Harvard student submits rap album as his university thesis

Beats writing essays.

It’s the time of when students have to hand in their final dissertations and papers. And if you’re currently getting incredibly stress trying to finish your work – or you have bad memories of when you did – you probably will be a bit jealous of Obasi Shaw. Harvard student Shaw didn’t hand a written paper to his English department. Instead, he submitted a 10-track hip-hop album. Entitled ‘Liminal Minds’, he describes it as dark and moody take on modern life for Black Americans, and is inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales’. And he even received the equivalent of an A- grade, meaning that he will graduate with honours next week. Shaw told AP:

I never thought it would be accepted by Harvard. I didn’t think they would respect rap as an art form enough for me to do it.

But his professors agreed, and let him submit the record as his thesis. Harvard English lecturer Josh Bell called Shaw a “serious artist and he’s an amazing guy,” and added:

He was able to turn around an album that people in the English Department would like very much but also that people who like rap music might like.

If you want to take a listen, Shaw has uploaded the album to his Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/obasishaw/sets/liminal-minds   And here he is performing live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chwTYQdgYHQ