Cardi B is, in fact, the drama in the best way, and this upcoming fall semester, HBCU students will explore her cultural impact in their lecture hall. In partnership with Warner Music, Howard University has launched its “The Cardi B: Am I The Drama? The Art, Production, Marketing and Cultural Impact” course.
In an exclusive statement to theGrio, Prof. Jasmine Young, director of the Warner Music Blavatnik Center for Music Business at Howard University, opened up about the course, its impact, and what students can expect to learn.
“The idea for the Cardi B class came to me from a place of purpose and responsibility—to not just talk about real Music Industry Education and Hip Hop, but to activate it. I saw an opportunity to empower my peers, mobilize culture in real time, and build something that reflects the living, breathing energy of the industry,” Prof. Jasmine Young told theGrio. “Students deserve a proactive, immersive learning environment where the lessons are current, culturally relevant, and rooted in real strategy—not just textbooks.
She continued: “That’s why this groundbreaking course matters right now. At Howard University, we are pushing Hip Hop education to the next level—bridging artistry, business, and cultural impact through the lens of one of the most influential artists of our time. Cardi B is the prototype for Music Business Success.”
The three-credit course will offer an interdisciplinary experience that bridges music, business, marketing, media, gender studies, production, and cultural theory, while placing the “Bodak Yellow” star at the center. The course will specifically focus on the rollout of Cardi B’s highly anticipated second studio album, which came out in November 2025.” However, at the time the Bronx rapper was making headlines for more than just her music as fans speculated about her pregnancy, relationship and court case at the time.
Now, students minoring in Hip Hop studies will get a hands-on opportunity to learn her business playbook, in a course that Young describes as “culture meeting curriculum in a tangible way.” The Fall 2026 course will be co-taught by two professors: Dr. Msia Kibona Clark, Associate Professor of African Studies and Director & Faculty Coordinator of the Hip Hop Studies minor, and Prof. Pat Parks, Theatre Arts Administration Area Coordinator at the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. Together, the two academics say they will dive into a full ecosystem of live performance and cultural production while using a hip hop feminist lens to examine how Cardi B’s work illuminates the complex ways Black women navigate power, pleasure, and public scrutiny in a global hip hop landscape.
“Cardi B’s career allows us to critically engage respectability politics, misogynoir, and the policing of Black womanhood, while also recognizing the forms of agency, strategy, and resistance embedded in her success,” Dr. Clark shared with theGrio. “By situating Cardi B within broader histories of Black feminism and hip hop culture, this course challenges students to rethink what empowerment, authenticity, and visibility look like in contemporary popular culture.”
“Students don’t just study an artist—they analyze and build the machinery behind the work: narrative development, choreography, lighting design, staging, hair, makeup, visual storytelling, and production leadership. Through scholarship, tradecraft, and hands-on training, they gain the skills to think critically and execute professionally, producing work that blends artistic vision, technical design, and business strategy at the highest level,” Prof. Prat added.
Beyond it’s trendy subject matter, the university’s decision to invest in a course centering a Black female rapper is particularly notable. Though Syracuse University had a class devoted to Lil Kim’s life in 2004, and Princeton University announced it“Miss-Education: The Women of Hip Hop” course, the existence of courses like this validates not only women’s impact in the male-dominated genre, but also, as Young noted, “validates hip hop as both a scholarly discipline and a living, breathing global economy.”
“This is not your traditional textbook curriculum; this is real-time, culture-driven, industry-informed education that meets students where the music is happening.”
Registration for “The Cardi B: Am I The Drama? The Art, Production, Marketing, and Cultural Impact” course is now open to Howard University students for the fall 2026 semester.
