There are so many students around the UK right now either preparing for, recovering from, or slap bang in the middle of uni exams and dissertation projects. Whilst some are working though 10,000 word essays with no end in sight, a student from Harvard just showed us all how it’s done by submitting a ten track rap album as his thesis.
Obasi Shaw submitted album Liminal Minds, to major praise from the prestigious university, receiving the second highest grade possible to achieve from the department. The album has a has a focus on contemporary race issues in America whilst drawing inspiration from the critically acclaimed book The Canterbury Tales, which author Geoffrey Chaucer started writing in around 1377.
Shaw was the first student to ever submit a thesis in this way. The distinction he has received for this project only further suggests hip-hop has is making its way into the eyeline of academics as both Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly and Nas’s Illmatic have recently been added to the Harvard Library. Don’t expect to see Obasi coming through with any new material once graduating however, as he’s off to be a software engineer at Google.
The student has been highly praised from so many sources for his artistic creation teamed with academic excellence in the work. To hear for yourself what the hype is about you can download the album here.