6 Musical Geniuses Whose Careers Have Made It to the Classroom

From Grammy wins, to world tours, clothing lines, sports ventures, and more, musical artists have long been expanding their brand beyond just the music. Each new career move evokes both praise and criticism, making their longevity on the music charts and in business one to be examined, and college professors are definitely taking notes.

Over the past few years, more and more universities across the nation have taken a closer look at some of the musical greats of today, with professors examining song lyrics and their messages with greater detail in an effort to combine academia and pop culture to educate the next generation.

From Beyoncé to Jay Z, Nas and more, we’ve rounded up some of today’s hottest musical geniuses whose creativity and unmatched talent have landed them a spot in a university classroom.

Beyoncé

Earlier this year, Rutgers University announced that it will be bringing the entertainer’s work and career to the classroom with a course called “Politicizing Beyoncé.”

“This isn’t a course about Beyoncé’s political engagement or how many times she performed during President Obama’s inauguration weekend,” class teacher Kevin Allred said, according to Rutgers Today.

The course will compare the singer’s music portfolio with important works from the black feminist movement, including writings of Alice Walker and Sojourner Truth.

“It’s important to shift students away from simply being consumers of media toward thinking more critically about what they’re engaging on a regular basis,” Allred said.

Jay Z

In 2011, Georgetown Professor Michael Eric Dyson brought the life and career of Jay Z into his classroom for a course titled “Sociology of Hip Hop: Jay Z.”

The course examined Jay Z’s career and tied it to lessons on African American culture and business, with students having a midterm, final exam, and required readings including the rapper’s book Decoded.

“I think he’s an icon of American excellence,” Dyson tells Fox News.

Nas

Nas may not have completed high school, but the message behind his music certainly provides content that’s worthy of being studied in the classroom.

Last year, Harvard University introduced the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellowship that will help pay for visiting scholars research and hip-hop related academic programs.

The rapper, who constantly pushes the envelop with his music, says that music is a great resource to use to educate our youth.

“Hip-hop is important like computer science,” the rapper tells Rolling Stone. “The world is changing. If you want to understand the youth, listen to the music. This is what’s happening right underneath your nose.”

Jay Z and Kanye West

In addition to Jay Z’s career being studied at Georgetown University, students at the University of Missouri can now study his music and career alongside the career of his “Watch the Throne” partner Kanye West.

Professor Andrew Hoberek first taught the course in fall 2013, and after the class filled up quickly, he decided to bring the course back for the fall 2014 semester.

According to the course description, the English course “looks at the career and work of Jay Z and Kanye West from three perspectives: (1) Where do they fit within, and how do they change, the history of hip-hop music? (2) How is what they do similar to and different from what poets do? (3) How does their rise to both celebrity and corporate power alter what we understand as the American dream.”

Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar’s debut album “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” was a

body of work that quieted down any critics who questioned the young Compton native’s talent, and now with a college course inspired by the album, it’s safe to say that Lamar’s work has earned him a spot in the hip-hop history books.

Thanks to instructor Adam Diehl, students at Georgia Regents University in Augusta, Georgia can now examine Lamar’s music portfolio with a closer eye, using the rapper’s debut album, James Joyce, James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks and the 1991 movie “Boyz in the Hood” as primary coursework materials.

“I decided to center the class on good kid, m.A.A.d city because I think Kendrick Lamar is the James Joyce of hip-hop–i.e. in the complexity of his storytelling, in his knowledge of the canon, and in his continuing focus on the city of his upbringing–Compton,” Diehl tells HipHopDX.

Diddy

Holding one of the leading spots on Forbes’ Hip-Hop’s Wealthiest Artists list, the making of the Diddy brand and the many business ventures attached are definitely worth examining. Thanks to the Clive Davis Institute of Recording Music and New York University, NYU students will have the opportunity to figure out how Diddy went from a young boy in the streets of Harlem to one of the biggest moguls in music history.

“No single personality dominated the landscape of urban mainstream popular culture in the 1990s (and since) more than producer, rapper and entrepreneur Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs,” reads a course description. “By 2013, hip hop and black culture have become globally mainstream; the immense popularity that hip hop enjoys today is directly rooted in the profound cultural changes that Combs and his peers instigated.” 

The class, titled “Topics: Sean Combs and Urban Culture,” will be taught by Jayson Jackson, former VP of Marketing and Promotion at Bad Boy.