Nicki Minaj college course to be taught at University of California, Berkeley in 2023

“Nicki Minaj: The Black Barbie Femmecee & Hip Hop Feminisms" will be offered starting Jan. 17.

Nicki Minaj is to be the subject of a new course next year at the University of California, Berkeley.

The class, titled “Nicki Minaj: The Black Barbie Femmecee & Hip Hop Feminisms,” will be an African American studies course offered during the Spring 2023 semester, according to Huffington Post. The 90-minute class will be available on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Dr. Peace and Love El Henson, a Berkeley postdoctoral fellow posted news about the course Thursday to her Twitter page. Minaj saw the post and expressed interest in attending. “I’d love to stop by,” she replied.

2022 Rolling Loud New York
Nicki Minaj performs on Sept. 23, 2022 at Citi Field in New York City. (Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)

Henson also said the class will offer a deep examination of the “Super Freaky Girl” rapper in “the context of broader historical-social structures & hip-hop feminisms.”

Minaj is the latest rapper to be the subject of a college course. In 2014, Georgia Regents University offered an English Composition class centered around Kendrick Lamar, according to USA Today. Lamar’s lyrics from his 2012 album, “good kid, m.A.A.d. city,” was juxtaposed with the writings of James Baldwin, James Joyce, Gwendolyn Brooks and the script for the 1991 film, “Boyz in the Hood.”

Georgetown University introduced a course centered around Jay-Z in 2011, according to The Washington Post. Michael Eric Dyson taught the course, titled “Sociology of Hip-Hop: Jay-Z.” At the time, Dyson said, “We look at his incredible body of work, we look at his own understanding of his work, we look at others who reflect upon him, and then we ask the students to engage in critical analysis of Jay-Z himself.”

Tupac Shakur was the subject of numerous college courses as well. In 1997, Berkeley offered a student-taught course, “History 98, the Poetry and History of Tupac Shakur.” In 2002, Harvard University began “Modern Protest Literature: From Thomas Paine to Tupac,” a course that examined modes of protest through Shakur’s lyrics, along with literary works by Baldwin, Maya Angelou and Richard Wright.

The Minaj course will begin on Jan. 17 and run until May 5.

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