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A professor at Georgetown

was ridiculed for teaching a course on Jay-Z, but modern culture, hip-hop is not inconceivable

judging by the amount of noise it makes, you would think that Georgetown University Professor Michael Eric Dyson had raised the idea of ??abolishing child labor laws. In fact, all he did was to announce that this semester is teaching a course entitled "Sociology of Hip-Hop Urban Theodicy -. Jay-Z "It was at Glastonbury again.

Indignation flew in all directions. SPIN A title refers to "semi-ridiculous Georgetown Jay-Z class," while the article mentions in passing that the main fees are $ 40 920, fixing the price of a special budget of a second- inarticulate academic year. Gawker was even more ruthless in its suppression, saying, ". A remarkable thing is that Michael Eric Dyson, but it is too good to be an academic celebrity, know nothing of hip-hop "

Perhaps the most incisive criticism and humiliation came from Stephen Wu, a student at Georgetown, who, writing for the student newspaper Hoya said: "The proposal that Jay-Z is in the same galaxy - much less the great epic poet -. heir [Homer] of human history is a fundamental misunderstanding of any of Jay-Z is the importance or the development of Western thought and literature over 2500 years, "Ouch.

But the controversy is a dispute without at least two points of view. Zack O'Malley Greenburg, author of Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z was headed Forbes corner desk to defend the class who had invited as guest speaker. In direct response to the argument Wu Greenburg, accountants, "I do not dispute the impact of Homer in Western civilization, but this kind of small claim ignores the social conscience of the whole hip-hop (yes, some of them contributed by Jay-Z), not to mention some of the most important problems found in each work of Homer. "

his particular genius lies in its ability to take misunderstood vision of a group of dispossessed and that is acceptable to a diverse audience. With it, people from all different backgrounds have access to the unique philosophy and shortcomings of black men at times of the post-civil rights / black power. It embodies brilliant and unfortunate consequences of potential global hip-hop.

Jay and music are fertile ground for research on problems of poverty, criminalization, misogyny, the performance of black masculinity, capitalism, linguistics, political identity of black and more. "Hip-hop is basically just the starting point of these broader issues of life and philosophy and world view," said Mark Anthony Neal, professor of black popular culture at Duke University. Neal visited the classroom earlier this year to discuss their work on Jay-Z, and engaged students in a wide range of issues, from intellectual property law to the cosmopolitan identity. This goes far beyond a study of the "" Big Pimpin "or" booty. "Courses of this type produce the kind of critical thinking necessary to make a real social change.

This is not the first nor the last class, hip-hop to make its way into the halls of higher education (more than 300 anyway). It is conceivable that one day the great universities awarded major titles in the study of hip-hop. No, no organic chemistry or engineering, but that does not diminish its value.

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