Clemson student makes rap album for dissertation

When Clemson University doctoral student A.D. Carson defends his dissertation on Friday, he won’t be talking about a long-winded written essay. Instead, Carson chose to make a 34-song rap album.

“Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes and Revolutions” is “really a rap album that is the text of the dissertation. Rather than it being about rap or spoken word, it’s done through those particular modes of presentation,” Carson says in a video introducing the project.

Using a music album for a dissertation has never been done at Clemson before, according to a university media release.

Carson recorded the album in his apartment near campus. The songs explore identity, race, justice and language. Several of the tracks have been played thousands of times on SoundCloud and YouTube.

“There are challenging lyrics and even challenging language. Those are deliberate choices I’m making. That’s part of the kind of engagement that we need,” Carson said in the release. “Sometimes it’s difficult to find the opportunity to approach a conversation about language. Hip-hop makes it an organic engagement.”

This story was originally published February 22, 2017 at 2:50 PM with the headline "Clemson student makes rap album for dissertation."