Kendrick Lamar’s life’s work and cultural legacy is to become the subject of a university course in the United States.
As reported by NBC10, Temple University in Philadelphia will offer a course in their Fall 2025 semester titled ‘Kendrick Lamar and the Morale of M.A.A.D City’ and it will be available to all students.
The course will be overseen by Timothy Welbeck, a professor for the Department of Africology and African American Studies and the Director for the Center For Anti-Racism at Temple. Welbeck has previously run classes based on the work of Tupac Shakur, Beyoncé and Jay-Z and has been planning the Kendrick course for nearly a year.
“Kendrick Lamar is one of the defining voices of his generation and in many ways, both his art and life is reflective of the Black experience in many telling ways,” he has said, explaining that he believes the rapper’s “journey towards self-actualization” is related to the Black experience.
“My current department chair was very open to the idea and received it almost immediately,” he added. “In a lot of ways, our department at Temple specifically, and Temple more broadly, has embraced the study of hip-hop in academic spaces.”
Lamar made history with his Super Bowl Halftime Show at the start of 2025, being joined by SZA and hitting out at Drake and his lawsuit against Universal Music Group. The performance of ‘Not Like Us’ at the show later caused Drake to amend the lawsuit, claiming it introduced “millions” more to the song and thereby “caused even more people to be duped into believing that Drake was a pedophile”.
Kendrick and SZA are currently in the middle of their joint ‘Grand National’ tour, which completed its North American leg last month and is currently going around Europe. It includes upcoming dates in Cardiff and London – find any remaining tickets here.
Last year, Lamar released his latest album ‘GNX’. In a glowing five-star review, NME wrote: “Lamar channels what could be interpreted as hate and negativity into a teachable moment, leading you to draw upon the purest emotion known to man: love. In a year that started with so much venom, Kendrick Lamar shares the antidote on ‘GNX’.”
