HARVARD GRAD OBASI SHAW SUBMITS RAP ALBUM AS FINAL THESIS

20-year old Harvard University graduate Obasi Shaw made history with submitting his very own rap album as his final thesis. According to the artsist himself, it took over a year to finish, and was inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, his mother, and black identity in the United States in general. Each of the 10 tracks is told from another character’s perspective and “an exploration of that state between slavery and freedom,” Shaw explains.
Liminal Minds, as the album is titled, was graded summa cum laude minus, the second highest honor there is.

Obasi Shaw ’17 submitted Harvard’s first rap thesis, “Liminal Minds,” which combines elements of Middle English poetry with issues of racial identity in America. “[African-Americans are] free, but the effects of slavery still exist,” says Shaw. “Each song is an exploration of that state between slavery and freedom.”⠀ ⠀ After graduation, Shaw will move to Seattle for a one-year internship in software engineering. As for rap, he’ll keep it as a treasured hobby. “Rap is a genre in which I can say everything I want to say,” Shaw said. “I’ve been writing in different capacities, but I never felt that I found my art form until I started rapping.”⠀ ⠀ #Harvard #Harvard17

Ein Beitrag geteilt von Harvard University (@harvard) am 18. Mai 2017 um 13:11 Uhr

As per what we can expect to hear from him in the future, Shaw stated that rap is a hobby to him and always will be. Career-wise he’s going in a different direction: Followig the end of this semester, he will be interning with none other than Google as a software engineer. We have to admit, we are a bit disappointed that he is, thus far, not aspiring to dive deeper into the music industry, as potential is CLEARLY there. Still, we wish him the best of luck and hope to, someday, hear more from him.

Listen to Liminal Minds via Obasi Shaw’s SoundCloud, below: