Inside 9th Wonder's 'Soul Sampling' Class At Duke University

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By Raynold D Fabre-Jeune

9th Wonder is well-known as a member of Little Brother, as a super producer and now a he’s also a professor of the class “Sampling Soul” at Duke University. Back in January it was originally announced that 9th would teach alongside Professor Mark Anthony Neal in his African American Studies Class at Duke. The course focuses on African American music that has played a major role in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The class has been receiving many rave reviews and gaining a lot of press. CBS recently covered a segment of the class itself, capturing reactions of students and Mr. Neal himself.

"9th Wonder for instance, isn't just functioning as someone who is demonstrating things, he's actually teaching also,” Neal says. “So they get the benefit of two very different people, coming at information from two very different perspectives with this common goal of expanding their minds of their view of the world.

9th himself even spoke of some of things he believes are important that he touched upon in the class. "Some of the topics we covered in the Sampling Soul Class are the affects of Marvin Gaye, James Brown, the affects of geography, the exploration of hip hop from a cultural sense,” he says.

The class however, isn't only lecture based, some of the students even receive hands on experience when they receive the opportunity to make a beat in front of their peers with 9th. "There was so much I didn't know… This course has definitely been an eye opener for me," says student David Wang. When asked what he wanted his students to get out of the class, 9th responded by saying "We're not only talking music in this class, we're talking about life."

[url=http://rapfix.mtv.com/2012/03/07/9th-wonder-soul-sampling-class-duke-university/]View the full article[/url]