Soon you can call Kanye West, who dropped out of college, Dr. West. The rapper is getting an honorary doctorate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago during its commencement ceremony May 11, the Chicago Tribune reports. And it's all because West said in a recent interview that he wished he had attended SAIC. "I read it and thought, ‘Wow, this is a fantastic moment,'" explains a dean and VP at the school. "Here is this major figure in the cultural landscape promoting art school, this guy from Chicago saying art school is cool. So we thought, ‘This man deserves an honorary doctorate from us!’ He should have gone here. He would have been a perfect SAIC student—he likes to shake people out of complacency."
"Hip-hop is the cultural expression of the moment and here is Kanye, who is delivering in a way something like a 21st-century version of the realists," she continues. "The man is a radical, so we said, ‘Let's do this.'" Of course, not everyone is pleased. Sample Twitter reaction: "it frightfully casual how readily SAIC is willing to devalue my #BFA." And an art magazine editor complains to the Trib, "The school does not have a music program, it has a fashion program, and I suppose you could honor Kanye West for his contributions to fashion, but ... I don't know if that make[s] sense." West, for the record, is already a college lecturer. More Kanye controversy: He's set to headline the UK's Glastonbury music festival Saturday, and outraged fans are calling for him to be dumped because he's not "rock" enough, Billboard reports. If you agree, there's a petition you can sign. (West is also working on a video game.)
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