Class to focus on rapper Nas' critically acclaimed rap album 'Illmatic'
'Sampling Soul' Class Open To The Public Via Live Webcast March 16
DURHAM, N.C. -- The public will get a chance to experience the popular Duke University course “Sampling Soul” via a live webcast beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 16, at ustream.tv/dukeuniversity.
The topic of the class will be the making of the critically acclaimed hip-hop album “Illmatic” by rapper Nasir Jones, aka Nas.
The undergraduate course is co-taught by African and African American Studies professor Mark Anthony Neal and Grammy Award-winning music producer 9th Wonder. Each weekly class emphasizes a different aspect of sampling music, from its history to legal considerations. The “Sampling Illmatic” class will focus on the making of Nas’ 1994 album.
Viewers are encouraged to submit questions for the professors either in advance or during the session by sending an e-mail to live@duke.edu, posting a comment on the Duke University Live Ustream page on Facebook, or tweeting with the tag #dukelive. A recording of the event will be available on Duke on Demand.
“Well before the release of ‘Illmatic,’ Nas was already drawing comparisons to Rakim Allah, often regarded as hip-hop's greatest lyricist,” says Neal. “The album’s release did not disappoint. It began what has been one of the most stellar careers in hip-hop, where Nas has found the perfect balance between maintaining relevancy on the streets while offering trenchant commentary about politics, relationships and everyday black life.”
“Illmatic,” with its lyrics from the perspective of a teenager living in the projects, contains several popular singles, including “The World Is Yours,” “It Ain't Hard to Tell” and “One Love.”
Neal says “Illmatic” also struck a chord because it became the blueprint for sample-based hip-hop production throughout the 1990s, with “contributions from a who's who of producers including DJ Premiere, Pete Rock, Large Professor and Q-Tip.”
Neal contributed an essay on jazz, hip-hop and fathers to the newly released book Born To Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic (Basic Civitas, 2010). Nas’ father is jazz and blues musician Olu Dara. The volume was edited by Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai and is one of several texts used in the class.
Mark Anthony Neal is the author of four books, including “New Black Man: Rethinking Black Masculinity” and the forthcoming “Looking for Leroy.” His essays have been anthologized in a dozen books.
9th Wonder, born Patrick Douthit, is a former member of the hip-hop trio Little Brother, which released albums such as “The Listening” and “The Minstrel Show.” He has produced music for Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child, Mary J. Blige and Erykah Badu among others. He also scored the music for “The Boondocks” animated television series. He was recently selected as the NAACP’s national ambassador for hip-hop relations and culture.
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