As a rap artist and a professor of hip-hop, I always make sure my songs are reviewed by artists I respect. When I released my latest album “i used to love to dream” in 2020, I reached out to Phonte Coleman from the influential rap group Little Brother. After listening, Phonte texted that the album was impressive, which I really appreciated, especially coming from him. He praised the lyrics, saying they were on point, which was a significant endorsement for me as an artist.
In academia, establishing oneself as a serious scholar involves getting work published in peer-reviewed journals, where peers evaluate its quality and relevance. I wondered if my album could be “published” through an academic press and discovered it indeed could be. In August 2020, my album became the first peer-reviewed rap album published by a university press, according to Michigan Publishing. I believe this opens opportunities for diverse scholars to introduce new forms of knowledge. The University of Michigan Press noted that this new scholarship approach required a different peer review and production process. To get my album peer-reviewed, it wasn’t just about the music; I also presented liner notes, created a documentary about the album’s creation, and submitted articles to connect the music with academic discussions, societal events, and my life experiences.
My album, which is open source and free, touches on subjects from race and justice to identity and citizenship, reflecting on my past and career as a hip-hop professor at the University of Virginia. Songs like “crack, usa” address the legacy of the war on drugs and the opioid crisis, while “just in case” and “nword gem” tackle police violence and incarceration. Mental health issues like trauma, alienation, and depression are explored in tracks like “ampersand,” “stage fright,” and “asterisk.” I chose the University of Michigan Press to ensure hip-hop remains a respected field of knowledge, akin to other academic resources. The academic publisher had to create questions suited for evaluating a sonic work rather than a written one, reflecting the purpose, organization, and audience.
Despite my initial skepticism of the academic peer-review process, I appreciated the insightful feedback from anonymous reviewers who deeply understood Black music and rhetoric. They suggested ways to present the album online to help audiences grasp its content, leading to the inclusion of a making-of documentary. This album isn’t my first academic endeavor in rap; I earned my Ph.D. with a rap album. While hip-hop is celebrated in academia, the focus often remains on its content rather than its broader implications. To me, hip-hop is like a telescope, and the subjects I cover are like celestial phenomena. The important question is whether more emphasis should be placed on the telescope or the actual discoveries it reveals.