{"591063":{"#nid":"591063","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Students Meet Big Boi from Outkast ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIt\u0026rsquo;s not your typical class on a campus known for engineers and scientists.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The name of the course is Engaging the Lyrics of Outkast and Trap Music to Explore Politics of Social Justice,\u0026rdquo; explains Dr. Joycelyn Wilson. \u0026ldquo;We turn Outkast\u0026rsquo;s lyrics into a text and we use the narratives to have a larger conversation about social justice.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWilson studied the music and lyrics of Outkast as part of her dissertation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I felt like Outkast represents innovation,\u0026rdquo; she explains.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOriginally, the students were not aware the class was about Outkast. It was just billed as a \u0026ldquo;race, science, and technology\u0026rdquo; course.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;When I found out it was about Outkast and social justice, I was like, \u0026lsquo;Oh my gosh, I have to take this class,\u0026rsquo;\u0026rdquo; says industrial engineering major Raianna Brown.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWilson says she introduces students to the lyrics first, and then the class listens to the music.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Often we\u0026rsquo;re attracted to the sound first. Then we analyze the words.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile much of the focus was on Outkast, Wilson and her students reviewed songs across the hip-hop spectrum from Lauryn Hill to Lil Yacthy.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThrough a course like this about music, students are introduced to urban issues and that begins a conversation.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Having a course where you have discussions about social and political issues, it\u0026rsquo;s nice to have that change,\u0026rdquo; says mechanical engineering student Ahmed Aly.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETo wrap up the course, Wilson arranged for Antwan Patton, better known as Big Boi from Outkast, to visit the class and take questions from the students.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I wanted my students to be able to ask him questions one to one,\u0026rdquo; Wilson says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor an hour, the Grammy-winning artist fielded those questions.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOne student asked about how Outkast got their name.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EPatton described starting with the term \u0026ldquo;Misfits\u0026rdquo; and searching through the dictionary for something similar with his bandmate, Andre 3000.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We got to \u0026lsquo;O\u0026rsquo; and saw Outkast and that was it.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWhen another student asked if they knew they were going to be successful, Patton responded that it took hard work.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;We wanted it. So once we made a decision that this is what we were going to do, all we did was eat, sleep, and drink music.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor Wilson, the class is also about making a connection back to the society we live in.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Studying Outkast, studying Trap music, gets us behind the turn up, and gets us deeper into taking the training I have as a scientist or an engineer and how do I use it in a way that\u0026rsquo;s going to benefit my community?\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EWilson plans to expand to a larger History of Hip Hop course that would lead in to a more in-depth Outkast case study.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"The surprise visit came after a semester-long class about the music of OutKast "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAntwan Patton, better known as Big Boi, suprised a class of Georgia Tech students who have been studying his music all semester long.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Antwan Patton, better known as Big Boi, suprised a class of Georgia Tech students who have been studying his music all semester long."}],"uid":"28058","created_gmt":"2017-04-27 21:30:45","changed_gmt":"2017-04-27 21:50:46","author":"Steven Norris","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-04-27T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2017-04-27T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"591066":{"id":"591066","type":"image","title":"Georgia Tech Students Meet Big Boi from Outkast","body":null,"created":"1493328920","gmt_created":"2017-04-27 21:35:20","changed":"1493328952","gmt_changed":"2017-04-27 21:35:52","alt":"","file":{"fid":"225217","name":"Screen Shot 2017-04-27 at 5.35.32 PM.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202017-04-27%20at%205.35.32%20PM.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202017-04-27%20at%205.35.32%20PM.png","mime":"image\/png","size":2322261,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Screen%20Shot%202017-04-27%20at%205.35.32%20PM.png?itok=ljx4yhR0"}}},"media_ids":["591066"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/nique.net\/life\/2017\/02\/24\/campus-spotlight-dr-joycelyn-wilson\/","title":"Dr. Joycelyn Wilson in The Technique "}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"489","name":"atlanta"},{"id":"174253","name":"trap music"},{"id":"174254","name":"hip hop. outkast"},{"id":"174255","name":"big bot"},{"id":"174256","name":"antwan patton"},{"id":"174257","name":"joycelyn wilson"},{"id":"174258","name":"cool classes"},{"id":"167595","name":"social justice"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESteven Norris\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech Social Media\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["snorris@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}