The presence of Ye, or Kanye West, has been felt all over our social media timelines as of late.
The rapper’s come-up story took over as a long-running trending topic after the release of his Netflix documentary, “jeen-yuhs.” As previously reported by AfroTech, his friends and filmmaker duo Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah created the project that was 20 years in the making.
Although the documentary gave new insight into West’s story, three parts still aren’t enough time to learn about the Hip-Hop phenomena. Now, to dig deeper into Mr. West, his journey is being turned into a college syllabus.
Complex Canada reports that an online university course dedicated to West — “Kanye vs. Ye: Genius by Design” — will be offered at Concordia University in Montreal. Two hundred students will be taught about “the evolution of the iconic rapper’s artistry, controversy, and cultural impacts” by by MC and professor Yassin “Narcy” Alsalman, who previously led courses on A Tribe Called Quest, Lauryn Hill, and Black Star.
“I want to bring something new and fresh to students. An opportunity to bring more amazing guests to the University and to discuss the world through the lens of one of the most influential artists of our generation,” Alsalman shared via an Instagram post.
He added: This class isn’t only about Kanye. It’s about community, creativity, responsibility, accountability, fame and mental health, dreams and nightmares — and more importantly, self-actualization. Welcome To Graduation.”
Course Description
“This class dissects Ye’s art, design, music, celebrity and cultural impacts in the age of information. Unquestionably a problematic figure, Kanye West, or Ye, is also a maven of all the creative industries he has touched. By using Kanye’s albums as cultural, artistic and personal lenses, this class studies the evolution of his genius and explores the concepts of ‘Kanyetive Dissonance’—the unique complex and controversial natures and contexts of Kanye’s body of work.”
College Courses On Artists
In terms of academics, Canada has been on a roll of focusing on courses about the success stories that have come out of Hip-Hop and pop culture.
AfroTech previously reported on Ryerson University’s Dalton Higgins offering a course surrounding Canadian stars Drake and The Weeknd, which deconstructs their timelines in the music industry.
“It’s time to get our Canadian rap & R&B icons recognized & canonized academically or otherwise. And it is CRITICAL for scholars, historians, to examine the Toronto music scene that birthed Drake/Weeknd and helped create the conditions for them to become mega successful,” Higgins wrote on Instagram.
