Harvard apparently thinks so, since it has just established the Nasir Jones Hip-Hop Fellowship in honor of the multi-platinum recording artist more commonly known simply as “Nas.”

Professor Emery Petschauer concurs:

Dr. Emery Petchauer, an assistant professor of teacher development and educational studies at Oakland University and Diverse blogger, concurred, describing the fellowship as “an incredible honor for Nas to be recognized by an institution of higher education” with Harvard’s considerable prestige.

“It’s another iteration of higher education institutions aligning themselves with hip-hop,” says Petchauer, who specializes in investigating and demonstrating how K-12 teachers can utilize hip-hop culture and art in the classroom.

If utilizing hip-hop can somehow help inner-city students learn better, fine — but I’m skeptical about that claim.