Kanye West gives graduation speech at Art Institute of Chicago: The rapper accepted an honorary doctorate and imparted wisdom to students.

Listen to Dr. Kanye West’s Graduation Speech at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Listen to Dr. Kanye West’s Graduation Speech at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

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Slate's Culture Blog
May 11 2015 9:12 PM

Dr. Kanye West Gave Some Great Speeches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

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Kanye West, who recently claimed he would've loved to attend SAIC, received an honorary degree from the school on Monday.

Photo by FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images

“My mama told me go to school, get your doctorate.” So raps Kanye West in “Hey Mama,” and the line has now acquired a prophetic tint: On Monday, West accepted an honorary Ph.D from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he gave a short, pithy speech to this year’s graduates.  

The degree is a fitting honor for West, who, besides being a famous college dropout, grew up in Chicago and can still come off as an ambitious art-school student who just happens to be a superstar musician. His commencement speech was a light, joke-filled affair, with the rapper riffing on subjects like his own nervousness and the self-portraiture of George W. Bush.  

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More somber, but also more interesting, was the Q&A-style lecture West gave at the school Sunday night. In that event, West took a deep dive into his recent collaborations in the fashion world, and touched on broader subjects like the commercialization of music and the social ills plaguing Chicago’s South Side and the nation at large. A full transcript of the conversation is up over at Complex.

Sharan Shetty is on the editorial staff of the New Yorker. You can follow him on Twitter