 "Photo: Zevandah Barnes/Echo staff photographer")
If you walk into the special topics in political science course, Hip Hop Music and Politics, you might be surprised to find a professor who looks a lot like a typical college student.
It will be Pierce Freelon, adjunct professor of political science and local hip-hop emcee, standing in front of the class bobbing his head to Bob Marley and the Wailers' album, "Catch a Fire," waiting for class to begin.
Or he might be performing a freestyle poem pertaining to the day's discussion on the origins of hip hop music.
Freelon says his class is designed to help students learn the value of self-determination and begin to choose their own reality.
Freelon said the political science department at N.C. Central University was particularly active in the community when he was an undergraduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill.
"I identified with their grassroots activism and it's been an awesome partnership thus far," said Freelon, who teaches a similar course, "Blacks in Popular Culture," at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Freelon studied African and African-American studies at UNC and he earned his master's degree from Syracuse University in pan-African studies and the diaspora.
But at the end of the day as he hangs up his professor jacket and puts on an emcee jacket.
"An emcee is a part of something larger, a cultural, social, and political movement of hip hop," said Freelon, who refers to himself as an emcee, not a rapper.
Freelon is the lead vocalist in "The Beast," a jazz, soul and Afrocuban influenced hip hop group that is active in the the Triangle.
Freelon says his inspirations include his parents Phillip G. Freelon, the award-winning architect who designed NCCU's BRITE building and his mother, Nnenna Freelon, a Grammy-nominated jazz singer.
Other inspirations include Maya Angelou, Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Angela Davis, Micere Mugo, Ama Ata Aidoo, Cornel West, and Freelon's brother-in-law, M.K. Asante, Jr.
It's clear from his students that Freelon's personal connection to hip hop brings about an interesting vibe in the classroom.
"Professor Freelon — being a real emcee — adds spice to the class," said political science junior Kentoura Gilmore.
"He contributes real hip hop,"
The Beast, performs at Jack Sprat Cafe in Chapel Hill every second and fourth Tuesday.
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