Course Goals:
- To examine and dissect the social commentary the artist presents throughout the body of their work, such as structural racism within the educational system, media, and corporate America to critique "Kanye West" as a discursive construct and socio-political icon.
- To foster a safe environment to discuss rap/hip-hop music with sensitivity, creative respect, and open-minded thinking to allow everyone to contribute and benefit from being a part of this class.
To facilitate exposure to the timeline of West's discography to not only better understand his work as a rap/hip-hop artist but also the context of the industry's critics, other stars, and record labels.
- To review the facts of West's work in terms of his life experiences, musical inspirations, influential figures, risks and collaborations and personal philosophy.
- To produce weekly response paper assignments that encourage deeper critical exploration of West in social discourse, music, lyrics, and through cinematography in his music videos.

Course Structure:
- Lectures on album, track and video backgrounds
- Group discussions on weekly readings
- Weekly assignments either written or creative on assigned tracks and videos
- Autobiographical lectures on Kanye West's life events
- Lyrical and video analysis class discussions
- Multimedia time: in-class track listening and film screenings