Jay Z and Kanye West have crept their way into the curriculum at the University of Missouri in a new American Literature-inspired course, according to the Huffington Post.
The course description reads:
This 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?, and (3) How does their rise to both celebrity and corporate power alter what we understand as the American dream? In addition to listening to music and watching videos, we will also read Jay-Z’s Decoded; histories of and critical works on rap music by Jeff Chang, Adam Bradley, and others; and one or two good studies of how poetry works.
English professor Andrew Hoberek came up with course called “English 2169: Jay Z and Kanye West” after being inspired by the rappers’ latest material.
“The subject matter lends itself to questions about what it means to treat something seriously as a work of art,” Hoberek said
The class was first made available last fall in 2013 and will take place Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays this semester. Crash course, anyone? — Megan Saad
Photo Credit: Getty