Music

Georgia university offers Outkast course

by Richard Howard

Elective college courses can suck, ammarite? If it’s not some boring, introductory level psychology class, then it’s likely that blues course that you thought would be dope but is actually dry as hell and taught by a sleepy 90-year-old with tenure. Well, Armstrong State University in Savannah, Georgia has the cure for that: Dr. Regina Bradley, a professor in the institution’s Languages, Literature and Philosophy department has created a class titled “Outkast and the Rise of the Hip-Hop South.”

Bradley herself was recipient of the Nasir Jones (that’s Nas’ government name, you heathens) fellowship at Harvard’s Hiphop Archive & Research Institute, which also was a hot topic when it debuted in 2002. She explains that her course will examine how André 3000 and Big Boi’s “ideas about the South and southernness seep into other Southern writers,” as well as put the duo’s music into the context of contemporary forms of political express such as the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

And how does Outkast feel about all this? Well Big Boi for one is hella stoked. Explaining that he had no idea the course existed until his Auntie brought it to his attention (awwww), he enthused: “It’s an honor to be studied. I am originally from Savannah, and I remember Armstrong, so that is just super dope.”