From Compton to the classroom, Kendrick Lamar has inspired a new college course at Temple University in Philadelphia this fall. The genius of the West Coast MC’s lyrics will be explored on a scholarly level thanks to Timothy Welbeck, Assistant Professor of Africology and African American Studies in Temple’s College of Liberal Arts and Director for the Center for Anti-Racism. He connects with XXL in a new interview to discuss how a whole college class on Kendrick Lamar came together.
Welbeck, who’s taught many courses at Temple over the last 14 years, including one on Tupac Shakur, spent a year turning the idea into a course ready for study. Now students can get an A in analyzing Kendrick Lamar’s lyrics and life in the aptly titled course “Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of M.A.A.D City,” a great play on words based on two of his albums.
While seeing K-Dot on a syllabus may seem to be the coolest part of this college experience, it’s what Welbeck will offer that matters most. He’ll provide a lens on hip-hop and the Black experience through K-Dot’s art and the city that raised him, Compton, Calif. There’s a possibility the Pulitzer Prize-winning MC will make an appearance in the class, which has a full registration for the fall semester beginning in August.
Take a look at the video interview with Timothy Welbeck and see a few gems from the conversation below.
What Will Students Learn From the Kendrick Course?
Signing up for “Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of M.A.A.D City” means getting a better understanding of Black life told through Kendrick’s perspective while exploring how the place he grew up in impacted his views.
“My first hope is that they’re able to come away with a clearer view of just how hip-hop is a part of this broader continuum of Black life and Black art in America that spans centuries, goes back to traditional West African cultural expressions and norms,” shares Timothy Welbeck, who’s also a civil rights attorney and rapper. “So, I want them to first have that. Also want them to get a clearer and more authentic view of hip-hop culture as itself.”
“And also want them to have a clearer view of just how Compton became Compton and then also have a better understanding of Kendrick, his life, his work. Hopefully, they walk away with all of those things. The class is a success and we are able to dissect Kendrick’s music clearly, analyze it, critique it, and enjoy it to some degree. And then also look at some of these broader ideas, too.”
What Will the Coursework Include?
Just like textbooks provide knowledge in the learning process, so will four of K-Dot’s albums in this class. Welbeck will give students the opportunity to listen to the Grammy-winning rapper’s music as way to dive into Black expression in America.
“So, without giving away too much of the syllabus, we’re going to spend some time looking at urban policy and what some scholars have said about it and talk about how Compton went from a middle class place that was in a in a lot of ways somewhere that people aspire to be to the place that Kendrick Lamar raps about in Section.80 and good kid, m.A.A.d. city,” Welbeck says. “So, we’ll spend some time looking at scholarship around that and then we’ll spend some time actually listening to his music.”
“We’re going to listen to at least four of his albums in class and then aside from that. We’ll read some other materials about his life and just contextualize him within his broader this broader discourse and then lastly we’ll bring in some guests. So, that’s a lot of the course content and then we’ll do some evaluation some fun stuff in between.”
How Will the Black Experience Be Explored?
Welbeck’s course proves that Kendrick is a worthy artist to be studied due to the many layers of his work. K-Dot’s expression though lyricism and life experience as a Black man provides students with a look at the world outside of their own views.
“In part because it helps not only understand who he is, but it helps to understand his art. Kendrick’s art exists within a continuum of Black expression,” Welbeck adds. “And not only do we get to see that from what he said, but also in the music that he creates. If you look at an album like To Pimp Butterfly, he’s got George Clinton, Ron Isley and Snoop [Dogg] all on the same album. And so, just even with that, we’re looking at this broader intergenerational creation of Black music, Black expression.”
“And then so much of his content also looks at Black life, particularly Black millennial life, particularly from Compton. But then even the imagination to see yourself beyond the circumstances that gave birth to you and, you know, diving into more of that content aspect and how that shaped Kendrick.”
What Lessons Will Be Learned by Diving Into Kendrick’s Music?
An entire fall semester dedicated to going through some of Kendrick’s most impactful songs means uncovering some difficult conversations on police brutality, discrimination, drugs and human trafficking.
“In a lot of ways, Kendrick’s music humanizes the experience of people who are the after effects of many of these urban policies that we talk about,” Welbeck expresses. “So, we might talk about the war on drugs and police brutality and human trafficking and housing discrimination. He talked about that. So, like if you look at ‘Keisha’s Song’ or ‘Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst,’ you’re looking at people two women who are in dire circumstances who get entrapped in human trafficking.”
“Or if you look at ‘Good Kid’ from good kid m.A.A.d. city he talks about the perils of intra-community violence and also state sanctioned violence with policing and so or if you look at To Pimp a Butterfly, so much of that album is influenced by his time in Robben Island and spending time in South Africa and taking more on a diasporic viewpoint to not only his content but just who he is as a man. And so his art in a lot of ways gives us a lens into many of these different topics and ways that we can discuss them more clearly.”