressing as a legitimate academic subject, hip-hop being focused on heavily by one of the world’s top schools is not a bad look at all.
Nas Seated at Harvard’s Hiphop Archive & Research Archive, introducing the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellowship in 2013 (photo courtesy of Rolling Stone)
The University of Arizona
This is where the hip-hop in education thing really comes in.
Thinking about a career in the hip-hop industry or simply taking your study of hip-hop to the next level? Well, the University of Arizona, a school populated by over 30,000 students located in Tucson, actually has the minor for you: the Minor in Hip-Hop Studies (formally titled “The Africana Studies’ Minor in ‘Hip-Hop Cutures”). The program, focused on all aspects of hip-hop culture, not just limiting itself to rap music, provides “students with a solid introduction and broad understanding of the origins and developing of the forms of expression that make up hip-hop cultures throughout the world”. The Minor in Hip-Hop Studies challenges students to think openly about the outreach that hip-hop has and the themes that are included within its culture, giving students the education required to work in a multi-faceted and “billion dollar industry”. Classes required and taken by students working for this minor include an “Introduction to African American Studies” class, an “Africana Studies Research Approaches” class, a class focusing on “Rap, Culture, and God”, a “Hip-Hop Cinema” class, and lastly, a “US & Francophone Hip-Hop Cultures” class. The Minor, introduced to the school at the top of the fall semester of 2012, instantly struck campus-wide and nation-wide infatuation (and, of course, controversy). The Minor was a hit with the students of the school, as predicted. Because the school was the first to offer a Minor in Hip-Hop, though, critique came alongside risk in the months following. However, the praise and well-doing that the University has followed through with pertaining to its introduction of the Hip-Hop Minor surely overshadows those who bring doubt to the relevancy of hip-hop studies in education.
The University of Arizona (photo courtesy of The Princeton Review)
The University of Virginia
The most recent addition out of the three schools being looked at actually has been involved in hip-hop for several years now. At the University of Virginia, asking around about student organizations will end up in a conversation about the Student Hip-Hop Organization, an organization brought to the University in 2010 by students who loved hip-hop and wanted to unify people of similar liking to one group. At U-Va, the Student Hip-Hop Organization has successfully brought concerts featuring rappers Big Sean, Mac Miller, and even rap-duo Clipse to the Grounds. It wasn’t until recently, however, that the University got serious about having hip-hop as an academic subject. A story recently covered by NPR was the first to detail the new addition to the school. The professor of the new class that will be introduced this upcoming fall semester, Professor A.D. Carson, completed his own hip-hop project as a doctoral dissertation, which is actually what led to the top Virginia school noticing and offering him a spot as Assistant Professor of Hip-Hop and the Global South. The class that he will be teaching this fall is a class named “Writing Rap”- and one that teaches just that and beyond. As Carson explained to NPR, “you can imagine a composition-of-rap course being similar to a composition course where you’re learning to write an argumentative essay”. With its recent addition and advanced focus in hip-hop culture, the University of Virginia is only progressing beyond the multi-dimensional and complete school it already is. Introducing hip-hop as an academic subject to its school is another way U-Va looks to reach out to its diverse and highly-offering population in Charlottesville.
Professor A.D. Carson, U-Va’s latest hip-hop professor (photo courtesy of UVAToday)
To the Future
Hip-hop studies, while not invincible to the stress and worry brought upon by state-school taxpayers and parents of students, will continue to last so long as the teachers teaching these sorts of classes continue to press English fundamentals and address authentic cultural concerns in the classroom (in other words, what these classes are meant to be and already are doing). When looking at hip-hop in regards to academia, one must look beyond the surface; there is far enough to be valued.
(Some) Other Schools Involved in Hip-Hop
Duke University
Grinnell College
McNally Smith College of Music
New York University
Penn State University
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Southern California
University of Washington
EAR FOR THE BEAT 