A professor at Georgia’s Armstrong State University has announced that she’s teaching a course in the history and ideas behind influential hip-hop group OutKast. Professor Regina Bradley’s “OutKast And The Rise Of The Hip-Hop South” will explore the ways André 3000 and Big Boi’s ideas about “the South and southernness“ have seeped into popular culture, while also quizzing students with hard-hitting questions like, “What’s cooler than being cool?” (A: “Ice cold.”)
According to Fader, Bradley has a long history of integrating pop culture into her explorations of the history of the South. “My areas of interest are African-American literature and popular culture,” she said. “I try to find ways to connect those…Often, students get most of their information, their outlook from how they engage in popular culture.”
For his part, André 3000 has expressed his approval of the class, telling Creative Loafing, “I am originally from Savannah, and I remember Armstrong, so that is just super dope.”