A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip has confirmed he’ll be co-teaching a class at New York University this year, examining the nexus between musical genres Jazz and Hip-Hop.
The seven-class course, previously uncharted curriculum for the New York institution, will start during the Fall semester at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music in the Tisch School of the Arts.
Side-by-side with music historian Ashley Kahn, Q-Tip will instruct on the intersections of the Jazz/Hip-Hop genres, his group A Tribe Called Quest one of the pioneers of such a hybrid.
“I couldn’t be more excited to share with the students what I know and I look forward to them also teaching me. Teaching is an exchange of sharing and receiving for all involved,” he quoted in a statement.
While Q-Tip’s focus will naturally be on his group’s history, the course will explore a range of artists from the Last Poets and Lauryn Hill to Public Enemy and Kendrick Lamar.
The two-pronged approach to the course will involve students “investigating the social, cultural, musical, and business aspects of the relationships between jazz and hip-hop. The second half of each class focuses on musicianship, performance, composition, and production with students completing in-class and out-of-class assignments under Q-Tip’s mentorship.”
Opportunities for collaborative work between both classmates and Q-Tip will also be available.
