Academics

GZA to Give MIT Lecture on Hip-Hop and Science, His Appropriately Titled 'Dark Matter' LP

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Gary Grice, better known as "GZA" of the Wu-Tang Clan rap group, is scheduled to speak at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on hip-hop and outer space.

According to the Boston Globe, GZA will visit MIT in May as part of a series of rappers who will speak at the prestigious tech school. He will talk about his upcoming album, appropriately titled "Dark Matter," and how art interacts with science.

Generally, art and science are associated to their own halves of a person's brain and everyone is stronger on one side than the other. While that may be true for many, GZA is an artist with a passion for science.

The New York Times reported in 2012 on GZA's nonprofit program, called Science Genius, that aimed to teach science to New York City public school students using hip-hop.

In planning and recording his long-anticipated album, GZA reportedly conferred with physicists at MIT and Harvard. He also delivered a TEDxTeen talk titled "The Genius of Science."

"This is really geared toward students to engender a conversation with popular artists who have a certain influence, and who have experience that other visiting artists don't necessarily have," Sam Magee, manager of student programs at the Arts at MIT office, told the Globe. "GZA is coming in to talk specifically about how the arts and the study of physics intertwine."

MIT's series of lectures from rappers began in Nov. with Lil' B and continues with Killer Mike on April 24.

"That's when we had the idea and said, 'let's make this an official thing, and make this a series,'" Christopher Nolte, a graduate student at MIT, told the Globe. "This isn't just about 'rapper X spoke at MIT.

"We are trying to create interesting discussions based on what these artists care about."

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