Georgetown University Now Offers Class on Studying Jay-Z

The class, entitled "Sociology of Hip Hop: Jay-Z", is now available at the prestigious learning institution. Professor Michael Eric Dyson hopes to make it a continuing series focusing on other artists for future semesters.

Dyson, pictured here with the hip hop mogul here, is a passionate teacher on the significance of African-America music and culture. He had previously proposed a class on Tupac based partly on his own book at the University of Pennsylvania. The "Sociology of Hip Hop: Jay-Z" class is the first of his to be offered by a university and the professor is happy to be exposing more people to the subject as he explained in an interview with the L.A. Times:

“I’d written a book on Nas, one rhetorical genius, and I wanted to focus on another,” Dyson said. “I wanted my students to understand that when you’re dealing with an artist like Jay-Z you’re dealing with a genius — a crafter of words, an all-time literary great. [Jay] gives us such powerful poetic passion. I wanted my students to understand that.”

Along with studying the artist's lyrics and viewing the 2004 concert documentary Fade to Black, course required reading includes:

• Jay-Z (Julius Bailey)
• Empire State of Mind (Zack O'Malley Greenburg)
• Book of Rhymes (Adam Bradley)
• Decoded (Jay-Z)

The three credit course has attracted more than triple the average class size and Dyson hopes to feature Lauryn Hill, Nas and the Roots in future studies.