Undergraduate students at Ryerson University's The Creative School will be able to take courses on Candian artist Drake and the Weeknd in the winter semester, which will commence in January 2022, according to CNN.
The course on the musicians is titled “Deconstructing Drake & the Weeknd” and will include an analysis of the artists’ work and influence. Ryerson Professor-In-Residence Dalton Higgins, who will be teaching the class, spoke about the content of the course and its purpose. He said, "It's time to get our Canadian rap and R&B icons recognised and canonised academically or otherwise."
“It is critical for scholars and historians to examine the Toronto music scene that birthed Drake/Weeknd and helped create the conditions for them to become mega-successful," he shared.
The Creative School Dean Charles Falzon added, "Even before registration opens, the enthusiasm for the class is already quite significant so I have a feeling it'll pack up very quickly."
Higgins, who has written six books on Black music, elaborated on the merits of the two artists. He said, "What people tend to forget about Drake is that he's actually a great writer. In his rhymes he employs all kinds of literary devices like metaphors, iambic pentameter, similes, so we're going to deconstruct his lyrics and examine how he puts his songs together."
He added further, "When you have these two Black Canadian artists from Toronto who are performing rap, R&B and pop, and are arguably on their way to becoming billionaires at some point in the future, there is a lot to learn from them.”
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