Kendrick Lamar’s cultural and creative affect is now formally changing into a topic of educational research. The Compton-bred rapper and lyricist had a landmark yr, together with his 2024 hit diss observe “They Not Like Us” sparking waves throughout the music business and incomes him 5 Grammy Awards in 2025, together with the coveted “Document of the Yr.” He additionally served because the headliner for the Apple Music Tremendous Bowl LIX Halftime Present in New Orleans, cementing his place on the heart of fashionable tradition.
Whereas Lamar’s latest accomplishments have dominated headlines, his affect has been effectively established over the previous decade by way of a catalog of critically acclaimed work. Albums like To Pimp A Butterfly (2015), DAMN. (2017), which earned him a Pulitzer Prize and Mr. Morale & The Large Steppers (2022), have redefined the boundaries of hip-hop and storytelling.
“All through his profession, Kendrick Lamar hasn’t met the cultural second a lot as he’s outlined it,” mentioned Rachel Newman, Apple Music’s world head of content material and editorial, in a press assertion.
Now, his legacy is getting into the tutorial sphere. In keeping with WHYY Information, Temple College will provide a brand new course this fall titled “Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of M.A.A.D. Metropolis”, taught by Professor Timothy Welbeck of the Division of Africology and African American Research. The category will take an Afrocentric lens to look at Lamar’s life, lyrical content material, and the socio-political themes embedded in his music. It is going to additionally characteristic visitor lectures from professionals who’ve collaborated with the rapper.
“Kendrick Lamar is among the main voices of his era,” Welbeck instructed the outlet. “He has a novel capacity to articulate the complexities of Black life, the journey towards self-actualization, and the battle towards marginalization.”
This isn’t the primary time a significant Black artist has entered the tutorial canon. Beyoncé, lengthy studied for her creative innovation and cultural significance, can also be the topic of recent scholarship. Yale College launched a course in Spring 2025 titled “Beyoncé Makes Historical past: Black Radical Custom, Historical past, Tradition, Principle & Politics Via Music.”
“This class made excellent sense,” mentioned Daphne Brooks, a professor of African American Research at Yale. “Beyoncé is executing breakthrough after breakthrough. She blends historical past, politics, and Black cultural life into each side of her efficiency aesthetic. There’s nobody else doing what she’s doing with that sort of precision and affect.”
With artists like Kendrick and Beyoncé on the heart of each cultural and tutorial discourse, the classroom is quick changing into a robust area to discover fashionable Black artistry and its deep societal reverberations.
