Nas Composes Music for Morehouse Students
ATLANTA - Students enrolled in Morehouse College's jazz-improv class had Nas in their area. The 31-year-old rapper and his father, jazz trumpeter Olu Dara, composed an original piece of music with the students as part of mtvU's "Stand In." The show features politicians and entertainers working as surprise substitute professors at college campuses.
Perhaps the hardest part of arranging the event was keeping it secret. The 14 members of the media and MTV crew were to pretend, if pressed, that they were observing the class for Morehouse's communications office.
About 10 minutes into the class, Professor Melvin Jones told the nine male students that they had a substitute teacher, as Nas and Dara entered with another camera crew.
Wearing a green hoodie, sunglasses and camouflage Atlanta Braves cap, Nas stood behind the teacher's podium and discussed how he became interested in music at an early age. His father made him listen to music that ranged from John Coltrane to Fela Kuti to New Edition, he said.
The rapper said he was envious of the students.
"I wish I'd learned more about playing and reading," he said. "I'd be way more ahead in my music today."
The show will air Feb. 1 on mtvU, which is available only on college campuses. Past participants on "Stand In" have included Sen. John Kerry, who taught an American foreign policy class at the University of New Hampshire, and Marilyn Manson, who taught an art and society class at Temple University.