Spring semester is already well underway at most universities, but it’s never too late to think about transferring, is it? Popular music has been finding its way onto the occasional course catalog for a minute, from a 1997 University of Amsterdam exegesis on “Madonna the Phenomenon” to a 2004 Syracuse University tutorial on “The Life and Times of Lil’ Kim.” (The respective whereabouts of Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj during these classes could not be determined at press time.) And you might not be too surprised to learn there’s been no shortage of higher educational effort devoted to some band called the Beatles.
Academic offerings centered around particular artists’ records have only continued to proliferate in the last several years, though, whether it was Michael Eric Dyson dissecting Jay Z tracks at Georgetown University, a Rutgers University professor tackling the theological basis of Bruce Springsteen lyrics, or Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d. City getting its literary closeup at Georgia Regents University. Oh, and while Skidmore College alumni may not have forgotten "The Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender and Media”—apparently “she’s just being Miley” isn’t a complete answer—if you went to Oregon State and can remember“Philosophy of Phish,” maaan, you weren’t really there.
But now, recent weeks have seen another upswell of pop-minded university curricula, and it’s all too much to overlook. Here are five current or upcoming courses devoted to a single artist or genre crucial to contemporary music culture. Plus a few suggested readings from us (well, besides our own reviews)—don’t mind us, we’re just auditing from the back row.
Solange’s A Seat at the Table: “The Truths of Young Women of Color”
Solange’s magnificent A Seat at the Table was Pitchfork’s top album of 2016, and a balm for life in the new Cretins’ Republic of Trumpistan. And if the younger Knowles sister had, as she sings, “a lot to be mad about,” her richly contemplative third album is also ripe for interpretation. There’s a lot to nerd out about.
Enter this hugely welcome project, in which a group of Wake Forest University students and faculty are calling on young women of color to pitch in on an A Seat at the Table-inspired syllabus. With suggested themes such as “Resisting Racism” and “Nurturing Ourselves,” the resulting lessons could well be as cathartic as they are educational. And that, unlike the emotional defenses built up on the LP’s sublime “Cranes in the Sky,” ought to be positive for all. Helping coordinate is Candice Benbow, about whom... well, scroll down.
Suggested Reading:
Beyoncé interviews Solange // Interview Magazine
‘A Seat at the Table’ Contemplates Black Life’s Contradictions // Bim Adewunmi // BuzzFeed
Beyoncé: “Lemonade Syllabus”
In 2013, with no advance notice, Beyoncé released her self-titled visual album. The rest of the music industry was clearly taking notes, as the surprise release has gotten so widespread that learning about a major album ahead of time has almost become a novelty (also, a relief!). But pulling off a stealth visual album is still pretty much one-woman territory—Frank Ocean building stairways to heaven doesn’t quite count—and Queen Bey’s latest happens to be a masterclass on the format.
Lemonade is a crucial 2016 text on much else, besides, from its ’Yoncé-fied interpretations of country and rock, to its deep grounding in the experiences of black women. Candice Benbow, who’s also working on the A Seat at the Table syllabus, previously compiled this syllabus around the elder Knowles’ LP. With resources intended for classrooms, community centers, women’s prisons, girls’ detention centers, Girl Scout troop meetings, or Bible studies, Benbow hopes the text “inspires other sisters to tap into their own magic and give us the work that will heal and transform us.” Lord knows, these days there are plenty of lemons.
Suggested Reading:
We Slay, Part 1 // Zandria Robinson // New South Negress
Beyoncé in ‘Formation’: Entertainer, Activist, Both? // Jon Caramanica, Wesley Morris + Jenna Wortham // The New York Times
“Politics of Kanye West: Black Genius and Sonic Aesthetics”
Figuring out Kanye isn’t getting any easier. At least, not in a way that avoids further polarization of someone Trump takes meetings with when he’s not palling around with the likes of Jeff Sessions or Betsy DeVos. So thank Yeezus for this course going on now at Washington University in St. Louis, maybe it will help some folks sort out their conflicted feelings about liking TLOP but disagreeing with ’Ye about Trump (or any of the myriad other opinions Kanye expresses).
The College Dropout rapper’s work has received the university treatment before, at Georgia State in 2015 and in a 2014 Missouri program that also focused on Jay Z. But the latest course is meant “to get students to connect issues of politics, race, gender, sexuality, and culture,” Professor Jeffrey McCune told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “What better time than now to take seriously Kanye West as a cultural icon?”
Suggested Reading:
Kanye’s Depressing Trump Talk // Micah Peters // The Ringer
33 ⅓ chapbook on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy// Kirk Walker Graves
“OutKast and the Rise of the Hip-Hop South”
Then again, it’s hard to hold a meaningful discussion about where pop, hip-hop, and broader cultural issues meet without at some point touching on OutKast. This English course currently underway at Armstrong State University in Savannah, Georgia, delves into how the Atlanta duo’s “ideas about the South and southernness seep into other Southern writers,” Professor Regina Bradley told the Savannah Morning News. The class reportedly involves listening to OutKast and other hip-hop, as well as the role of music in political movements such as Black Lives Matter.
Bradley sounds like the right person for the job. A recipient of Harvard’s Nasir Jones (!!) fellowship, she spent her teens in Georgia during André 3000 and Big Boi’s ’90s ascent. The OutKast camp seems into the idea, too: Discussing the class with Creative Loafing, Big Boi said, “I am originally from Savannah, and I remember Armstrong, so that is just super dope.” Is that cooler than being cool? Guess we’ll have to go back to college to find out.
Suggested Reading:
Third Coast: Outkast, Timbaland, and How Hip-hop Became a Southern Thing // Roni Sarig
Dirty South: OutKast, Lil Wayne, Soulja Boy, and the Southern Rappers Who Reinvented Hip-Hop // Ben Westhoff
“Exploring the Lyrics of Outkast and Trap Music to Explore Politics of Social Justice”
Too much exploring? OK, but let’s not get lost. Too much OutKast, however, isn’t really a thing that exists. (Unlike, say, science, which is real.) Georgia Tech University is also homing in on the connection between rap and social issues with this course going on presently. Visiting professor Joycelyn Wilson, aka Dr. Joyce, has previously given a TED talk on “The OutKast Imagination,” and she has said the earliest version of this course dates to a hip-hop curriculum she developed at Morehouse College. “The syllabus for this course builds on almost a decade of work,” Wilson told Rolling Out.
The course will use OutKast and trap music lyrics “as a metaphor to study Atlanta civil rights and enhance my students’ desire to civically engage in their communities.” Dr. Joyce didn’t go into this in the interview, but HipHopDX claims the course will touch on Goodie Mob, UGK, Eightball & MJG, T.I., Jeezy, 2 Chainz, Gucci Mane, Future, Migos, 21 Savage, and Lil Yachty, plus 2Pac, Notorious B.I.G., Kanye, Nas, N.W.A, Public Enemy, Nicki Minaj, Lil Kim, and Lauryn Hill. Whew. It’s required for a new Georgia Tech minor in social justice, which, given Georgia’s deep-red political tilt, some older alumni may want to consider revisiting.
Suggesting Reading:
The Sudden Rise of Lil Yachty // Joe Coscarelli // The New York Times
No Future for ATL // Rodney Carmichael // Creative Loafing