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You Must Learn: College Courses Based on Music Stars - It's a rare occurrence when a single person becomes a global phenomenon. It's even more astonishing when that person maintains that grip on society for years and years, like Beyoncé, Diddy and Kendrick Lamar, who in the less than two years since his debut has become one of hip hop's most influential game changer.And now Kendrick's the latest on a short list of musical celebs whose career is being/has been studied in the realm of academia. Read on to see which institutes of higher learning are examining the poetry and impact of music stars. (Photos from left: Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Caesars Entertainment, Larry Busacca/PW/Getty Images for Parkwood Entertainment, Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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Kendrick Lamar at Georgia Regents University - An English composition course at Georgia Regents University called "Good Kid, Mad Cities" will promote better writing, better reading, better analytical skills and overall being a "better person." Hip hop legend-in-the-making Kendrick Lamar's critically acclaimed debut album, good kid, m.A.A.d city, along with James Joyce, James Baldwin and Gwendolyn Brooks and the 1991 movie Boyz n the Hood will be used as the primary source material.(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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Diddy at New York University - One of the nation's largest, most prestigious research-based colleges, New York University is now offering students an opportunity to study 20 years of Diddy, or, as the school describes it, his "profound effect on gloabl culture." The course will be held at NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.(Photo: Taylor Hill/Getty Images)

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Miley Cyrus at Skidmore University - All those debates about Miley Cyrus twerking can now be counted towards college credit. The country music singer, who's been in the public eye since she was a wee babe, will be the topic of dicussion in a new class at Saratoga Springs-based college Skidmore University called, "The Sociology of Miley Cyrus: Race, Class, Gender and Media."(Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Clear Channel)

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Beyoncé at Rutgers University - One of the world's most popular women changed the game when she dropped Beyoncé, and Rutgers University in New Jersey responded by green-lighting "Politicizing Beyoncé," a course designed to "explore American race, gender, and sexual politics," using Bey's music and public persona.  (Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood Entertainment)

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Jay Z at Georgetown University - Professor Michael Eric Dyson taught a class inspired by Hov himself called "Sociology of Hip-Hop – Urban Theodicy of Jay-Z." He used Jay's Decoded as a reference book and weaved in the writings of W.E.B. Du Bois and the Notorious B.I.G. to help prove points.(Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Photo By Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

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Madonna at University of Amsterdam - Madonna became the subject of a 40-hour course in 1997. Her extraordinary career of button-pushing, thought-provoking and just good ol' fashioned entertaining was used to examine her media savvy, religious beliefs and image as a sex symbol.(Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images)

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Lady Gaga at University of South Carolina - A professor at the University of South Carolina became so curious about Lady Gaga's meteoric rise to superstardom that an entire class was created to study it. "Lady Gaga and the Sociology of Fame" was designed to understand how and why the "Born This Way" singer, in particular, has millions of social media followers and fans around the globe. (Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

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Kanye West and Jay Z at University of Missouri - Don't let the rap detractors fool you, Kanye West and Jay Z are poets, insists one English professor at the University of Missouri who taught the course "Major Authors: Jay-Z and Kanye West." The course discusses their lyrics in a literary context and considers how their visuals — meaning their videos — impact the presentation of their words.(Photo: Kyle Gustafson/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)

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Michael Jackson at Clark Atlanta University - The multi-billion-dollar legacy that is Michael Jackson's career was the subject of an MBA course at Clark Atlanta University. "Michael Jackson: The Business of Music" examined MJ's dealings in music publishing, TV, film, real estate, tours, merchandising and more.(Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images)

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Prince at New York University - Also at NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, Questlove led a seven-week course on Prince. "I'm not expecting people to walk away with their Ph.D. in Purple-ology, but I want to light a spark," Professor Quest told The New York Post. Class never sounded so good.(Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for NPG Records 2013)

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Tupac Shakur at Harvard, University of California, Berkeley and University of Washington - As one of the most prolific, beloved and acclaimed rappers to have ever done it, Tupac was the first in hip hop to be reviewed in the context of academia and he remains one of the most studied figures to date. Harvard has offered "American Protest Literature: From Tom Paine to Tupac," The University of Washington offered "The Textual Appeal of Tupac" and, just one year after his tragic death in 1996, The University of California, Berkeley offered "The Poetry and History of Tupac Shakur."(Photo: Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)