The Unique Connection between Hip-Hop Music & Academic Curriculums

As a professional assignment writing service provider for over several years, there is no denying that music and education can go hand in hand if utilized on all the correct levels.

It’s a known fact that several works of famous poets and songwriters have been included in curriculums over the years. So that students can express their thoughts with the help of rhyming. Which helps them elevate their composition and writing abilities adapt unique composition styles.

But how does it co-relate to hip-hop, you ask? Well. This specific music genre is home to some of the most expressive, unique, versatile yet complex lyrics and writing styles. With once in a generation artists like Tupac. The Notorious B.I.G, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar etc. All contributing to this style of art. It opens a portal to a whole different dimension of composition.

Recently, Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid Maad City (written as good kid, m.A.A.d city) record was extensively commended for its narrative and poetic mastery and is currently the focus of a collegiate English course together with James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Professor Adam Diehl of Georgia Regents University in Augusta says he wants to help his kids “become stronger writers, stronger readers, sharper analyzers, greater people. And have a deeper appreciation of the vernacular of the street poetry: hip-hop.

“DAMN.,” Lamar’s 2018 Pulitzer Prize-winning record, captured the complexities of Black culture in the United States. 13 Grammy Awards have been awarded to him, and he was nominated on 37 occasions.

With that said. This is not the first time this has ever that Lamar’s work and that of his contemporaries have been utilized in academic settings before. There’s a list of 07 instances when hip-hop was part of a school’s or college’s curriculum.

School: Rice University – Class: Religion and Hip Hop Music Culture

Bernard “Bun B” Freeman. A founding member of the UGK, lectured Religion and Hip Hop at Rice University in the spring of 2011. Among the topics covered in the seminar were “Can Rap Be in the Church?” and “The Morality of Hip Hop,” in addition to a discussion between Russell Simmons and the lecturer. As a result of the course’s effectiveness, Freeman and Pinn decided to introduce a virtual variation of it this previous spring. Wherein attendees would discover “components of Hip Hop culture,” “Hip Hop language associated with religious concepts,” as well as “frames of spirituality and Hip Hop engagement.”

School: Syracuse University – Class: The Life & Times of Lil’ Kim

In the early days of female music, Lil’ Kim set the standard for feminine rappers. According to ABC Radio in 2004. SU English lecturer Greg Thomas said, “Her poetic talent is nothing less of groundbreaking.” “It’s the strongest sexually charged painting I’ve seen before.” After learners transcribed Lil’ Kim’s “Get Money” verses, Thomas invited Queen B to the campus to hear students’ performances and address her position in hip-hop society with pupils. You’ve got yourself the ideal guest lecturer.

School: Yale University – Class: Evolution of Rap Music in the U.S.

As early as 1993, the Ivy League school added a subject entitled The Evolution of Rap Music in the United States to its curriculum. As described in the program summary, the subject addressed hip hop heritage, women’s involvement in hip hop, and street art. Pupils were required to create their original rap songs and observe neighborhood graffiti tag identities or paintings but were told to venture around “in limited groupings attributed to the reason that certain neighborhoods that our pupils dwell in may be pretty unsafe.”

School: University of Missouri – Class: Jay Z and Kanye West

Before teaching them English, the students were advised to watch “The Throne”. Then, in the fall of 2013, a course influenced by Jay Z and Kanye West analyzed the musicians from the various aspects: As well as, “How can their ascension to both superstar status and corporate dominance impact our understanding of the American dream?” “Jay-Z’s-Decoded; Biographies of critical works on rap music by Jeff Chang, Adam Bradley, and many others; and one or two quality examinations as to how lyricism functions” were among the curriculum resources necessary. Finally, lecturer Andrew Hoberek informed “Consequences of Sound” that he feels Jay Z and West are “heating up to the degree of significant authors” before the course began its sophomore semester.

School: Georgia Regents University – Class: Good Kids, Mad Cities

However, New Jersey high school is not the only one to employ Lamar’s 2012 record as a teaching tool. An English class taught by Professor Adam Diehl last fall focused on “modern living’s impact on younger people’s growth,” adopting good kid, m.A.ad city as the material for the course. Gang culture, childhood developments in urban neighborhoods, substance usage and the opioid epidemic, sex enslavement and human exploitation are all addressed in Kendrick’s new project, Diehl informed USA Today. Some of today’s modern heated themes have their roots in Compton, California.

School: The University of Washington – The Textual Appeal of Tupac Shakur

Tupac is a prominent academic topic at both Harvard University and Berkeley University. The study compared Tupac’s music to Shakespeare’s works and the Bible in order to “[examine] the intellectual, political, and artistic implications” of Tupac’s music. According to Seattle PI’s Georgia Roberts in 2003. Tupac’s work sparked her curiosity in Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Live from Death Row and the prison-industrial complex. Making his material appropriate for a curriculum. When she was in her youth, exposure to hip hop always motivated her to get educated and participate in current. More comprehensive societal discussions. While youngsters hear his tunes. They are not assimilating the information. He has a following of students who listens to his art and take note of the teachings he is sending through.”

School: Georgetown University – Class: Sociology of Hip Hop: Urban Theodicy of Jay Z

It wasn’t till 2011 when Lecturer Eric Dyson made waves for presenting a seminar on Jay Z at Georgetown University. This included ethnicity, culture, wealth, economic disparity, and social inequality. It has been proven that [Jay Z’s] music is potent, powerful, and impactful. The moment has come for a fight. While grappling with it. I had to compare Jay Z’s rhymes to the writings of Biggie Smalls and examine just how he got to where he is today.

Suppose you are going through similar courses as mentioned above or any academic course for that matter and are struggling with deadlines and excessive course load. In that case, UK Writing Experts are always present to help you out and relieve your stress.