黑料正能量

Spotlight

Covering the music beat? Then tune in and get in touch with our resident hip-hop expert

June 02, 2022

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6 min

Social

Biography

Professor Diehl is an expert in hip-hop culture, lyrical analysis, Rap as a form of literature and specifically the works of Kendrick Lamar.

Areas of Expertise

Kendrik Lamar

Hip-Hop Culture

Rap as Literature

Links

Media Appearances

Three professors unpack the themes on Kendrick Lamar鈥檚 album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers

Crackmagazine.net  online

2022-05-19

It鈥檚 been five years since the Compton rapper released DAMN. and on his final Top Dawg Entertainment release, Kendrick has a lot to say. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is a raw, confessional listen: one that sees the artist admit to infidelity, sex addiction, his learnings, his flaws. As with any Kendrick release, it鈥檚 incredibly layered and we鈥檙e still in the process of analysing its multitude of references 鈥� which ranges from biblical imagery to that time he asked a white fan to self-censor a racial slur onstage. So where do we begin? We asked three professors 鈥� all of whom have taught a course on Kendrick Lamar 鈥� to weigh in on a chosen theme. We hit up Adam Diehl 鈥� an expert in hip-hop culture and lyrical analysis 鈥� along with Anthony B. Pinn and Dr. Christopher Driscoll, who both co-edited the book Kendrick Lamar and the Making of Black Meaning. Pinn is an American professor whose work lies at the intersection of African-American religion and humanist thought; Driscoll is a scholar of race, religion and culture.

Q&A: Professor Who Teaches a Kendrick Lamar Course Talks 鈥楾o Pimp a Butterfly鈥�

Spin  online

2015-03-17

Professor Adam Diehl teaches a course on Kendrick Lamar鈥檚 classic 2012 album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, incorporating the writing of James Joyce and showings of Boyz N the Hood, among other things.

Kendrick Lamar 101: Georgia Professor Is Teaching a Class Inspired by good kid, m.a.a.d. city

Fader  online

2014-09-02

Adam Diehl, professor at Georgia Regents University, teaches an English course that uses Kendrick Lamar's highly-praised 2012 album good kid, m.a.a.d. city as a jumping-off point for a semester-long deep dive into comparable stories about young urbanites in film and literature.

Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid Maad City is being taught as a text in schools

Independent  online

2014-08-22

Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid Maad City album was widely praised for its storytelling and lyrical craftsmanship, and is now the subject of a college English class alongside James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Georgia students study Kendrick Lamar for class

USA Today  online

2014-09-01

Around Augusta, Georgia, the only thing that can be heard blasting from Patrick Frits鈥� car is Kendrick Lamar鈥檚 good kid, m.A.A.d city. But, for the junior sociology and criminal justice major, listening to the album isn鈥檛 just recreational 鈥� it鈥檚 scholastic.

A TALE OF TWO KENDRICKS 鈥� THE DAMN. MUSIC VIDEOS DECODED

MTV News  online

2017-08-22

For more than a decade the Compton, California, rapper has told the tale of a good kid living in an environment that's at turns brutal and unforgiving. The Kendrick we've come to know is a man constantly at war with himself: In song, he wrestles with what it means to be a good person who can't help but commit horrible deeds. Recreating those vivid lyrical descriptions for a music video, though immensely challenging, has always been important to the multiplatinum rapper. This year though, with the release of DAMN., something clicked.

Leaders of the New School: Hip-Hop Classes Across the Country

The Root  online

2014-09-05

Did you enjoy Kendrick Lamar鈥檚 good kid, m.A.A.d city? There鈥檚 now a class for that. Multiple colleges are offering hip-hop-focused classes this fall. From courses on Jay Z to Tupac, these pop-culture classes are proving that rap is worthy of hefty academic study:

黑料正能量 professor uses Kendrick Lamar and hip hop as a form of literature

WJBF  tv

2022-06-06

Kendrick Lamar has been deemed one of the best lyricists and one of the biggest hip hop artists of this current musical generation. 黑料正能量 professor Adam Diehl, Department of English and World Languages With the recent release of his anticipated album 鈥淢r. Morale & The Big Steppers,鈥� Kendrick Lamar鈥檚 influence can be seen almost anywhere, including the classroom. Adam Diehl, an 黑料正能量 professor, is using hip-hop culture, lyrical analysis and rap as a form of literature including the works of Kendrick Lamar.

EDUCATION5 musical artists whose careers became the curriculum

blackenterprise.com  online

2024-06-27

From Grammy Awards to world tours, clothing lines, sporting endeavors and more, music artists have long expanded their brand beyond just music. Each latest profession step attracts praise and criticism, making their durability on the charts and in the business under scrutiny, and college professors take notes. Over the past few years, increasingly universities across the country have been taking a more in-depth take a look at a few of today鈥檚 great musical artists, with professors dissecting the lyrics and messages behind the songs in an effort to bridge academia and popular culture to be able to educate the next generation. Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar鈥檚 debut album, 鈥淕ood Kid, MAAD City,鈥� silenced critics who questioned the talent of the young Compton native. Now, thanks to varsity courses inspired by the album, it鈥檚 secure to say that Lamar鈥檚 work has earned him a spot in hip-hop history books. Thanks to instructor Adam Diehl, students at Georgia Regents University in Augusta, Georgia can now take a more in-depth take a look at Lamar鈥檚 musical portfolio, featuring the rapper鈥檚 debut album, James Joyce, James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks and the 1991 film 鈥淏oyz in the Hood鈥� as basic materials for classes. 鈥淚 chose to focus the class on Good Kid because I believe Kendrick Lamar is the James Joyce of hip-hop 鈥� that is, in terms of the complexity of his storytelling, his command of the canon, and his constant focus on the city in which he lives. upbringing 鈥� Compton,鈥� Diehl says

Answers

Did the Super Bowl appearance by hip-hop artists take the genre to a whole new level as far as mainstream music?

If the Super Bowl halftime show in 2022 did anything, it showed that rap and hip-hop are now as as rock, country and pop. Perhaps because so many best-selling rock acts had already played the halftime show, and perhaps because the pop acts of recent years had failed to maintain the public's attention, the 2022 halftime show featured one of hip-hop's founding fathers: Dr. Dre. His menagerie of artists' careers stretched over 30 years, and the time constraints of the show made hip-hop the ideal soundtrack. In a 13-minute set, six performers all got their moment in the California sun, and the mega-mix model so often used in clubs was perfect to segue from artist to artist.

How has the hip-hop music scene changed in the last five years?聽

The hip-hop music scene has than any other genre the last five years. Whereas country still uses radio play and music videos to gauge success (along with album sales and streaming numbers) and rock uses touring to supplement and offset recording costs, pop and hip-hop have a great advantage in that they can raise people to stardom almost overnight.