Religious Studies Professor Alex Nava was featured in an Associated Press news article, “Black musicians reflecting turmoil of the times in music,” regarding his expertise in hip hop studies:
“These artists are dealing with a lot of things that they see in their lives and in the world around them,” said University of Arizona religious studies professor Alex Nava, who explores spirituality in hip-hop. “Maybe it will galvanize and revitalize the more radical spirit of music.”
Nava, who has been teaching his course “Rap, Culture and God” for 10 years, said artists take cues from their community and he’s noticed a shift in his students’ tastes over the past few years.
“I find more and more young people that are disenchanted with kind of played-out themes of girls and cars and jewelry and tired refrains of making money and boasting about guns,” he said. “My students are really craving a more thoughtful content, more poetic content, a stronger social vision.”
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