Starting Fall 2025, students at Temple University in Philadelphia will dive deep into the artistry and activism of Kendrick Lamar through a brand-new course titled “Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of M.A.A.D City.” Taught under the course code AAAS 2100, this offering from Temple’s Department of Africology and African American Studies blends hip-hop, history, and scholarship in a way that’s sparking global attention.
The course is the brainchild of Professor Timothy Welbeck, a law-trained hip-hop artist and scholar. As Welbeck told WHYY,
“This course is about more than one artist it’s about what Kendrick Lamar represents: a voice of conscience, struggle, and Black excellence.”
Students will explore Lamar’s early life in Compton, his critically acclaimed 2012 album good kid, m.A.A.d city, and how his music captures the socio-political tensions of urban America. The class also draws on Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning DAMN. (2018) and his 2024 album GNX, placing his work in broader cultural and historical context.
Guest speakers from the music industry are set to enrich the curriculum. According to The Jasmine Brand, some are collaborators who have worked with Lamar directly. Students will also analyze themes of urban poverty, racial injustice, and self-identity all through an “Afrocentric lens,” or as Welbeck defines it, “a focus on Black cultural perspectives.”
Lamar’s classroom debut isn’t just a novelty. Temple University has a track record in hip-hop scholarship, with past offerings centered on Tupac, Jay-Z, and Beyoncé. As Professor Welbeck put it in Black Enterprise,
“Hip-hop is one of the most important cultural exports of the last 50 years. Ignoring its academic potential would be a mistake.”
A 2023 study by the National Association for Music Education shows that 15% of U.S. colleges now offer hip-hop-focused coursework. Internationally, institutions from London to Toronto are starting to do the same. Lamar’s music marked by poetic lyrics, political sharpness, and cultural symbolism makes him an ideal figure for such study.
“He makes music you can feel in your chest and break down in a thesis,”
said a prospective student quoted on Crossing Broad.
“It’s powerful and personal at the same time.”
Amid growing excitement, some online skepticism has surfaced. On LinkedIn, one user asked whether dedicating a full semester to a rapper is “overkill.” But those critiques don’t hold up under scrutiny.
In fact, Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance has backed the course’s development, pointing to its alignment with community engagement and the institution’s broader educational mission.
The answer may lie in Professor Welbeck’s final words to WHYY:
“If we can study Shakespeare’s sonnets, we can study Lamar’s lyrics. Both are literature. Both tell us who we are.”
As Lamar continues his Grand National Tour and his Super Bowl halftime performance becomes part of pop culture lore, Temple’s course signals a broader shift where hip-hop doesn’t just entertain, but educates.
This isn’t just a class; it’s a cultural milestone.
Kendrick Lamar. Temple University. Hip-hop studies. Black culture. Fall 2025. These aren’t just buzzwords they’re proof that the classroom is evolving. And maybe, just maybe, a rapper from Compton is leading the charge.
