Nas' Harvard Fellowship Is Now Taking Applications

Hip hop has come a long way from street corners to executive suites. It has gone from a low art to a force to be reckoned with in its own right. With Nas’ fellowship at Harvard University, this only exemplifies the strong inroads the music genre has made to be part of the culture at large even if it is not a culture itself.

From the halls of academia, the way the seriousness of the means of expression has been forged in the cauldron of creativity, ingenuity, and truth, now Nas can claim to be a full-fledged proponent of hip hop in the most IV League school in the country. Even with the controversy swirling around the institution, it is possible to know the rap legend has secured his placement among other hip hop performers.

With this fellowship anyone who wants to be a scientist, artist, engineer, or just about anything can now enroll in the program. In the same way that there have been fellowships for other genres, there’s been an influx in hip hop getting involved in the halls of education. When you have an exemplary artist like Nas, there’s a point at which the ideals of understanding how the fellowship creates a willingness to participate begins to become clear.

The fellowship allows for a safe space to explore multiple disciplines. Just consider that…Nas started this fellowship over a decade ago and it is taking admissions. If he had been complacent or questioned the school, he would have been set up for failure. Instead, he found a way to permit students to study the history of art and ancient cultures. The veteran Queens MC is poised to become the first rapper to achieve laureate status as a Nobel Prize in Literature. Whatever may happen, he is in a great position to be the street poet who has a grip on reality and knows that hip hop can go after more. Street dreams are made of these, right? All he has to do is show that he is dedicated to the notion that there is a pathway for his beloved genre to reach journalists, writers, mathematicians, and others.

As a fellow under the program, students will be able to reach goals they might not have thought they could attain. That is why they don’t feel pressured or worried about the future. They know the fellowship will be a staple in the repertoire of Harvard’s expanding universe. Back when Harvard was Harvard, when there were no overarching controversies concerning DEI and support for Gazans and anti-semetic rhetoric, there seemed to be few things that could shake the oldest college or university in the nation. Nas has plowed right through all of that and made it possible for the students to excel. In his own way, Nas has provided an avenue for these scholars to expand their minds.

For someone who has no college degrees to speak of, it’s powerful to acknowledge how Nas has perfected the art of being a hood scholar. Once he figured out a way to better understand the landscape of academic ambition, Nas opened the doors for those who want to learn about his intricate rhymes along with the cellular structures of cancer. By giving these students an opportunity to explore the worlds they’re used to while also understanding subjects that may seem foreign, they nevertheless become more informed.

It is a beautiful reality that rap has come so far to be a fellowship. Everything that has captured the imagination of the rapper has now enlivened the work of the scholar. That is true magic in itself.