Library Rap: Nas was Born to Use Mics and a "Hip Hop Genius"

Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and Professor Sohail Daulatzai co-authored Born to Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic, which focuses on the first album by Hip-Hop artist Nas. In light of this book, I sat down with Professor Daulatzai to talk about how, if at all did Nas’ first album, Illmatic change the Hip-Hop industry.

In the second half of the episode, Sam Seidel talks "Hip Hop Genius," an iteration of hip-hop education that goes far beyond the usual approach of studying rap music as classroom content and looks instead at deeply honoring the knowledge of urban students.