Students at a university in St. Louis, Missouri have enlisted in a course about rapper Kanye West. Around 75 are taking part in the class that started its sessions this week at Washington University.
The course is called the "Politics of Kanye West: Black Genius and Sonic Aesthetics." It was developed by Dr. Jeffrey McCune for the departments of African and African-American Studies and the Women and Gender and Sexuality Studies, and he will also be handling the class.
Washington University students will not only be studying Kanye West's music but also his career as a rapper, music producer and fashion mogul. McCune hopes that the course will be a "good way to get students to connect issues of politics, race, gender, sexuality and culture," according to St. Louis Today.
Underscored in the course's syllabus are the topics that the students will be discussing with their teacher, such as "Who is Kanye West and Why Is He in the Flashing Lights?" or "I Love Kanye, or How Critique Slips Into Hate." McCune said that the class will not be about bashing nor celebrating Kim Kardashian's husband. It will be an in-depth study on the rapper's impact in pop culture.
Fox 2 Now reports that there is already a waiting list for the class. McCune believes that offering the course is relevant and timely especially since today's kids would always reference the artist as he's quite the influencer among millennials.
"What better time than now to take seriously Kanye West as a cultural icon?" McCune told the press. "I'm always interested in how he's pushing whatever boundaries."
This isn't the first time Kanye West has been the subject in higher education. In 2015, Georgia State University also offered the "Kanye Versus Everybody: Black Poetry and Poetics from Hughes to Hip-Hop" class under Dr. Scott Heath, MTV reports.
