University of Missouri offers class on Kanye West and Jay Z

An American university has launched a special seminar on the creative relationship of hip-hop titans Jay Z and Kanye West, as well as their overarching impact on the rap world.

As Consequence Of Sound notes, the University of Missouri English department have just started to run the course called simply “Jay Z and Kanye West”.

It will ask such questions as “Where do they fit within, and how do they change, the history of hip-hop music?”, “How is what they do similar to and different from what poets do?” and “How does their rise to both celebrity and corporate power alter what we understand as the American dream?”

The head of the course Andrew Hoberek told CoS:

“I really do think that these guys are warming up to the level of major poets, and not many people think of it in those terms. Because it’s not just on a page, but it’s video art, too. So, we looked at how those complicated the questions, and how do books about poetry help us to understand rap with Jay and Kanye at the forefront. We looked at the larger history of rap as an art form. Specifically, how, especially with Blueprint 3 and Yeezus, there’s an identifiable push to get beyond what’s happening in the art form. They’re very much like painters and novelists in the 20th century, moving beyond the confines of the art form’s boundaries.”

This follows news of a university in New Jersey offering a seminar on their very own Bruce Springsteen.

Watch the pair in the video for Watch The Throne track “Otis” beneath:

Photo from 99 Problems Tumblr