News

Details Emerge About Georgetown's Jay-Z Course

9:13 a.m. · November 4, 2011 · by Andrew Martin

Remember when we wrote about Georgetown University's new course focusing on the work of Jay-Z? Well, some things have changed since then. For one, the course is now called "Sociology of Hip-Hop — Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z"; we previously reported that it was Sociology of "Hip-Hop: Jay-Z."

In addition, we now have a bit of a grasp on what instructor/author Michael Eric Dyson is teaching in the course thanks to an article in the Washington Post. You can read a snippet from the piece below.

“This is not a class meant to sit around and go, ‘Oh man, those lyrics were dope,’ ” says Dyson, a Princeton-educated author, syndicated radio host and ordained Baptist minister. “We’re dealing with everything that’s important in a sociology class: race, gender, ethnicity, class, economic inequality, social injustice. . . . His body of work has proved to be powerful, effective and influential. And it’s time to wrestle with it.”

As Spin notes, at least one site, Gawker, is calling Dyson's bluff on knowing anything about hip-hop. They make their feelings pretty clear right from the jump, too, with a headline that reads "You Won’t Learn Hip Hop in This Man’s Classroom." Although, their article is also harsh on Jay-Z, who they say isn't one of hip-hop's best lyricists. Um, I'll leave that one up to you (the reader) to decide.