Have y'all heard of this? They're giving scholarships to a smallish group of incoming freshman who have demonstrated skills in the "urban arts," focusing on spoken-word but including dance, visual art, singing, etc..

This fall, there'll be 15 of these students here-- they can major in whatever they want, but being in the program allows them to minor in "the urban arts." To get that minor, they'll be taking classes from various disciplines: dance, theatre, sociology, etc.. They'll also form a travelling troupe of performers, playing gigs, getting paid, and spreading the word about the program.

Now i DEFINITELY have reservations about how hip hop is discussed in academia (and about the umbrella term "urban arts"), but it's hard to be mad at 15 kids (and many more in the future, as this is only the pilot semester) getting scholarships to go to a major university and study what they love. I think it's far from a perfect program, but it's hard for me to find concrete things to hate on here (and i've tried).

I think hip hop in academia can take many forms. I know when i hear those words together i immediately think of some white grad student writing a paper on Mos Def or a classroom full of kids learning about Public Enemy out of context.

But i think things like this can be positive, if they're handled correctly.