Kendrick Lamar‘s legacy and music career will soon be studied at Temple University in a course titled, “Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of M.A.A.D City”.
The course will launch in fall 2025 and will be taught by Timothy Welbeck, an assistant professor in the Department of Africology and African American Studies.
“Kendrick Lamar is one of the defining voices of his generation, and in many ways, both his art and life is reflective of the Black experience in many telling ways,” Welbeck told NBC10, which first shared the news. “Being able to discuss his art in the environment that helps lead him into being the man that he is in a lot of ways can tell you him as an individual, but can also talk about the journey’s towards self-actualization particularly as it is related to the Black experience.”
Artists like Tupac, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z have all been taught about at Temple in the past.
Welbeck has taught at Temple University for 14 years and has been planning this course for nearly a year. Lamar’s material has, however, been used in his classes for about a decade.
“My current department chair was very open to the idea and received it almost immediately,” Welbeck said. “In a lot of ways, our department at Temple specifically, and Temple more broadly, has embraced the study of hip-hop in academic spaces.”
Lamar has achieved a great deal this year, from his historic Super Bowl halftime show to his numerous Grammy and BET wins. His tour with SZA also broke records recently, and the rapper isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
While his course will examine his achievements, Welbeck also hopes students will gain a “a deeper appreciation for Lamar, hip-hop culture and how art is a muse in which to convey the components of the Black experiences.”
The course, which starts in August, is now open for enrollment. Welbeck said that it “will take a look at various scholarship around the types of urban policies that shift the demographic of Compton and how it helped to shape Kendrick Lamar.”
He further disclosed that students will listen to three to four of Lamar’s albums and will have lectures from industry professionals who have worked with Lamar to enable students to have real-world insight into his career.