An academic course focused on the cultural impact of U.S. rap superstar Kendrick Lamar is set to be offered at a U.S. university.
As first reported by NBC10, Temple University in Philadelphia will provide a course to their curriculum at the beginning of the Fall semester headed “Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of M.A.A.D City”.
The course will be led by Assistant Professor Timothy Welbeck, part of the institutions Department of Africology and African American Studies, who has previously taught classes related to Black culture and urban Black politics.
“Kendrick Lamar is one of the defining voices of his generation, and in many ways, both his art and life is reflective of the Black experience in many telling ways,” Welbeck told NBC10. “Being able to discuss his art in the environment that helps lead him into being the man that he is in a lot of ways can tell you him as an individual, but can also talk about the journey’s towards self-actualization particularly as it is related to the Black experience.”
The 22-time GRAMMY winner is not the first artist to be the focus of a university-level course exploring musical and cultural influence. Similar courses have previously been offered on figures such as Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and Britney Spears at various U.S. institutions. Temple University has also previously run courses on renowned stars including Tupac, Beyonce, and Jay-Z.
“My current department chair was very open to the idea and received it almost immediately,” Welbeck said. “In a lot of ways, our department at Temple specifically, and Temple more broadly, has embraced the study of hip-hop in academic spaces.”
When elaborating on what the course will entail, Welbeck said: “the course will take a look at various scholarship around the types of urban policies that shift the demographic of Compton and how it helped to shape Kendrick Lamar.”
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