Why wasn’t college this crackin’ when I went?
Following the news that an Armstrong State University professor will be teaching a course on Andrè 3000 and Big Boi during the Spring 2017 semester, Georgia Tech University will follow in her footsteps and will also teach a course on OutKast.
However, that is where the similarities stop.
While the class at Armstrong State, “OutKast and the Rise of the Hip Hop South,” will be taught as an upper-level English class, Georgia Tech’s course — titled “Exploring the Lyrics of Outkast and Trap Music to Explore Politics of Social Justice” — will be both a humanities elective and requirement for students minoring in Social Justice.
Taught by Harvard Hip Hop Archive alumni fellow Dr. Joycelyn Wilson, the course aims to focus on hip hop’s political and societal impact. Her syllabus will also include teachings on a variety of Atlanta’s trap-rearing artists such as Future and 21 Savage.
Speaking to Hip Hop Wired, Dr. Joyce said, “As a southern Black woman who grew up in Atlanta on the music of OutKast, I want the 19-year-old engineering student who listens to Future or 21 Savage to come to this class ready to talk about why they listen to Future or 21 Savage. I want them excited by the challenge to push beyond just mere listening to problem-solving ways for designing a self-expression product that elevates how they listen to Future, 21 Savage, or any other artist, and why. A product they can see hanging on the wall of our VR gallery as they walk through it wearing oculus technology.”
Wilson is no stranger to teaching about OutKast; in 2015, she held a TEDx Talk called “The OutKast Imagination” (which can be seen below).
Needless to say, sign us up.
