A college lecture hall hardly seems like a home for the musical form of hip-hop. Since it’s inception in the mid-70s as a offshoot of funk and jazz, the genre has been categorized largely by its placement as an outlier in American culture’s lexicon. With the passing of hip-hop greats in recent years such as Heavy D and Pimp C, a disconnect has begun to emerge as new artists get younger and younger. Veteran Grammy Award-winning producer 9th Wonder (Patrick Douthit) who has worked with everyone from Jay-Z and Destiny’s Child to Murs has set out to bridge the gap between the new and old school and he’s doing it on a much different stage, within the walls of Duke University. As a member of an older generation of hip-hop evangelists, Douthit has assembled a crew of young MCs such asRapSody and Tyler Woods under the name It’s A Wonderful World Music Group to help foster a new style and groom the newbies on the history of the game. Continue reading In Class With 9th Wonder →